Umbrella 'using' children to beg in streets

Managers of a children’s home at Kahawa West have denied allegations they promise a better life, then make children beg for money in the streets.

The founder of Umbrella Children’s Home identified as Boaz Rechab told the Star he and the other directors personally look for money to run the home and have never sent children out to the streets to beg.

“We pay Sh25,000 for rent here and an additional Sh36,000 to cater for lunch for all the children and when we don’t have money from well-wishers, we contribute money from our own pockets,” he said.

According to sources, the children are allegedly sent to the Kahawa West market every Tuesday after school to beg for foodstuffs and are accompanied by a lady who takes the proceeds they get.

Rechab claimed that the allegations were from his enemies.

“When you are doing good work, something that is God-given, people are never happy, I tell you. I have many enemies not that I have money, I’m not rich but I have enemies around here,” he said.

The home located at Kongo area in Kahawa West is run by Boaz and two directors Teresia Wairimu and Esther Ngendo.

The home caters for 44 children, 18 of them are in pre-school at the home and the rest are in either primary or high school.

The school provides free education for orphaned children. The home also runs a daycare centre and charges Sh50 a day for lunch and diapers.

The schools include Jujen Academy, St Felix primary school, Source of Life Academy and Bishop Wainana Mixed School.

During an interview with six of the children between Standards 5 and 7, the Star learnt that they had been taken to the home in January with the promise of free and better education.

The children were brought in from Elburgon, Limuru, Meru and Nyeri.

They claim that their parents were informed of a government initiative to sponsor children to a boarding school in Nairobi and according to them, ‘it had a big bus that would take us to trips and swimming.’

“They told us to spend the night at Umbrella and we would go to the school the next day, which never happened,” one of them said.

One of the children showed bruising on his upper back and claimed to have been beaten with a pipe by Boaz for inciting the rest to go home.

“We’re not allowed to talk to our parents without Boaz and he always tells us what to say,” another said.

Upon contacting one of the parents to ask the whereabouts of her son, she said that she did not know what boarding school he was in but would call Boaz and ask.

The directors at Umbrella had said that the children at the home who still had parents had been brought in because their parents were irresponsible.

“We have a case of a child whose mother was a drunk and she was raped twice when her mother was passed out drunk,” he said.

He further claimed that they try and help the parents learn responsibility so that they can eventually take back their children.

However, of the six children the Star talked to, only one was an orphan and the rest claimed to have parents or grandparents who could take care of them. Another had been accompanied by her four siblings from home.

“I was at a private school where my mother paid Sh 4,500 per term for my school fees,” one of them said.

The management of the home, however, denied the claims stating that they had documentation to prove the children were orphaned.

“We have birth certificates and death certificates to prove the parents are deceased but the only thing we have not done is check to see whether they are authentic because we do not have the resources,” Boaz said.

The Star could not confirm the existence of the documents as the management claimed the storage room where they were held was locked.

A teaching source confirmed that the management of the home had grown suspicious and had been relocating the children back to their parents since yesterday.

"He called the parents of the children and told them that since he did not have all the documentation for schools, the children had to leave and go back home," the source said.

"Some of the children will leave today while some of them will wait for the parents to come for them."

The management of the home had denied any kind of child abuse at the facility.

“For a fact, I don’t know how they are being mistreated. If the children did not have an education, were not provided for food and did not sleep on good mattresses, then maybe we would say so,” he said.

“At home, they did not have access to regular education, food or even a decent place to sleep.”

Upon further investigation, the Star learnt that contrary to Boaz’s claims, the area chief had not made referrals to him.

Boaz had said that he worked with the area chief to send referral letters to other chiefs in regards to the children’s admission at Umbrella.

“I have never referred any child to Umbrella because I only came to find out about it on Wednesday last week,” Chief Masika Ngei said.

“I have not had time to inspect the condition of the home and would therefore not refer any child there when there are other homes I am familiar within the area.”

The children said that they wanted to be taken back home because they were not given what they were promised.

“We want to go home back to our parents because we know they are able to take care of us and this place is not good.”