A super mom

By Hanifa Adan 

"Being a mother does not begin with giving birth, it's not about preparing for the nitty gritty of giving birth either but rather having a compassionate and caring heart" says Everlyne Opati, a 45 year old mother of 60 kids, 58 of whom she did not birth. 

Everlyne runs a center for kids that have been abandoned and left out to die. She has been that one blanket that covered the kids from the world's fridigness. 

Kaloleni support care centre was founded in 2006. It is based in south B,near the shopping center area. Everlyne explains the inspiration behind it. 

"Life has never once been a lap-of-luxury for me when growing up. Our family was extremely poor and the days when we'd get comfortable meals were countable. I have a sick mother whom I've been taking care of alone ever since my husband died. My husband was my pillar of strength and my daily breath of fresh air. I have been raising my two kids alone too. There was a sorrowful incident in our area, back in 2006 where a 7 year old girl was raped by her uncle.

As usual, the community and families tried to sweep it under the rug and just "settle" it among the elders. The decisions and outcome of that dreadful act inspired me to take the victim and raise her far from the environment she was in. Ever since that day, I took it upon me to help all the fragile children who have been abandoned and castrated from the community. I raise every child as my own and look out for them in all the ways I can afford. They have been my robustness going forward with this life. 

The children in the center were brought there for different but disconsolating reasons. Some were found in toilet pits, others were under 10 years addicted to drugs while others were found at the banks of the river like they were some fish or birds enjoying the fresh water. 

There are 35 girls and 25 boys at the centre currently. Kids under 10 years are 21. They had to go through thorough transformation for them to adjust to the new place. Most ran away and came back, others found it hard to quit drugs and would often hunt for them. The impetuous and impulsive kids would fight with the other kids and even injure them. Everlyne had to hop on the carrot and stick ruling to establish discipline and order among them. 

Section 159 of the children's Act provides for the powers vested with the court to dispense with the consent required of the guardian or biological parents in the following circumstances.

a. In the case of the parents or guardian of the child that he was abandoned, neglected, persistently failed to maintain or persistently ill treated the child provided that:

1. Abandonment may be presumed if the child appears to have been abandoned at birth or if the person or institution having care and possession of the child has neither seen nor heard from a parent or guardian of the child for a period of six months.

2. The court may dispense with the consent of the spouse of the applicant for an adoption if satisfied that the person whose consent is to be dispensed with, cannot be found or it is incapable of giving consent or that the spouses have separated or divorced and are living apart and that such separation is likely to be permanent.

The right of parents to raise their children within the family unit as a basis of social order is echoed under Article 45 of the constitution. It is therefore both constitutional and statutory that biological parents have exclusive rights to raise their children unless there exist specific circumstances for the state to intervene.  When the state provides the basic rights to education and health it does so within the confines of the family unit. In the event that biological parents cease to exercise their parental rights over their children the state under the constitution is mandated to fill in the gap.

The termination of parental rights can be occasioned where a child is removed from his/her home due to abuse, neglect or abandonment. It is the reason the government put in place a mechanism under the children’s Act for the involuntary termination of parental rights. The sole purpose is to protect the child for her or his best interest.(Kenya law adoption clause 5)

"I've encountered a lot of barriers and the worst was when I was almost brought to courts for allegedly not feeding the kids. The misunderstanding almost made me lose everything and everyone I cherished. When this center was starting, many people gave me the "she thinks she is mother Teresa '' cold eyes and glares. I disregarded everything said and continued helping the kids``

The centre depends on well wishers and sponsors. They were evacuated from the first building they were in and struggled to get another one. "There was a terrific hullabaloo over the ownership of that building. We tried our best to fight for it but lost it. A well wisher brought us to this new one. It's a small rusty one that still needs construction but we're still grateful. We hope everyday we get the support we need to renovate it for the kids. 

When the kids complete high school most of them leave to look for greener pastures. Most of them had their parents who abandoned them take them back. They had to assess the entire situation and see where the kid would flourish best. 

For kids as many as 60,all the help is always needed. They had two house helps before but had to drop them for financial reasons. They now only depend on a washing machine they got from a well wisher. 

Their everyday life is a balance of eating strawberries today and mulberries tomorrow. Despite all the slogging of this life, Everlyne keeps the hopes up and takes care of the kids with the utmost warriness and heed.