People often wonder why I, a kid growing up in the lap of luxury, having all my needs met and being concerned over the next latest and greatest iPhone and computer, would want to go to Kenya? Those things are precisely why, because I felt like a spoiled rich kid, and I desperately needed change. In reading about street children and hearing first-hand accounts, my heart started to hurt. I went with the Aiden Whisper team in August of 2018. I went again in April of 2019. I witnessed street children of all ages. I saw them sleeping in gutters or cozied up to the glass door (because it is warmer) outside shops by night, and hustling in the streets by day, as they wondered when their next meal would be. During my interactions with them, several held small bottles of industrial-strength glue that they sniffed to feel warm and take away hunger pains. This glue produced a high that made them spacey and hard to communicate with. I frequently saw street children rummaging through rotten rubbish. The old and the young children appeared to be numbed from lack of hope. I can’t stand that children are living that way. I continue to pray that God will show me ways to serve, love, and care for these kids. One way I have been able to help is I have fundraised for chickens and crops at the Milele Home. I also sent my birthday money to enable one of the older boys, Liberty, to go to driving school. Liberty now has a job driving trucks. One particular friendship I forged was with a sixteen-year-old boy in the Milele Home whose name was CD. CD had lived on the streets for most of his life before coming to Milele Home and gaining a sponsoring family. He now attends school. The street life had been hard on him. God instantly linked our hearts together. I was able to pick up where we left off on my return visit in April of 2019. We write letters to stay in touch. CD is now enrolled in school. God has encouraged me that He hasn’t forgotten about the street children in Kitale, Kenya.
Jaden Cheikha
Age 15