No pretty, expensive apartment high-rises in Nairobi. Even so, with millions of inhabitants, the capital of the East African country Kenya is the economic centre of the region. Because of this, life has become hard over the last years, particularly for the children of Nairobi. The problems with street kids seem unsolvable. Some come from the slums to the city centre, searching for kicks. They are addicted to sniffing glue. Those who are arrested on the street by the police find themselves in dire straits. The police can’t be trusted and act without any consideration for anyone’s situation. ‘You are not allowed to loiter around,’ says a boy in the orphanage. ‘But if you don’t have a home, what can you do? And you end up going to jail. That’s why I want to become a lawyer. To fight against the injustice.’ The parents of children in the slums are furious, but they are powerless. Children can sense that. But what can they do? Recently there was a big riot in one of the slums. The police intervened. There is a children’s home in most neighbourhoods and their staff frequently visit the police. They check to see if there are any children being kept imprisoned that they can take with them. In the children’s home they get lessons, sometimes with church aid. Going to school means being squashed into a hall that’s much too small along with forty other children, with one teacher to maintain order. But it’s better than nothing.

In Nairobi the organisation Childlife Trust is familiar with the problems of the street kids and they maintain contact with the different shelters. Through Childlife Trust twelve children came together for the Home/Life photo project. They know life on the street and have lived in the slums for years, in a house made of dried mud. But as soon as they mix with other people, they put on their best clothes and polish their shoes. Why does the little boy from the south of Sudan take so many pictures of one particular car? He doesn’t want to say. After two weeks they all know for certain that they want to become a photographer! That is the future. But halfway through the project one of the participants hands in his camera. His parents in the slums wanted to take it and sell it. It would have raised enough money on the black market for a week worth of food. But he thinks that is not fair and would rather return the camera. After a few weeks the shy Sudanese boy dares to say a bit more. ‘That car? My daddy, who is dead now, he had exactly the same car.’