My name is Naomi Ebei. I am seventeen years of age. I aspire to become a sales marketer in future. Currently I’m in grade 10. I am the fifth born out of seven children in my family. When in grade 6, my mother started getting very weak and ill. She truly was suffering a lot to ease the pain inside her. She at times could vomit profusely and lose appetite easily. This made her weight drop drastic for she had to skip meals due to her lost appetite. Fear for further complications, my father thought it wise to rush her to hospital where she got admitted. After several tests conducted to her, she was diagnosed with heart problems and complications that could lead to its failure. She then had to be operated on so that she could survive but the money the hospital demanded was too high for my family to afford but still held their hopes high that they would get it one day to pay for her surgery. Meanwhile, at the hospital, my mother fought tooth and nail for her life and never giving up despite the pain and suffering she went through. Unfortunately, the battle was too tough for her. She lost it at the eleventh hour. It was a sad moment for us since we couldn’t believe all that was happening.she got buried in Lodwar.

Due to loneliness my father thought it best to remarry. The step mother ignored us and never cared for us in any way because we were not hers. She mistreated us and could overwork us to get satisfied. She never cared hence had no compassionate feelings towards us. It was torture especially for me for I was just seven years old by then. I then decided that I could no longer continue living in that miserable house. So I had to run away from home one night and started living in the streets. And that’s how I dropped out of school for I saw street life to be the best life for me. I formed a crew which I could stay with, in the streets. But the crew I had formed comprised of only drug dealers and addicts who later pressured me into joining them so that they could see me as one of them. Due to the peer pressure, I started taking drugs along with them. I smoked, I sniffed glue, I drank alcohol and took bhang and cocaine which I later got used to. The life seemed to be fun for I got to feel free. Two years down the lane… I was still living in the streets when on one day as I was heading to a shop, I met a woman at the shop. Since I had no money on me, I decided to borrow her so that I could buy some cigarettes from the shop. She gave me the money and bought five cigarettes. This left her perplexed and inquired as to why I had bought the cigarettes instead of something else. I then told her that I was a drug addict and so I had to buy the cigarettes. She got angry and took them from my hand and returned to the shopkeeper. She then led me away from there and started asking me as to how I ended up to be a drug addict in the streets. I narrated to her my story which left me melting in painful tears. She patted me on my shoulder and took me into her arms where I cried all my pain out. She felt pity for me and took me to her home. The strange woman took me in as her daughter and I got to go back to school. I started my schooling in grade 6 once more. Her strict nature made me fear her because I missed feeling free with my crew members but was still glad for I had to continue with my studies. I studied till I reached in grade 8 when suddenly I started missing the street life terribly. Due to the pressure from my withdrawals, I ran away from home again early in the morning to go to the streets to meet my friends. After finding them, I started living in the streets all over again. I continued taking drugs for I was so addicted to them. As I was still roaming around after a couple of weeks, I was met with by my neighbor. He was shocked to find me in the streets and not going to school like I used to back then and inquired as to why I was not in school. I was forced to narrate him all that had happened. His heart melted in pity and sorrow towards me and took me to his house as his daughter. Life at his house seemed to be fine despite his strict rules and nature. He thought that I might run away and continue taking drugs and that is why he set the rules that I couldn’t go out each and every time so as to prevent me from planning to run away. He then took me back to school in grade 8, a boarding school. The boarding school helped me a lot for it forced me to withdraw from using drugs that I couldn’t take them anymore even though it was hard. My life and my behaviors got to change since then. There at school, I got to study hard and work smart in that, I got to get focused in my education and sat for my national examinations where I got 257 marks out of 500 marks. The results made me so happy and excited. My guardian was so very proud of me and saw that I had potential to do more and excel in my studies if I put in more effort towards it. As I was approaching to join high school, my guardian informed me about Children’s Garden Home and School. He told me that he had studied there until he finished his high school education. He told me that Children’s Garden is a nice place for one to be and that they can even find for me a sponsor who would pay for all my high school fees. Although it was a home, it was the best place for him and assured me that I too will love being there. He asked me if I would agree to go study there and I agreed.

During admission, he brought me to Children’s Garden from Lodwar and I got enrolled in grade 9. Daddy Moses, director at the Children’s Garden Home and School, welcomed me whole heartedly with open arms and allowed me to study there even without paying for anything including my fees. He got to provide all my basic needs where I lacked nothing. For the far I have reached, I thank the Lord for placing people forward in my life who will help me to better my future like daddy Moses and my guardian too. For this reason, I promise to work hard and smart in my studies and make daddy Moses together with my guardian proud. I aspire to get good grades and achieve my dream of becoming a sales marketer in the near future. I will try all my level and use this golden opportunity to better my life and be the best of me.

Written by: Angel Mitchel