St Monica Children's Home

A day with Damaris Mahiga
Damaris wakes up at 5am, makes the bed, showers, wears her uniform and has breakfast of bread, eggs and tea. She then leaves the home at 6.30am and walks to school with the other girls from the home. She arrives in school after 15 minutes where she spends the day learning and playing with her friends. She then leaves the school at 4.10pm. At the home she does her homework, has dinner and studies and sleeps at 10pm. Over the weekend she wakes up at 8am, has breakfast and assists with household chores such as cleaning and washing clothes. The afternoons are spent playing, doing homework and singing. On Saturday evening she gets a chance to watch her favourite programme on TV. On Sunday she goes to church and then spends the afternoons playing and completing her homework, then sleeps early so as to get a good start for the coming week. Over school holidays she plays and goes for tuition. The home also takes her to interesting places such as Bomas of Kenya, Animal Orphanage and seminars on youth matters.

Nicolet Muthoni, Joyce Wangui and Winnie Vihenda are all sisters aged 14 years, 7 years and 9 years of age respectively. Nicolet and Winnie enjoy playing and watching football while Joyce enjoys skipping. They are orphans who live in Kawangware, Nairobi. Their mother passed away in 2000 while the father passed away in 2004. They were brought to the home by Precious Blood Sisters. The sisters said they love living in the home as they have enough food to eat, sleep well and most of all, they can live in peace. Their performance in school has improved considerably since they came to the home. All sisters go to Mahiga Primary School in Kahawa West and Winnie is the best student in her class.

Teresia Muthoni is 10 years of age and loves washing dishes. Her best friend is Mary Wanjiru. She came from Gathanga in Kiambu and has one brother of 5 years of age. The other brother passed away. Her mother also passed away due to sickness while her father deserted them. She goes to Kamiti Primary School and is in class 3 and enjoys reading. She loves the home as she can now afford school fees. She wants to see her brother over the holiday but would prefer if her brother would come to visit as she does not want to go home.

Anne Njoki is 7 yrs of age and enjoys skipping and playing. Her best friend is Joyce Wangui also living at the home. She was previously staying with her grandmother who was taking care of 8 grandchildren in a rental one bedroom house, in Gathanga. She had a single mother who passed away. When she came to the home she was very malnourished with yellow hair and a big stomach but has since recovered after the home fed her with milk and vegetables. She goes to school at Mary Immaculate and is in baby class. She is supposed to be in Class 2 but since her grandmother did not take her to school, she is very behind in her studies.

Anne Mahiga is 10 years of age and is in Class 4 at Kamiti Primary School. She enjoys reading and wants to be a nurse. Her best friend is Maureen Wanja. She came from Nyeri where she was living with her old grandmother and has no brothers and sisters. Over the holiday she would like to visit her grandmother for only 1 day and come back to the home on the same day as she is scared. While living with her grandmother, she was beaten up daily by her grandfather who was always drunk and defiled by her two uncles. She was brought to the home in secret by her aunties. She loves St Monica Children’s Home as she can study in peace and she has improved considerably academically. She moved from position 26 in class to position 2 after coming to the home.