This archive report was first published on 11 September 2021.
Published on September 11, 2021, a 12-year-old boy, Caleb Saina, has been living at the Kiambu Police Station for a week after his stepmother sent him to find his biological father in Nairobi.
Caleb, a Standard Four pupil at Forestall Primary School, was told by his stepmother, Fridah Moi, that she could no longer live with him as his father left almost a year ago and never returned.
According to Caleb, his father remarried two years ago after separating from his biological mother, and he lived with his father's second wife until Fridah Moi bought a bus ticket for him from Turbo to Nairobi and told him to go and look for his father in Kiambu.
Despite the difficulties he faced during his journey, Caleb maintained that he can recognize his father if he bumps into him on the streets.
However, his situation took a turn for the worse when he arrived in Nairobi past midnight and was left stranded at the bus station.
Fortunately, a security guard advised him to sleep in the vehicle, and the next morning, he found himself on Tom Mboya Street, where he heard a tout inviting potential passengers to a Kiambu-bound bus from the city centre.
After explaining his situation to the tout, he agreed to drop Caleb off in Kiambu, and it was around 11am when he had tried in vain since morning to find matatus that go to Kiambu from the city centre.
When Caleb arrived in Kiambu, he spent the whole day looking for his missing father, giving up late at night.
It was then that he saw police officers on patrol and explained his situation to them, and they took him to the Kiambu Police Station, where he has been living since.
He spends most of his time sleeping on the floor, and he would like to go back to school, as he believes that with a good education, he can support himself later.
