John was a hard working boy every teacher liked him in the school he helped other students where they could not understand in the studies even in the society John was a good example to the other young men such as cleaning and keeping the environment clean, end of the year he sat for his KCPE exams and passed with good marks to go to the secondary school.

When he joined high school he performed very well the first and the second year but in the third year his performance dropped, his father was surprised he wondered what could have been the problem ,it was then that Johns sister Mary told his father that John had been going out with bad companies

John got himself into drugs he started being lazy and always complaining to be sick his father one day took him to the hospital to see what was wrong, due to the results he was found using hard drugs his father was angry that he transferred him to another school to see if he could change his behaviors but it was too late he was addicted to it.

John had to be expelled from school because of his bad behaviors so he had to stay at home back at home he could sneak into his parents room and steal money from her mothers bag then go and use it on drugs , it went on like that until one day when no one was at home he had hallucinations and could not control them he ended up committing suicide by hanging himself when the mother came she was shocked to see her only son on the rope hanging she could not do anything else but only to scream for help.

Photo by Elias Omondi

The USK has encouraged many youths in my community to form youth groups, and has taught us how you can manage it.

Many youths nowadays have involved themselves in many activities such as planting vegetables, washing vehicles, cleaning and keeping security in their communities, instead of using drugs and engaging in bad companies.

Group discussing major issues. Photo by Alixa.

For example there is a group in my community which started like a joke, the people in the area thought it was just wasting time but they knew what they were doing. They started collecting garbage, cleaning the environment, washing vehicles, planting vegetables, and doing other activities that were important. Nowadays they have gained more in their group and have made the group known.

The challenge we experience is that most of us don’t have the skills and tools to do useful works instead of being idle in the streets. Becoming a group is a process. You need to know what you are doing, and most youths don’t know how to do this.

We the youths are the leaders of today and we have to fight for it, if not there is no one who is going to fight for us.

Scale Weighing

I live on my own because my mother died when I was 13 years old.  I have never seen my father but have heard stories that he lives up country.  When she died I lived with a neighbor until I decided to have my own house at the age of 16.  I tried to look for sponsorships but it wasn’t my luck to go back to school; so I just decided to hustle on my own

 I myself I earn my living by collecting scrap materials such as plastics and metals.  We sometimes buy materials from people and resell them to the recycling industry.  Maybe we’ll pay ten shillings for one kilo and resell it for 12 or 13 shillings.  It’s hard work but it is the only way you can earn your living. In a day I can walk 5 km.  sometimes you can walk all that distance and come with nothing or something like 

Before I started that work I was a student in Ayany primary school in kibera. I finished my primary education; but I could not join high school due to lack of money and a guardian.

these are my friends cooking lunch