Publicity:

The world has given around 600 billion dollars to Africa in aid and loans since 1960. So it's no surprise that many Africans wonder why their countries are poorer now than they were then.

Foreign Correspondent profiles three former street kids from the slums of Nairobi who are succeeding where the West's grand aid projects have failed.

A few years ago, Henry Kangethe and Nico Kori were begging on the streets of the Kenyan capital to support their addiction to sniffing glue. Now, with a former teenage runaway, Elisabeth Nyawira, they're working with a youth outreach program that rescues children still caught on the streets.

The Italian-funded charity AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation) treats street kids as a resource rather than a social program. It provides free schooling and trains them in music, theatre and film-making to increase their self-esteem. The young people who join, like Henry, Nico and Elizabeth, then spread the word to other street kids who trust their advice because they've been in the same situation.

The trio are now filming documentaries on life in the streets to spread understanding of the problems children face. Last October, they travelled to a World Bank conference in Rome to interview delegates as to why the money they give doesn't reach the people who need it.

"They give to big people who don't care," says Elisabeth Nyawira, "who think only about themselves."

Reporter Eric Campbell spent a week with them in the Nairobi slums as they tried to enlist others to come back to school. The report shows children as young as 12 addicted to glue-sniffing and begging or stealing to survive. Henry Kangethe insists there is hope for them.

"Many of them are saying they would like to go back to school," he says. "And if they go back to school they can see that the previous life they were living is not good for them."

Nairobi traffic

Music

00:00

CAMPBELL:  It's rush hour in Kenya's largest city.

00:13

Millions have been up since dawn in a daily struggle to get ahead. This is a society where a privileged few get a giant head-start and most have to fight just to stay in the race.

00:20

Meeting with street kids

We're meeting some children who've been left behind.

00:38

HENRY: I think there are some kids there.

ERIC:  Over the road there?

HENRY:  Yeah.

ERIC:  Let's walk over.

00:47

CAMPBELL:  Henry Kangethe has no trouble finding homeless kids.

00:53

As a teenager, he spent seven years sleeping on the streets.

00:58

ERIC: This is where you used to come, Henry?

HENRY: Yeah.

ERIC:  What would you do here?

HENRY:   I was coming here to beg for money, sometimes.

01:02

Music

01:11

CAMPBELL:  Most are barely in their teens, just as Henry Kangethe was when he started life on the streets. They have no families, no shelter and no comfort but sniffing glue.

01:17

Dennis with glue bottle

This boy, Dennis, is just 12.

01:31

DENNIS:  I don't know my mother. Even our family. When I go to school I will become happy.

01:36

Henry and Eric with kids

CAMPBELL:  Like Kangethe did, they beg and steal to survive.

01:51

Dennis

DENNIS:   I beg for money and then when I am given money, I go,  and then I buy food.

01:58

ERIC:  And why do you sniff this? It's very bad for you.

02:06

DENNIS:  This is called glue.

02:11

This is not good.  When I go to school I will not use the glue. 

02:18

Boys with glue bottles

Music

02:31

CAMPBELL:  There are thought to be more than 120,000 homeless children in Nairobi -- some orphans, some runaways from abusive homes.

02:37

It's part of the great tragedy of African aid. For decades, foreign lending bodies like the IMF and World Bank have showered money on the continent to build prosperity.

02:55

Man on refuse dump

More than 500 billion dollars have been given since 1960. Yet most nations are now poorer than they were then.

03:11

Eric and Henry with kids

Children like this still have to save themselves. But where grand schemes have failed, some small projects are getting through.

ERIC:  What are you telling them Henry?

03:22

HENRY:  I am telling them that I used to live the life they're living now. But then I went back to school. Then I changed. Nowadays I don't live the life I was living like back then.

03:31

ERIC:  Do you think there's hope for these kids?

03:48

HENRY:  Yeah, many of them are saying they would like to go back to school. And if they go back to school, they can see that the previous life they were living is not good for them.

03:50

Kids drumming at market

Drumming

04:02

CAMPBELL:  This is the school that helped Kangethe crawl back. It's an outreach program that mixes book learning with video, sport and music.

04:07

Run by an Italian-funded charity, the African Medical Research Foundation, it takes the classroom right to the street. Today, it's a music rehearsal in the heart of Nairobi's slums.

04:20

Nico drumming

The project has brought hundreds of children back to school, including two of Kangethe's closest friends. Nico Kori, who's 17, was addicted to sniffing glue.

04:35

NICO:  We have been practising for two months and we've come to this place not only to play, but to pass a message to the people.

04:47

Elisabeth singing

Singing

05:02

CAMPBELL:  Elisabeth Nyawira, who's now 19, was a teenage runaway.

05:04

Elisabeth addresses kids

ELISABETH:  And I was a street kid like you living at "the base". And when I stopped being a street kid I joined this group. You are welcome to come and join us to play the drums."

05:10

Kids drumming

Drumming

05:26

CAMPBELL:  The idea is to get kids interested in coming and then show them just how much they can achieve, even with the scraps of rubbish they scavenge on the streets. Then they spread the message to others.

05:35

The project is now training Kangethe, Nico and Elisabeth Niyawira to make short documentaries about street kids.

05:43

Shot through  viewfinder

-- How old are you?

06:01

--Ten.

--What do you want to do?

--Mechanic.

CAMPBELL:  As former street kids, they have an instant connection with the children they meet.

06:09

Nico with kids

NICO:  You must stop street life . We were in the same street life. We sniffed glue, smoked marijuana, and you can never know when you're going to start doing drugs. It just happens. You find you're getting stoned and sleeping out.

06:15

CAMPBELL:  While they're still learning the craft, they believe they'll be able to show things outsiders can't.

06:37

Nico, Elisabeth and Henry

NICO:   I don't think that, like you can come here and make a documentary trying to talk about life in the slum. You have never experience.

06:44

HENRY: We've slept outside and you have never. And even if you ever,  it is maybe in a club, that's not outside. No, I can tell you what I've been facing and what the other kids are facing.

06:54

Woman stirring big pot/Kids eating

Music

07:13

CAMPBELL:  The project gives the children one solid meal a day. For many, it's the only one they'll eat.

07:28

Music

07:34

Elisabeth at home

CAMPBELL:  Elisabeth Nyawira, who now lives with her aunt in a small house in the slums, can't understand why so little aid money has trickled down.

07:41

Super: Elisabeth Nyawira

AMREF member

ELISABETH:  They give to big people who don't care, who think about themselves.

Music

07:51

Women on street

CAMPBELL:  Africa, of course, has a long history of squandered aid. Billions of dollars stolen by corrupt politicians and wasted in bureaucracy. And many people here ask not only where the money's gone, but why the world keeps giving it  to the same people who keep stealing it. Well, armed with their cameras, Nico, Elisabeth and Henry got to take those questions right to the top.

08:09

Henry, Nico, Elisabeth on plane/In Rome

Music

08:33

CAMPBELL:  In October, the World Bank invited the trio to a development conference in Rome.

08:45

It was the first time they had ever left Kenya.

08:51

Elisabeth

ELISABETH:  I saw St Peter, many historical things like Colosseum, many things that I learn in books. And I saw them lively and  I was happy, yeah.

09:00

Elisabeth with video camera at conference

CAMPBELL:  But they were surprised to see the conference was almost entirely full of old white men.

09:14

ELISABETH: We kept on asking why don't we see young people.  They should be involved. Many women who are in poverty, girls, young girls.

09:21

Nico. Super:  Nico Kori
AMREF Member

NICO:  It is like choosing someone to represent you like in football and he has never played football.

09:36

Kids play football

CAMPBELL:  Back in Kenya, they've been using football to do what conferences just talk about.

09:46

The matches attract homeless boys from the slums. They have to hand in their glue to watch or play.

09:54

HENRY:   In participating you don't get time to smoke, to sniff and you change little by little. Like now I'm here, I've changed, I'm no longer sniffing glue. I took

10:03

Henry. Super: Henry Kangethe
AMREF member

one month to stop it, because I was willing to stop.

10:17

ERIC:  Was it hard ?

HENRY:   It was hard, because something was still pulling me into the situation, but I was like -- I had my teachers.

10:23

Kids walking down dirt road

CAMPBELL:  They now have even bigger dreams. Nico and Kangethe want to become news cameramen. Elisabeth Nyawira wants to go to university.

ELISABETH:  After that

10:36

Elisabeth

I want to be, I want to become a big journalist, yeah, who can pass message in Africa, help other youth. I don't want to see other youths - the coming generation - suffering. Yeah.

10:52

Kids rehearsing drum playing

Drumming

11:12

CAMPBELL:  The project relies on people who know first-hand what poverty is and what homeless young people really need.

11:24

Nairobi slums

Music

11:31

CAMPBELL:  It's a slow, hard process, winning over street kids one by one, then encouraging them to help those left behind. But in a landscape of squandered aid, it's proving to be a model that works where so many others have failed.

11:40

Music

11:58

Credits: 

Reporter : Eric Campbell

Camera: David Martin

Producer :Vivien Altman

Researcher: Cathy Scott

Editor : John McElhinney

12:03

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