ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2022
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. Over 31,000 young leaders on 2,400+ campuses across 140+ nations applied to join the Class of 2022. 200+ campuses worldwide (just 8%) were selected to host the 3,000+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT JANNICE PEACE NYARIBO, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2022.
Kenyatta University | Nairobi, Kenya | Advancing SDG 3 & UNAI 1
" Beinge part of the Millennium Fellowship will enhance my creativity, drive and confidence. It will also enable me to be more exposed and be able to fulfilll my passion. I am very excited to be part if the Millennium Fellowship. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Saving The Street Kids In Nairobi
REPORT ON SAVING THE STREET KIDS IN NAIROBI
My main aim of this project was to get street kids off the streets, after having witnessed the harsh environment and conditions that they go through.
My aim was to be able to find them a home, shelter and education and come up with a permanent solition to solve this issue affecting my country;especially Nairobi city.
The process however, was not an easy task. It required a lot of support, both manpower, financially and influence.
RESEARCH AND FIELDWORK
The first step of my project is that I decided to do a research on the reasons as to why this kids are on the streets. I read articles that had been done by previous researchers and also did the fieldwork myself. I went to streets of Nairobi to meet and chat with this kids. I was able to speak to 20 street kids, 5 being female.
FINDINGS
Most of these kids are on the streets because cicumstances force them. Some however are there on their own free will. I chatted with them and tried to enquire if they would ne willing to get off the streets and go back to school as well as get a home incase help was found.
The reasons of most of the being on the streets were;
- Poor backgrounds
- Abusive parents
- Diceased parents
- Inadequate funds to finish education
- Punishment in school
- Forced by parents to get a job
- Drug abuse
- Fear of education
90% of these kids were happy and willing to be taken of the streets, and find a home. However when it came to to matters of education, 80% of them didn't want to go back to school. I even learnt that some had run away from the 'children homes' they had been enrolled into because of being forced to go to school. Nevertheless, they were willing to get tertiary education to be able to find jobs and fend for themselves since most have no one to look out for them.
SOLUTIONS I CAME UP WITH
Start an organization that only focuses on street kids; Mobilizing funds to build shelters and funing education.
Speak to women about contraceptives
Speak to the government; to stop coporal punishment in schools
Introduce free tertiary education
Offer shelters and food to homeless people below 18
Come up with a rule restricting loitering and sleeping on streets
to introduce free highschool education
Punish parents who run away from the responsibility of taking care of
their kids.
Offer sex education to females especially in rural areas to prevent them from giving birth young, and giving birth to many kids whom they wont be able to fend for leading to increased number of street kids.
Speak to organizations dealing with children's welfare to chip in and help out on solving the issue.
STEPS I TOOK
I emailed and visited some organizations dealing with children to get help and I am still waiting for their replies.
I began a club that offers sex education to young girls, especially in rural areas.
Encouraging the street kids I encountered to agree to go back to school when help is found.
Took some of the street kids that were addicted to drugs to SAPTA ( Support for addictions prevention and treatment in Africa), an organization that offers free help to addicts.
Accessing government offices hasn't been easy since I lack the influence. However, I am not stopping here. This is a big issue that needs to be dealt with. I am still pushing and trying hard until the day I will be able to reach government officials and get their attention.
Getting funds to begin an organization that only focuses on the street kids will be a great step in solving this issue. This way, it is easy to push for the needs of these kids because it will be its only focus. The organization will be able to easily communicate with the government and patner with it to ensure its goals are met.
I am doing what I can and really hoping that one day this issue will be solved completely.
About the Millennium Fellow
Jannice Peace Nyaribo is a 22 year old female curently at Kenyatta university persuing a degree in public policy and adminstration. She is bright, responsible , focused and hardworking. An encounter with a street kid at 8 years old is what made her passionate about helping street kids. From a young age, she joined different groups like churches that were contributing in helping street kids. This passion has even grown more over the years due to the increased number of kids on the streets in her country. It has always pained and saddened her every time she walks on the streets and sees kids as young as 4 years beggimg for food and money. Jannice believes all kids deserve a home, love , basic needs and education. Jannice has always been in the front line volonteering and joining different organizations that help the street kids. She doesnt plan in stopping here either; She aspires to join bigger organizations like 'Save the children' and even create organizations of her own to be able to remove this kids from the streets and give them a home.
