Joseph's Story

Imagine being homeless and living on the streets of Eastleigh, a tough Nairobi neighborhood known as "Little Mogadishu". You've had a little too much to drink, so you can't run away like your other friends when some thugs show up. You can't fight them off before they drop a big rock on your right leg, breaking it.

This is Joseph's story. We met Joseph when Larry and Moses, two of the staff at Made In The Streets, stopped to talk to him as we walked from the Rounda base to the Calif base. A "base" is just a place for the homeless in Eastleigh to gather and sleep, protected through a shared sense of community.

We walked up a pile of garbage, past some large bales of plastic bags awaiting recycling, and found Joseph lying there. Larry & Moses found him a month ago with the broken leg and took him to the hospital and got him treated. Today we met with him, made sure he was healing ok, and prayed for him. He also had anohter friend in a Chicago White Sox sweatshirt standing nearby - and Moses gave him a 50 shilling note ($0.63) to buy Joseph some food - since Joseph can't get up to walk and get food on his own.

With his friend, Larry and Moses, Joseph is luckier than many on the street in Eastleigh - he's got people who care and who look after him. But life is still extremely hard. The bales of plastic are sitting on a trash heap, and that's where Joseph lies all day. Hundreds of flies are on the bales, on the trash, and on Joseph. The stench is almost unbearable. but this is Joseph's home right now - and believe it or not, it's better than living at many of the bases.

In another month, Larry and Moses will take Joseph back to the doctor to check on his healing progress, and hopefully get his cast off. Until then, it's another cold night on top of the trash heap for Joseph and hundreds others in Eastleigh.