“There were many times when I was bullied and I wanted to talk to my big sister or big brother, and they weren’t near,” says Peter.Īfter almost two decades of living in a children’s home, one day Peter was told he had to move on. He calls his relationships with them “estranged” and “challenging.”
He was the youngest of his siblings and was separated from them by age and gender. Longing for loveĮven though he was surrounded by others in the children’s homes, Peter felt alone. After school, there was studying, more chores, dinner and bed around 9 p.m. The day was long for Peter and the other children in the orphanage. Those jobs included working in the kitchen, gardening and helping take care of the babies in the orphanage. Peter says his group had 35 children with only two caregivers. They didn’t see each other often because they were grouped together by age. Two years later, Peter and his siblings were reunited at a very large orphanage in Nairobi. And my sisters were taken to a similar place for girls.” This was a place for children who are in conflict with the law. Simon and Patrick, my elder brothers, were taken to a reformatory for boys. “ and I ended up in a children’s home for physically challenged children. We were separated two children per institution,” Peter says. “It was very hard to find an orphanage that would take six children from one family. Peter and his siblings were institutionalized. He and his five older brothers and sisters were referred to the children’s court. His mother died when Peter was six weeks old his father died a year later. As a child, Peter spent 19 years in Kenyan orphanages where, he says, he was often a number. Peter Kamau definitely has a name, and he has spent his adult life making sure other children know their names and feel love. And here is a place you are supposed to call home and you’re not even called by your name.” - Peter Kamau Even Scripture tells us that God knows our name. We were so many, a lot of times it was ‘wewe.’ Wewe is ‘you’ in Swahili.
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