Think About Them (TAT) is a community based organization (CBO) working towards improving the status of children in Nakuru, Kenya with special emphasis on the welfare of children living on the street.
The organization was formed in 2015 and registered in 2016 with the Kenyan Government Department of Gender, Children and Social services.
There seems to be many charities, NGOs (non-government organizations) and government organizations working with children who live on the streets of Kenya. After many years of striving to find a solution, and solve this undeniable problem, there seems to have been little impact for the children. Homelessness seems to be on the increase.
In a study commissioned by the Consortium of Street Children (CSC) the numbers of homeless children on the streets in 1999 was around 50,000. Despite all the work by charities and government organizations this number rose to 60,000 just 8 years later. Today, across Kenya, this number is more like 250,000 to 300,000 and is still on the increase.
One of the areas of greatest need is addressing the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS for children living on the streets. Kenya has the fourth highest rate of HIV/Aids in the World, 1.6 million people according to the Ministry of Health in Kenya, and this can only change through education and working with the most vulnerable of groups; and that is the children on the streets.
The right to survival and the right to education(?) are basic human rights for every child in Kenya (0-18 years) who constitute more than half of the 40 million populations. Children living on the streets hardly enjoy these rights and are exposed to greater danger when not enough curative and preventative information about HIV/AIDS is disseminated to them.
Think About Them (TAT) came into being to positively contribute to children’s rights of survival and education as in the spirit of UN Convention on the Rights of Children (UNCRC), the African Charter on Rights and Welfare of Children (ACRWC) and as applied in Kenya through the Children Act (2001) and the Kenyan Constitution 2010. TAT looks forwarding to achieving this through information sharing, advocacy and strengthening of children programming in Kenya. We are passionate about making a change in the lives of these children, and will work tirelessly to achieve our aims.
We believe that every child deserves a chance of a decent life, free from hunger, free from danger, and free to be the children they were born to be!