My name is David Odhiambo. I am 15-years-old. I am Kenyan and I come from Siaya District in Uranga Division at Komenya [slum]. My story is about myself.
When I was nine-years-old my dad and mum died in an automobile accident while on their way to Kisumu to visit my uncle. After that, my aunt took me to her home to live with her. She said she would take care of me. But then she started to talk to me and treat me like her maid.
She made me sell bananas, mangoes, oranges, and lemons for her and when I went home at mid day I had to go graze the cows. She told me that I would not go to school to get an education because I was now the maid.
Three months later, my grandmother came to the house to visit me and see how I was doing. But I was sick with malaria [at the time] and so she took me to the hospital. After some time when the doctor gave me medicine and I started feeling better, I was able to talk to my grandmother. She asked me how I was living with my aunt.
I told her it was not good because I was not going to school. She got upset on seeing me dressed in tatters, yet my aunt always made me perform all the house chores alone together with looking after her children.
Immediately, my grandmother ordered me to pack my stuff and promised to come back for me the following day, so that she could take me to a better place. After coming for me, she took me to my elder brother’s house, thereafter, they wanted to enroll me to a primary school after buying me a new school uniform. So unfortunate, the school fees was too high, and they could not afford it.
Still, luck was on my side, my mother and brother managed to get me a school at Mathare called, Undugu Basic Education Program, they provide me with free learning materials together with lunch, uniform is not compulsory in this school.
I would like to become a motorbike mechanic once I finish my education.I’m very interested in writing my stories in Digital Storytelling project for Advocacy. My blogs are about environmental issues facing people in the slums.
After observing that the slums have become a dumping ground for those who do not live within the slums.Yet, the government does not take the initiative to clear the litter.
