Two streets mothers making it work...

Helen is a mother of two kids a boy and a girl. Three years ago she as was at Mlango kubwa base. While in the streets Helen used to supply bhang -marijuan in Mlango kubwa base and Pangani area in collaboration with her husband. In late 2012 she joined Made in Streets mothers' program where she was willing to take an extra hour of bead work class. With being consistence in attending these classes, we learnt to know her better.

With a tough situation in her hands, she came out freely to share with us about her lifestyle. we  had lengthy talks informing her that the only solutions to her challenges is to change, positively. With her being willing to undergo the transformation process we took her through counselling which she included  her husband.

In June 2013 we took her to Imani training center to take a skill in knitting. Which she responded positively and even she became the best in her class. Her course took a period of six month which she has finished now. Currently she has a house at Mlango kubwa  area where she stays with her husband and the two kids. The husband is a night guard at  industrial factory. Now Helen is a transformed and a changed mother. She is able to send two of her children to school from the money she gets from knitting and bead making which she does privately.   

Salome is a mother of four children, two girls and two boys. She was at Lilliput base for five years where she used to smoke bhang, drink illegal liquor (changaa) and begging money from the passers by. In this situation the money she used to beg she managed to pay school fees for her daughter who is the first born and is in high school. Now she is in her final year (2014).Salome joined Made in the Streets mothers'' program in 2012, 

Every Monday we had several talks regarding what she hoped to engage in so as to be self-reliant. She thought of being a vegetable vendor, with our support, with capital  and some business advice she begun in a humble setting, now she runs a food kiosk in Eastleigh which is booming.

With this kind of achievements she is doing well with the family, being a single mother she has been very supportive like paying her daughter’s high school fees and providing other family basic needs. By the end of 2013 she moved from Mathare valley now she is staying in Eastleigh area. In November 2013 she was baptized in Eastleigh Church of Christ.

Story by Jane Abuti