“I felt sad living on the streets. The nights were cold and we were insulted by passers by.”
Life on the streets of Nairobi
Eight year old Tina has spent half her life on the streets of Nairobi with her younger sister and mother, Simpo. Here, mother and daughter share their experience of survival and the transformative journey toward securing Tina's birth certificate.
Simpo and her children fled their rural home due to escalating tribal conflicts with a neighboring community. Life in their village had been peaceful until about five years ago when cultural pressures and domestic violence drove Simpo to leave in search of safety and stability.
Surviving the streets
Life In Nairobi brought its own set of challenges. Tina shares, “I felt sad living on the streets. We mainly relied on begging and the occasional support from well-wishers to get by. The nights were cold and we were insulted by passers by. The police also harassed us but we had nowhere else to go."
Despite the hardships, some moments if kindness from strangers provided small comforts.
"At times, people bought us food to eat, and others allowed us to sleep under their business shades when it got cold and rainy during the night. Most of the time we slept outside near hotels where people bought us food. Sometimes we lacked food and money to go to the hospital. My mother struggled to find a stable source of income to provide for our needs.”
For Simpo, the fear of harassment extended beyond the streets.“I was always anxious and fearful around the police. Those in authority would always question us and demand proof of citizenship by showing legal documentation which we didn’t possess. I was always isolated, and I felt that my children were being excluded from normal activities and opportunities that other children were enjoying."
Barriers to identity
The lack of legal documentation was a significant barrier for Simpo and her children. Losing the birth notification issued at the time of her children’s birth meant that Simpo could not apply for their birth certificates. The process of replacing the document proved to be daunting and unaffordable.
Simpo recalls, "Coming from the northern part of the country meant that like other people from that border region, I had to undergo a vetting process to acquire a valid identity document for my children. As a result of the discriminatory vetting process, many people are involved in corruption to bypass this, and gain their legal documents. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have the resources to support my children to acquire an identity document then, so they had to survive out in the streets like stateless people with no identity.”
A ray of hope
In July 2021, everything changed when the family first met Toybox local partner PKL and heard about the support they offered to children and familes in street situations. Through their birth registration awareness campaign, Simpo learned about the steps to acquire identity documents and the critical importance of legal identity for her children.
"I was able to understand the whole process of birth application and we were taught who and how to approach those in authorities to support us in acquiring legal identities for our children.” Simpo shares.
The PKL team also supported Simpo to replace her own lost national ID card, which had until this point proved an insurmountable challenge for her as she could not remember her ID number and didn't have a copy.
PKL worked closely with Simpo to retrieve the necessary documents for Tina.
“My mother told Charles from PKL my date and place of birth. They then went together to the hospital where I was born. PKL paid some money and they were issued with a duplicate of my lost birth acknowledgement slip."
A new chapter
With her birth certificate in hand, Tina could enrol in a local school. Now, her days are filled with learning and dreams for the future. She concludes,
"Now I have somewhere safe to sleep. I'm happy that I have a birth certificate and I can go to school like other children. I love drawing and social studies. I hope and dream that one day I will become a doctor and treat my family and friends whenever they feel sick.”
