Lifesong Kenya started off as a Reading Club in 2010 before it was Community-Based Organization in 2013. Here are some facts about us.
Since then...
… we’ve grown into a leading grassroots nonprofit organization that is focusing on:-
- Reconciling first time offenders or youth who have been wrongfully incarcerated with the people they are in conflict with
- Helping male youth exiting juvenile prison to develop a sustainable exit plan for their reintegration into the community
- Providing transitional housing for male youth who need healing and recovery from stigma and trauma
- Helping mothers and families of the boys to start small-scale businesses
Here’s why the boy-child matters to us
For more than 10 years, Lifesong Kenya has been offering essential support to boys and young men who are languishing in the Kenyan juvenile prison system through its education, skills development and transformative justice programs.
In October 2021, Lifesong Kenya added a Halfway House to its program after sensing the need to provide shelter for boys who need a safe space for healing from stigma and trauma. The halfway house provides 3-months housing, meals, medication, trauma-informed therapy, coaching, education and empowerment as a key exit and re-entry strategy.
Due to the high number of boys and young men who need healing from trauma, we would like to invite you to join hands with us in putting a smile on their faces. You can join and be a champion for our resource mobilization, partnership linkages and fundraising initiatives.
Also, you can be a champion for our bid to buy land and construct a Halfway House for that will enable us to take care of boys who are survivors of sexual gender-based violence, abuse, neglect, exploitation or wrongful incarceration.
To us at Lifesong Kenya, this is more than a Halfway House for boys and young men. It is personal. We hope you will join our mission and become a Champion for Lifesong Kenya.
Our Lifesong Story
Lifesong Kenya was founded by James Ouma who deeply felt the need to mitigate the Sexual Gender-Based Violence inflicted on vulnerable youth from early in life. By the time they find themselves in the Juvenile Justice System, childhood trauma has done serious damage that cannot be repaired by a prison sentence.
James discovered that juvenile delinquents in the Kenyan prison system are:-
- Either, in contact with the law (these are youth in need of care and protection), or,
- in conflict with the law (these are youth in need of care, protection and rehabilitation since they are victims conditioned by poverty and harsh environments).
The drive to start supporting such youth, especially the boy-child, was born out of the experience Hawi James Ouma, our founder, went through after getting arrested in 2005 for a crime he didn’t commit. After remaining in police custody for 8 days, James’ trust in the justice system was affected.
He needed psychosocial support to deal with the trauma that resulted from being arrested and losing his income from tutoring school children in Eastlands, Nairobi. Not only did James lose a source of income, he ended up being treated with stigma, thanks to getting arrested and staying in police custody.
The desire to do something about wrongful arrests and incarceration was birthed in July 2012 when James met 100 boys at the Nairobi Remand & Allocation Prison, at Industrial Area. James discovered the psychosocial limitations that condition boys to be deviant in nature, and established ways of diverting boys and youth from the justice system.
Overwhelmed by the reality in the background story of each boy, James decided he will be visiting the prison facility each Friday, which was his off day from his work as a children’s TV Producer and that’s how programs by Lifesong Kenya began.