My First Week As a Full Time Volunteer

This week has flown so quickly it doesn’t feel like seven days have come and gone, just like that! I think that is what happens when you are really having fun. Well, I am back to working with Lifesong Kenya at Five Star Academy and the boys in juvenile prison. No wonder, my week has gone by like a breeze.

We will be writing a book, running a journalism club as well as have a character development program for boys at Five Star Academy. Our programs at the juvenile prison will include:-

• Weekly visits


• Character development and coaching


• Monthly shaving sessions


• Tracing parents/guardians and victims of crime


• Providing toothpaste, toothbrush, toilet paper, bar soap, e.t.c.

By reaching out and working with boys, we hope they will be able to embrace crime-free lifestyles that will empower them to easily and effectively re-integrate back into the community. Most of these boys are brilliant boys who need guidance and coaching into excellent and responsible who are going to grow our nation to another level of development.

Looking Back Over My Shoulders

Today was our fifth session with the high school students at Five Star Academy. Our collective objective is to collect 8 stories that capture the experiences of the boys and girls belonging to the group. Two of the stories were about two deaths – a neighbor who passed on and a young man who got killed by a mob after he stole a cell phone from a woman.

The other stories included:-

• a dying aunt


• an epileptic woman whose eye popped out after she fell and hit the ground


• boda boda (motor cycle taxi) riders fighting about NASA and Jubilee


• a girl going to the shop to buy sugar got knocked down by a speeding boda boda (motor cycle taxi)


• a drunken father who wanted to kill his wife because she ate all the meat without keeping some for him


• a lifeless body of a 3 year-old girl floating on the river after the mother threw her daughter into the river


• a group of adults fighting over tap water

Singing Our Own Life Songs

Half way through the session, a little girl came and grabbed hold of my knees.A minute later she began to sing – da-da da-da – oblivious to whether or not she was singing the right song, out of tune or what we thought of her singing. Most times, I wish we could all be like her – and that way we would all be singing our songs and dancing as the rainbow paints the blue sky in celebration.

Well, I don’t know what kind of a book this will be. However, it is a process that is enabling this group to start unleashing their full potential and I am truly blessed to be involved in the process.

We were fortunate enough to have a means of transport to the school and the prison.This has enabled Elisha and I to conduct Lifesong Kenya’s programs. We hope to receive more support so we can continue our work. We welcome contributions of any kind from you. Get in touch with us and let us know how you would like to get involved.