When 18-year-old Lilian Moraa became pregnant, her parents kicked her out of their Keumbu home in Kisii County for being an embarrassment to the family.
A dejected Moraa travelled all the way to Nakuru, in search of her boyfriend, the father to her child.
Unfortunately, the then Class Seven girl couldn’t find the man, who turned out to be a Tanzanian national and had fled back to his country.
She had no option but to turn a cave under a flyover into a home. When she was due, she delivered and remained there for the last one year.
Once in a while, a Good Samaritan drops a toy for her child, and sometimes, she also gets some clothing.
She has found herself in a situation where she doesn’t worry about tomorrow. She has seen so much in her tender life, including a community that is indifferent to her, including her kin who want nothing to do with her after she refused to abort the baby.
“It was too scary for me to imagine terminating the life of my unborn baby. I took refuge in the streets after my mother and uncles persistently demanded that I terminate the pregnancy,” says the first born in a family of six, who is now treated as an outcast.
On the streets, she says life is not a walk in the park, and it takes courage to survive. She has to contend with constant harassment from more mature street children.
She remembers one incident in which a fellow street girl, working in cahoots with kidnappers, engaged her in a vicious fight during which she lost two teeth.
Moraa, who is now calling on well-wishers to help her, admits that it is dangerous to live on the streets, and especially for her young baby who is exposed to erratic weather patterns, exposure to hard drugs and criminals.
