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These two siblings stayed with a foster mother
Photo: Gordwin Odhiambo / DER SPIEGEL
Wambui * and Robin * run after the chickens, giggling, and they cackle around the corner just in time.
In the past it was often the other way around: the two siblings had to run away if they were caught stealing again.
Her mother never looked after the seven-year-old and the ten-year-old, they ended up with a stranger who sent them out to steal clothes and food.
At some point the neighbors had enough and alerted the youth welfare office.
Then something unusual happened: Wambui and Robin did not come to one of the many precarious children's homes in Kenya, which are often custody and very rarely care facilities.
They came to Jane Gitae.
The 60-year-old places great value on order, which is immediately apparent in her house.
Everything is covered with thin pink cloths: the television, the table, the sofas.
No speck of dust should touch the upholstery.
Dozens of blue plastic chairs stand against one wall, carefully stacked one inside the other.
Jane wants to be prepared in case someone comes.
She goes to church on Sundays.
Jane's grandchild, 11-year-old James, has also lived in the house since his mother died.
Not an unusual constellation in many African countries: grandmothers or aunts take care of family members in need.
It is unusual for Wambui and Robin to be here too.
Because they do not belong to the family, they are so-called foster children.
Jane didn't even know her until three months ago.
“I started with a child who was brought to me. I liked the role of foster mother, the youth welfare office was obviously happy too, and now I keep getting inquiries, «says Jane Gitae. It is part of a pilot project: In Murang'a, a small town north of the capital Nairobi, children are rarely put in homes. Instead, they should be housed in a home environment - at least until, in the best case, they can return to their biological families.
Now the Kenyan authorities want to extend this strategy to the entire country.
This is what the government decided a few weeks ago in a new child protection concept that is due to be adopted soon.
The homes should gradually be closed and the children should be housed close to the family.
International organizations have been calling for this step for a long time.
Because the children's homes are often places of horror.
"These homes are pure business for many," says Jane Munuhe of the Kenyan State Child Protection Agency.
"The operators want to attract donors from abroad, and so that the money continues to flow, they do not improve the conditions on site." Again and again there are violations of Kenyan law.
In fact, the list of scandals is long, as shown in a study from Murang'a. The situation in the homes was investigated on behalf of the authorities, and the paper contains serious allegations. A community leader describes how home operators would run around and "recruit" children from their families in order to get financial benefits. Several institutions would operate without a license and therefore without any control. In fact, there are ongoing investigations and legal proceedings into child trafficking in the home environment in Kenya.
The donors, in turn, often come from the Global North.
In many children's homes, white volunteers from Europe or the USA "help" and pay a lot of money for it.
White tourists like to visit the homes, children usually dance to supposedly African songs, and donations are made in the end.
An attractive business model for many who are not necessarily concerned with the child's wellbeing.
The new strategy of the Kenyan government is now supposed to put a stop to this.
But resistance to this is apparently not only coming from the home operators themselves. According to Jane Munuhe from the state child protection authority, since the beginning of the reform, donors from rich countries have been withdrawing or at least threatening to do so: "They absolutely want to support homes, they do not understand the danger at all." says the officer.
One of the largest and best-known child protection organizations, the SOS Children's Villages, are more open to change. She too recently had to deal with a widespread scandal involving physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The current reforms in many countries are fundamentally positive, says spokesman Boris Breyer: "The SOS Children's Villages were founded as an alternative to traditional homes, hence the idea of village character with individual, family-oriented care." In Eastern Europe, governments are already being supported in this Expansion of alternative care models, there is also an exchange with many African governments.
But in Kenya the authorities are still facing a massive problem: there is a lack of foster parents who want to take children with them. Irene Makena climbs over bags and boxes of groceries, soap and clothes in her small office. These products are given to foster families in order to relieve them of some financial burden. Makena is a social worker at the Stahili Foundation, which works across Africa to find alternatives to residential care. The social worker selects and trains the prospective foster parents, if she can find them. "There is a great need, we need a lot more," says Makena.
The successes of the pilot project are already clear, she believes.
Children in nursing homes would usually spend three years or more there, the time with foster parents is designed for just one year from the outset.
This can be extended in an emergency, but the top priority is to bring the children back to the nuclear family afterwards.
If that doesn't work, other family members or adoption should be considered.
In addition, targeted social work often succeeds in not separating the affected minors from their relatives in the first place.
So far, the reform, the move away from children's homes, has been making slow progress in Kenya.
Other African countries are already further along, especially Rwanda.
There, in cooperation with the UN child protection organization Unicef, the renovation of the care system began in 2012.
Numerous homes have since been closed, and two thirds of the children cared for across the country are instead placed with their families or with foster parents.
The authorities have trained more than a thousand foster mothers.
The program has now been evaluated and the result: "A foster parenting system is also possible in low-income countries." The neighboring countries Uganda and Tanzania now want to follow suit.
Children's homes as a colonial legacy
Jane Munuhu in Kenya is also convinced that something has to be done quickly.
Children's homes are a colonial legacy, Africa must return to care in family structures.
But it will be years before there are enough alternatives to children's homes in Kenya.
Munuhu appeals to potential donors: "In the meantime, they should continue to support certified and well-run children's homes financially - at least until we can offer real alternatives."
Meanwhile, Wambui and Robin are running through their new home, their clothes still wet from the rain.
Her foster mother Jane smiles mildly, she already knows that.
One thing is important to her: This year the children should experience a real Christmas.
At a family.
Even if it's not her own.
* The names have been changed to protect the children.
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