A Question of Life or Death - Human Rights Watch

outside. He wanted me to stay inside. My sister [who was healthy] was
not beaten; she stayed inside and worked as domestic. My uncle often
beat me on the back, with belts or other objects he could find. He
would do it every couple of days. I ran away. But the uncle found me
and brought me back. He would beat me then, too. He saw me as a
burden after my parents passed away. He told me that I should have
died instead of my parents.… Once I ran away to Karen [a Nairobi
suburb], for a few days. I stayed in the street and in the forest,
begging. I was alone there. Another time I ran away to Buru Buru [a
Nairobi suburb] where I met other street children who faced similar
problems as me. I stayed there for six months. I found a good
samaritan who allowed me to sleep in his kiosk. He was also giving me
tea. Finally, the man sent me and the other three children to a
children’s home in Buru Buru. I stayed there for six months. The other
three children were picked up by their mother. Then I ran away from
the children’s center. A gentleman brought me to the police station in
Kilimani where I was detained in a container for about one week. 128
At the time of the interview, James was staying in a small shelter in Kibera and
getting antiretroviral drugs and other medical care through a community project.
Frederic, a 13-year-old orphan in Kibera, said he was scared that he might lose the
only caregiver he has left, even though his home situation was far from the caring
environment a child needs:
I live with my uncle. My mom died in 2000 and my dad in 2003. I don’t
know why they died, my uncle doesn’t talk about it.… My uncle’s wife
ran away when he got sick. He has sores all over his body. It’s just the
two of us…. Always I go to bed hungry. I do all the work in the house—I
get water, cook, wash clothes and dishes—but there’s never enough
food or even money to buy water. My uncle doesn’t let me play even
when the work is done. If he sees me playing, he beats me. I don’t
128 Human Rights Watch interview with James, age 14, St. Vincent Rescue Home, Kibera slum, Nairobi, August 10, 2007.
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