For more than a year now, Judy Wanjiru, a reformed street mother wakes up in a warm bed, to a hot meal, warm clothes and a business to run. It’s a basic right that for more than 20 years, she was not accustomed to.

A former street child, Wanjiru often slept in the cold, on cartons, in Nakuru streets. It didn’t help that she had a child to provide for, and whose food came from leftovers, and coins dropped into her begging tin.

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When she wasn’t looking for food or a place to shelter, she was looking out for herself, evading predators who wanted her body. When her periods started, the routine involved scavenging for clothes in the street to use as sanitary towels, a sad reality of many street girls in the country.

“I started my periods when I was 13 years old, but only for the first month, before I fell pregnant. I did not have a clue on what to use, so I resorted to cutting t-shirts dumped in the streets,” explains Wanjiru.

“it is always a challenge for the girls to afford sanitary towels and if they do, it is from people they know who are willing to be of help. It’s therefore not a guarantee to have access every month,” she adds.

Unlike her, Gladys Wambui ran to the streets in 2019 after falling into a bout of depression. The streets, she thought, would provide her with the family she needed. However, she would end up in Wanjiru’s situation, always alert lest she is sexually assaulted.

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“Chapa chapa achia brathe is the slogan men tend to use on the ladies. Once you sleep with one of them, he will ensure you sleep with his friends. Ladies who are new to the streets tend to give away their bodies easily in exchange for meals,” explains Wambui.

The same year, she met Ms Wanjiru, who had made a resolve to better her life after losing her second child to hypothermia.

Grieving, she managed to get her life together, got married, and start a grocery business, which she now uses to rescue and care for street children. This has earned her the name “Mother County”. She now uses her voice to also advocate for sanitary towels for street girls and women.

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Former street mother Judy Wanjiru: I used trashed clothes as sanitary towels

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