One Boy's Story

This is an actual letter, dated February 20th that was forwarded to us from our local Child Protection Service. It has a note attached from the Social Welfare & Probation Officer, addressed to us that said; "Please interview this boy and find a way to help him."



Dear Mommy Rita, (This is the name of the Probation Officer)

I am by name of ###### ######. I have come to be helped so that I go back to school! I have been studying from xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. So they chased me away out of school because I had got a friend (a missionary) she was from America. One day I was at school and she was staying at school, so I used to sometimes talk with her and share some stories of any kinds. So at first I didn't know that they don't want us to talk to them. In the last term they told me to stop talking to her, so I stopped it. But now when this began I went there at xxxx to be schooling but I found there mommy Jackie and Uncle Willy, the directors and they stopped me from the gate not to enter the school. Because there was a misunderstanding with their sponsorship at school, so they told me not to go back because I had a friend.


So my standing at xxxxx I have been facing many problems because I think that I had a sponsor whom I don't know because they could tell me to write to my sponsor whom I don't know thanking him for whatever he has done for me but at the same time they ask me for school fees yet they know that I don't have any parents. I have only my grandmum and she is very old.


And they had already chased some students out of the school. Now I have been staying with my friends during holidays, they had been renting a house in ###### part of town. Their names are ######. For them they have sponsors. Now their sponsors took them in boarding school, so they left the rental house. They paid the house rent for this month. Now I am in the house and I am jobless and not schooling yet, I want to study. I am now promoted to S4 yet they refused me going back to school. Yet even the standard at xxxx has been very poor, it doesn't look like a good future. There are few teachers left, we don't study some subjects.


Now I have come here to help me or to encourage me kindly how I can study because I like to study. I don't know because I don't have any plan how I can study.


Now mommy help me Rita, I ask you kindly to help and encourage me how I can go to school because the term is already started yet am in senior four.


Mommy Rita, what can I do in order to study this year?



Thank you ####



We have heard this same story before. The probation / Welfare department advises us to take him, but we need to advise you that we need more house sponsors so we can take care of this and other children that are in the same position.