Decision taken at the annual meeting on January 14, 2024: The project is run together with the pastor couple in the Pentecostal congregation in Lokichoggio, Michael and Sarah Edapal. They have selected families they trust and who are willing to take in one of the street children each. These homes will become a new family with security and love for the rest of the children's lives. A child in a family home needs a grant of SEK 750-800 per month for e.g. food, clothing and schooling.
Lokichoggio is a town in the northwest corner of Kenya, 30 km from the border with South Sudan and 50 km from the border with Uganda. The city was very important during the war in Sudan when the WHO and other aid organizations used the airport for food shipments. The area also has one of the world's largest refugee camps. Now, however, the aid shipments have ended and there is a shortage of jobs in the area.
The dominant ethnic group in the area is the Turkana who try to survive by cattle herding and some agriculture. Unfortunately, the land is almost desert-like and the rain comes irregularly. Since the Turkana are semi-nomadic pastoralists (shepherds), their culture does not include much cultivation either.
The various ethnic groups Turkana in Kenya, Toposa in South Sudan and Nyangatom in South Sudan and Ethiopia often make raids to steal cattle from each other, usually with a fatal outcome. All this means that many children become orphans or that parents are unable to provide for all the children. Then you let relatives take care of them. In turn, they can fall victim to diseases and in the end there is no other way out for these children than to start begging and stealing food on the street. Malaria and AIDS are other common reasons why children lose their parents and therefore often end up on the streets. It can happen as young as 4 years old.
The children in the pictures below have no connection with the project.