Ben Ndichu left home and went to live on the streets in 2007 when he was 10 years old, driven by poverty at home. His mother worked hard to earn enough to feed the family, but his father, who was a carpenter, was an alcoholic who contributed little but problems to his family. Ben and his four sisters and brother were unable able to go to school and lived in slum conditions.
After he left home, Ben remained on the streets of Naivasha for two years. At night he was cold, and he spent each day scavenging for food from the remains of meals thrown into dustbins by hotels. He lived in fear of being bullied by bigger street boys.
One Saturday in early 2009, as Ben was roaming the streets as usual, he approached a passer-by and begged for food. The man gave him 100 shillings (about £1) and told him to go and buy some milk and mandazi (Kenyan doughnuts), and to come back with the change and share his life story.
Ben did as he was told. The person he was talking to was Rev Simon Kinyanjui, the director of our Sunshine street boys’ rehabilitation Centre. Having heard Ben’s story, Rev Simon offered him a place at the Centre, and once he had settled, enrolled him into the local school to resume his education. Ben loved football, and was soon a key member of the Sunshine Centre team.
He completed school in 2019, but, like most young people around the globe, Covid disrupted his education and he had to wait until February this year before commencing a vocational training course in leather and tanning technology at Kenya Industrial Training Institute in Nakuru. The photo shows him heading off to start his second terms, complete with a laptop that is essential to access on-line lessons and information.
