Peter Kaiseri spends his days drawing away and displaying his artwork for sale on the streets of Nairobi. This is his way of earning a living. He is 14. In an ideal world, Peter would be in school and living at home with his parents or guardians. But alas, he is part of the growing number of homeless kids in Kenya.
According to the New Humanitarian, experts estimate that there are 250,000-300,000 children living and working on the streets in Kenya, with more than 60,000 of them in Nairobi.
Peter left an abusive home in Eldoret in 2016 at age 10 and found his way to Nairobi hoping to get as far away as possible from his father. The city life he had seen on TV was alluring and he wanted to experience life in the metropolis.
Having no friends or family in the city, he found companionship with older, more experienced homeless boys who taught him how to navigate the streets and survive.
From the coins he'd collect panhandling, Peter bought art supplies to tap into something he's always loved-drawing.
"I wanted to do more than just beg to survive. I had seen a friend of mine make beads for sale and I thought that perhaps I could sell my art." Peter says.
I met him a few days ago displaying his drawings across from the Parliament buildings.
He loves to  draw portraits and sports cars. I asked him about going back to school and he said he wasn't too keen on that as he'd have to repeat classes. He'd rather enroll in art school.
Peter says he would wish to one day leave the streets and find a permanent home and drawing is his way out.
"It's not easy living on the streets, I want to find my own home someday and also help other kids and I'll do that through my art".
Peter is one of the many brilliant kids living on the streets who ended up homeless whilst escaping abusive parents. 
The government established the Street Family's Rehabilitation Trust Fund  and its mission is to  "coordinate and develop capacity, mobilize resources to facilitate and monitor rehabilitative, re-integrative & preventive programmes  for Street Families."
It's come under criticism though. A few months ago, The Nairobi Metropolitan Services Improvement Project teamed up with Street Family's Rehabilitation Trust Fund to have kids supposedly under their care engage in manual labour. It caused an uproar online.
Peter wishes a well wisher would house him and help him go to art school. He doesn't own a phone so it's difficult to contact him. But he told me he spends most of his time along parliament road. If you'd like to help, watch out for him next time you're in the CBD.

About The Author

Author
Maureen Kasuku

Maureen is our resident cat lady and Beyoncé stan. She writes about spas, brunch and ballet recitals but has never been to any. Moonlights as a social justice activist in her spare time. She knows things and is obnoxiously opinionated on the internet but not in real life

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