OKOA SASA – Help Now!

The OKOA-SASA team helps to protect abused, vulnerable children and young, mostly teenage mothers. The needy are safe in the OKOA-SASA Rescue Center and there they are looked after and cared for by the employees in the best possible way. Usually the children, some of them still at baby age, are brought by an official of the Department of Children's Services, the police or an officer of the justice system. This year, 41 children and young women were accommodated in the Rescue Center.

In 2019 for instance, OKOA SASA has had to talk to the police about 89 serious cases of child abuse and is trying to accommodate the children either at the OKOA SASA Rescue Center or at partner organizations.

At the Rescue Center the children receive food, clothing and schooling. The staff is actively supporting the children and is involved in court cases, from pretrial to posttrial. In 2019, OKOA SASA supervised 96 lawsuits.

The employees ensure that the welfare of the children ranks first at all times. OKOA SASA makes sure that the children are in good mental and physical condition. Visits to the hospital are made no matter what the costs are, until it is clear that the children are healthy again.

76 treatments at the hospital were necessary in 2019 because the brutality of abuse is increasing. The staff is very concerned about these developments, as babies are already being abused and suffer severe injuries. Overall, the number of children seeking help is rising steadily.

OKOA SASA also ensures the safe return of a child from the rescue center back to their families. For this purpose, the employees visit the single mothers, parents or relatives (in 2019 there were 116 home visits). There they are informed about pedagogical issues and our social workers offer awareness raising and counseling sessions to ensure that the child can return to a safe environment and is protected from future violence and abuse.

The program includes community outreach work, where female employees visit poverty prostitutes (most of them are younger than 18 years) in various hot spots, e.g. in Kasaurina or Mtwapa.

Here sometimes the staff members also get information about cases of abuse of small children, which they investigate. In 2019, the OKOA SASA team was able to make 120 first contacts with women within durring streetwork. OKOA SASA continues to look after 46 of these initial contacts.

In addition to these activities, OKOA SASA also regularly offers so-called outreach campaigns, which serve to inform the local population about specific topics such as e.g. abuse, children's rights, the right to education, gender equality, HIV/AIDS.

In 2019 OKOA SASA was able to reach 342 people through these measure. To illustrate the necessity of OKOA SASA's work, we report on a case that illustrates many human fates in Kenya:

Saumu is a 16-year-old girl who was dropped off by the police at OKOA SASA in the middle of the night. The girl was completely confused, trembling and crying. She had to be calmed down first. Little by little the employees of OKOA SASA found out what it was all about: Saumu was raped. During her stay at the rescue center it soon became apparent that she was pregnant. Saumu received intensive counseling and psychological support so that she could slowly get used to her difficult situation. On October 4, 2019 she suffered a miscarriage and was taken to hospital, but could leave it again after a few days. OKOA SASA was always at her side during this situation and afterwards.

We would like to thank the foundation „Froschkönig“ for their support of our work.