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One sunny day in 2019, Annitta Lumallas was taking a stroll along the streets of bustling Makongeni Estate in the outskirts of Thika town when she came across a woman who was wailing louder than the baby she was holding. 

While every passer-by went about their business, Annitta felt the need to check on the woman. The woman who was sitting on the pavement shared how she had not eaten for three days – same case with her baby. She couldn’t even breastfeed the little one as her breasts that had run dry were now painful from the little one incessant suckling. 

Annita dashed to get a loaf of bread and milk from a nearby shop. The woman hungrily took large bites of the bread as the baby downed the milk.

After her hunger pangs were dealt with, the woman got strength to share her story. She shared how a man she had been cohabiting with threw her out of the house. With nowhere to go, she had been living in the streets for those three days.

“She said she wanted to go to her village home in Ugenya, Siaya, but she didn’t have bus fare. I offered to give her Sh4,000 out of the Sh5,000 I had. I escorted the mother and the baby to Nairobi to help them board a bus destined for Ugenya. I bade them farewell after buying some snacks they could feed on, on the way,” she recalls.

The encounter with the woman led to one thing after another. “I started noticing street families more often. It is a problem that is growing in our streets. I felt I needed to do something,” says the 30-year-old lawyer.

When People Daily caught up with her, the soft-spoken unassuming woman, born and raised in a village in Kaimosi, Kakamega county, doesn’t say much about the education ladder she has scaled unless prodded. Matters to do with the vulnerable people in the society top her conversations­— not her law career or her pursuit of law degree, first at Moi University in Eldoret and later at Kenya School of Law.

Helping hand

The last born of a business couple —Isabellas and Jack Lumallas— who is the ex-pupil of Slarve Academy and Sekoo Girls High School in Eldoret, regards offering services to those in need a priority. “Yes, to be part of a learned team in court decked with impressive legal attire makes one feel good. That is why I spent years  studying law. But serving the less fortunate is equally fulfilling,” says the founder of Nilishe Foundation, which she started in 2019. 

Annita who also doubles up as a human rights activist and mediator initially started  ‘Nilishe’, a Kiswahili word for feed me, to provide food and clothing to street families who resided at Uhuru Park. But the project expanded to include health, rehabilitation and education of street families. The execution of all this, mostly relies on support from well-wishers.

“Street children have no access to medical care. And because some start families while still living in the streets, they need access to family planning, prenatal, delivery and antenatal services. Some really want to go back to school.  These children are a target of the police as they are thought to be criminals, hence require legal representation, explains Annitta.

Joseph Butita who is in charge of the feeding programme at Nilishe Foundation says street families have immensely benefited from the services of the foundation. “As we interact with them when feeding them, we get to identify their needs. Some just need to lead a decent life and would be happy to get jobs, others need help to acquire national Identity Cards, others need rehabilitation after abusing drugs, for some they just need food, clothing and a roof under their head… their needs are endless,” he explains. 

With no food or shelter, Annitta says some cannot wait to starve to death and therefore, resort to petty crimes.

She says how girls in the street cannot afford sanitary towels, yet they need such items every month. They are faced with the constant struggle to choose between a meal or sanitary towels.

Doing the little she can

A study commissioned by the Consortium of Street Children (CSC) revealed that there were 250,000- 300,000 children living and working on the streets across Kenya with, with more than 60,000 of them in Nairobi.

“In Nairobi, the public shuns these families – they are viewed as thieves, beggars just to mention a few dehumanising names. They face different forms of harassment on the streets, some are raped, others abuse drugs, beaten and roughed up. They live below poverty lines,” observes the lawyer.

She shares how the children’s faces beam when given something people would consider insignificantm such as  as a secondhand toy. “Some have never owned a toy. When we give them such an item, we appreciate that the toy would be broken an hour later, or the parents could sell the toy for whatever reason the next day, but wouldn’t it be nice to put a smile on a little baby’s face even just for a few minutes?” she poses.

Lack of finances is her biggest challenge, but Annittta is comforted that by doing the little she can, she is making a big difference in the lives of these street children.