A homeless young girl in Nakuru County has returned to the streets, despite her three months' rent being settled in full by Sammy Ondimu Ngare, a corporal with the National Police Service (NPS).
In an interview with Kenyans.co.ke, the police officer disclosed that he had assisted the pregnant girl by rallying his social media followers to contribute towards her hospital expenses and securing shelter for her.
In response, his friends and colleagues contributed towards the young girl's hospital bill at Nakuru Level 6 hospital. Additionally, the officer secured a house for her and her baby, paying three months' rent and providing them with household essentials.
However, after just three months, Officer Ngare, who regularly checked on the former street girl, discovered that she had vacated the house. According to the landlord, the girl had packed her belongings overnight and left, expressing her desire for street life.
"She wanted to go back to the streets as she is used to borrowing, they are used to having company. Through borrowing, they may stumble on good fortune once in a while. Despite the assistance, she decided to flee and join her friends," he stated.
Ngare expressed his decision not to resume paying her rent until she received counseling. He emphasized the importance of counseling for street children, as their situations often led them to return to the streets even after receiving assistance.
Officer Ngare has partnered with the Ministry of Health and the Nakuru County government to rehabilitate street children in the county.
He pointed out that unplanned pregnancies among street children, resulting from their close living conditions, pose a significant challenge.
His commitment to aiding street children is driven by his desire to transform the lives of the less fortunate in the community.
"I came from a humble background and know what it is like to lack basic items. Now as a police officer, I leverage on what I have to assist the needy. Most of the time you find we arrest the street children for stealing food and other basic items, so why not provide these items so that their lives can be transformed," he added.
The young girl's case shows the persistent problem of a rising number of street families in counties.
The latest data from the 2020 National Census of Street Families revealed that 46,639 street persons across the 47 counties, with 72 per cent being male.
Out of this, 37,302 of the persons living on the street were aged below 34 years and 15,752 not older than 19 years.
Nairobi had the highest population of street people with a population of 15,337, followed by Mombasa and Kisumu at 7,529 and 2,746, respectively, while Uasin Gishu had 2,147 and Nakuru 2,005, closing the list of the counties with the highest populations.
