Entertainment
Kenya: Emmanuel’s future begins with the keyboard
At the “Tone la Maji” centre, meaning “a drop of water,” street children in southern Nairobi, Kenya, explore their talents and dreams for life, as recounted by our correspondent during a recent visit.
By Guglielmo Gallone – Nairobi
“Hello everyone, my name is Emmanuel and I am ten years old. Today, we are at the Tone la Maji center. There are many children and young people here. People here protect us, they provide us with shelter, clothing, and everything we need.”
These are the words of a child describing the place where we are. But Emmanuel is not just any child, he comes from a ‘dysfunctional family’ his mother is nowhere to be found, while his father struggles with severe drug addiction. The boy was left in the care of his older brother, who was still in school and unable to provide consistent care.
Emmanuel ended up on the streets, hoping someone would give him money or help. Emmanuel’s story is told to us by Bernard Luta, the manager of the ‘Tone la Maji’ Center. Today, Emmanuel is in a rehabilitation program. He has returned to school and is receiving healthcare, protection, food, and shelter.
However, the center’s work with the child does not end there. Staff members also located his father and escorted him to the centre to meet his son. The goal, Luta explains, is to attempt to rebuild a bond that seemed lost and circumstances permitting to pave the way for a future reunion. Emmanuel’s story is not unique.
Understanding history and reaching for dreams
The center was established in 2005 in Ongata Rongai, Kajiado County, south of Nairobi and is managed by Fr. Renato Kizito Sesana’s Koinonia Community.
Tone la Maji is a residential center that currently houses 30 vulnerable children and youths, primarily former street children. The center’s primary objectives are the rehabilitation and social reintegration of these children.
Staff explain that this process of restoration and reintegration requires the children to understand their own histories and rebuild themselves into new individuals.
This transformation also unfolds through opportunities to recognize and discover their own talents and callings.
Tone la Maji centre in Nairobi
Translating our aspirations into our daily lives
The word “calling” impacts every life and demands exploration, understanding, and vision. It requires us to look both within and beyond ourselves, identifying our aspirations and the ability to translate them into our daily lives. It is not merely about what we enjoy doing, but what we can do well.
Both children and adults ask themselves ‘Who am I called to be? What are my capabilities?’
These are questions that even adults including those with stable homes and schooling often struggle to answer.
“There are several tools,” explains Bernard Luta. “First, when a child is welcome, we initiate an accelerated learning program. It is a process aimed at revitalizing the children, starting with an understanding of their own backgrounds. When we discover that a child cannot read fluently, struggles to express themselves, or has had irregular school attendance, we create a tailored program for them. This program includes various activities like drawing, acrobatics, football, and even music lessons.”
We do not want to leave any child behind
The staff member explains, “Through these activities, we can identify if a child has a talent for music, acrobatics, or perhaps artistic expression as an artist, a painter, or a singer. We begin by guiding each child according to their individual abilities, because not all children possess the same aptitude for academics or achieving high grades. And we do not want to leave any child behind.”
Not leaving anyone behind means that the process does not end with learning alone, he says.
“It is precisely for this reason that we have a program called ‘New Solidarity’ (Ujamaa Mpya),” Luta explains. “This process involves supporting the child and their parents, because we must ensure that what happened does not happen again. If the family is facing a food shortage, we begin addressing that issue. We support parents so they can start businesses and put food on the table. Food is one of the basic necessities in a child’s life. If a child has nothing to eat, it is easy for them to leave their family.”
In fact, this are the stories of the children living at Tone la Maji who play, study, and whom we visit. This visit is very different.
There are children who wanted to attend school but could not because their fathers had died or because they had been abused. Others were sent to the streets with the expectation that they would earn money.
Some are even drawn to drug use or trade. Drug abuse has become a problem that is spreading through Kenyan society and affecting even the youngest. A 2018 study of primary school students found the average age of first experimentation to be 11, dropping to nine for inhalants. For children living on the streets, the risk is even greater.
The drugs available are cheap and easily accessible particularly glue, as well as alcohol, cannabis, and miraa (khat), which is used across various parts of East Africa. A study of 227 street children and youths in Meru County admittedly a localized sample rather than one representative of Kenya as a whole found that 67 percent had used drugs at least once, and 56 percent had smoked them.
This is how street life and drug use intersect; drugs are just one of the factors that can drive a child onto the streets. Indeed, they can be among the tools used to try to cope with life on the streets and the cold, as the problems are many as Luca continued to elaborate. There may be hunger not enough food in their homes or for their families.
This is an economic issue. Sickness can drive a child to leave home. We have encountered cases where parents were ill, sometimes with incurable diseases like HIV/AIDS. Some face serious, widespread illnesses. There are also children who have experienced situations where a parent suffered from mental illness and could no longer fully grasp what was happening. All these are factors that can separate a child from their family and push them onto the streets.
Pianist in training
We do not know which of these challenges Emmanuel had to endure before arriving here.
We met him when his journey to recovery had already begun. He was in a stable situation among other children, attending school, and had someone ready to care for him. And that is what gave us hope. It was the very same hope we recognized when he told us what he loved to do.
“Yes, I love football,” he said, “but what I really love is playing the piano. I’m a pianist.” Then, it took just a few steps to reach the Tone la Maji music room.
Emmanuel sat at an electric keyboard and began to play and sing, keeping the beat with his feet. Beside him were a drummer, a bassist, and another keyboardist. Before them sat an audience of about twenty children and young people.
They sang and played, offering a brilliant live performance. It was as if Tone la Maji had transformed, for a moment, into London’s Royal Albert Hall, like a beautiful dream.
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