Ndugu Mdogo: Little brother

Little Brother, in Swahili Ndugu Mdogo, is the recovery center for children and adolescents managed by Jack Matika and located in Kibera, the largest informal settlement in Nairobi. Through the collaboration of social workers and government agencies, the center identifies minors in family emergency situations, offering them shelter and the hope of a better future. “About 80% of the kids we support come from families living in extreme poverty: this is the reason why a large number of young people grow up in a context of violence, which pushes them towards substance abuse,” explains Jack Matika, “a way out often adopted to escape from the harsh reality that surrounds them.” Helping families therefore means tackling the issue at its root and, in this sense, financial support is an essential form of support. But, according to Jack, it is not the most important aspect: “It is time, affection and attention that are lacking, more than material goods.” The work done in the center is hard and complex, it takes time and tries to respond to the needs of each child: identifying the type of trauma and bringing out their personality. Some show surprising resilience, managing to overcome intense trauma, while for others the path can be longer and more tortuous. “An abusive father or stepmother figure is usually present. These are very difficult childhoods where the first thing you have to offer the child is safety and make them understand that okay: whoever you are, however you arrived, here you are safe, here you are at home, here you are protected“recounts Father Kizito Sesana, a Combonian missionary and Italian journalist. In Nairobi he started the Koinonia community and in Italy he is among the founders of the organization Amani. On the outskirts of Kivuli, one of Nairobi’s first drop-in centres has opened: the Kivuli Center, a place where children and young people living on the streets can find food, safety, and most importantly a feeling of belonging that extends to the whole community.

Indeed, the generosity and welcome offered within these facilities have helped to create a support network that extends to people outside the centre as well, thus promoting the importance of social inclusion, and a return to the family by the children received.This is a very complex approach that takes time and tries to address their needs, identify the type of trauma and bring out each child’s personality. Some show amazing resilience, managing to overcome intense trauma, while for others the road can be longer and more tortuous. “The road does not cease to fascinate, because it does not impose reflection on them, while in the recovery centre certain rules are imposed,” Father Kizito tells me, ” as time goes by, the experience of some children may prevail over the more fragile part of themselves. A very often denied part of the personality, which they must first discover, then acknowledge, and finally name it.

One must first understand the immense effort required of children, who are called to confront new personality traits, often veiled by traumatic life experiences. “Asking themselves the questions ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Who do I want to become?’ represents the first step toward a path of growth that they must embrace without compulsion,” Father Kizito stresses. For this reason, too, it is crucial to offer them a kind of affection they have never experienced before, an affection capable of awakening a part of themselves, repressed by fears and violence, that only an act of love can release.