The Problem — Children on the Streets, Systems Under Pressure

Every year, thousands of visitors come to East Africa seeking wildlife, landscapes, culture and hospitality. Yet in these same communities, vulnerable children continue to arrive on the streets.

When we began our work in Mombasa in 2008, the estimates were already staggering.
In 2007, IRIN News reported approximately 300,000 street children in Kenya, including more than 30,000 in Mombasa. Kenya's 2018 National Census of Street Families later recorded 46,639 street-connected people nationally, including 7,529 in Mombasa. These historical figures reflect different measures and are not directly comparable.

In Uganda, estimates cited in our research indicated approximately 16,000 street children nationally, including around 10,000 in Kampala. Research and government reports have identified Karamoja, particularly Napak District, as a major origin of children arriving on Kampala's streets. In one documented operation, approximately 900 of 1,000 children rounded up in Kampala came from Napak, demonstrating why responses must also address the circumstances in their communities of origin.

Our work in Mombasa emerged in the context of widespread street-connected childhood alongside a thriving tourism economy. In Kampala, the movement of vulnerable children from Karamoja reveals challenges extending beyond the city itself. Soroti's proximity to Karamoja, together with founder Daniel Benon Okiror's roots in Teso, places our work along the journeys connecting Karamoja with other urban centres, including support for children reconnecting safely with families and communities.

Children are pushed towards the streets through poverty, family breakdown, displacement, interrupted education, food insecurity, violence and loss of livelihoods.This is not simply an orphanhood problem, nor one solved by giving a child somewhere to sleep. It is a problem of systems, livelihoods and opportunity.As Kenya and Uganda move towards family- and community-based care, unpredictable donor funding makes long-term support increasingly difficult to sustain.

The Gap — The 18-Year Cliff
After twenty years of walking alongside vulnerable and street-connected children, we have learned that rescue is only the beginning.Over 10,000 Children impacted by our street and community work of these, more than 100 young people have passed through our long-term care home in Mombasa alone many still in Soroti. Some now serve as mentors, staff and leaders. Others still need support towards independent adulthood.A child may receive food, shelter, protection and education, but eventually that child becomes an adult. At eighteen, the need for housing, further education, practical skills, employment, income, relationships and belonging does not disappear.

We call this the 18-Year Cliff.
Our September 2026 assessment identified approximately 48 former programme participants still needing transition support.When funding is unstable, organisations can remain focused on immediate survival and rescue instead of building what comes after care.The gap we have chosen to address is the lack of a sustained pathway from childhood care towards independence and contribution.
From Temporary Care to Sustainable Transformation.