Joseph

early life and family struggles

17 year old Joseph has been living on the streets of Nairobi for several years. His journey began with the tragic loss of his mother when he was a child, which forced him into the care of extended family members. Sadly, this arrangement was fraught with challenges. Joseph recalls; "I experienced a lot of discrimination and abuse arising from family conflicts. This led to me to dropping out of school in grade 3 - I ran to the streets in search of love and peace of mind."

a life on the streets

Life has certainly not been easy for Joseph and earlier this year, he faced another major set back. In May 2024, Kenya experienced over six weeks of torrential rain. The slum community where Joseph resides in Nairobi was hit hard by heavy flooding. Many lost their lives, while possessions and makeshift shelters were washed away and livelihoods were destoryed.

Fortunately, at this time, Toybox's local partner, PKL were on the ground providing emergency relief and support to hundreds of affected street children and their families. The team distributed vital supplies including food, warm clothing, sanitary products, nappies and soap. It was during this critical time that Joseph shared the following update.

Torrential rains and flooding: a community in crisis

"Before the floods, I was scavenging for waste plastics for resale, as well as doing rubbish collection within the community as a source of income. The heavy rains have greatly affected our makeshift shelters within the base where we used to rest and sleep. Most of our belongings were swept away at night by the floods.

The heavy rains have also caused an outbreak in cholera, which has affected most of the street children, due to poor hygeine resulting from the blocked drainage and sleeping out in the rain.

The floods have also reduced our source of income as most of the small businesses within our bases where we used to go for casual work were demolished and their property destroyed. Most of the community roads are inaccessible which is affecting our rubbish collection business within the community."

Pictured below: Joseph watching a broken sewer near his home.

seeking shelter

"Right now, some of my friends and I have been offered temporary shelter in a semi-permanent room on the other side of the river, as we wait for the rains and floods level to reduce. Other street families and community members are being hosted within local schools and churches. PKL has been supporting us at this time with emergency supplies and the social worker has been constantly checking up on us and making frequent visits to offer us psychosocial support which has given us hope to strive through this difficult situation."

Pictured below: In the aftermath of the floods Toybox local partner PKL supported Joseph with essential items including blankets and flour (left) and a new mattress (right).

future hopes and plans

It is clear that despite many challenges, Joseph has not given up hope. He concludes; "Once the situation calms down and normality returns, my friends and I are planning on talking to the owner of the room where we are currently being hosted, to see if she would rent it to us."

Get involved

For thousands of street children in Nairobi, living in the aftermath of the recent floods, life currently hangs in the balance. Our partners in Kenya are doing all they can to help street children recover from the floods, but they can't do it alone.

You can support young people like Joseph by donating to support our Kenya recovery appeal.