By Martin Swinchatt

This article was published by Caritas Australia

Six years ago, a newborn baby’s story made Kenya’s national press. Unnamed, unloved and dumped near a slaughterhouse in Nairobi, her cries caught the attention of a young woman who saved her. Martin Swinchatt, Africa Regional Representative, tells the story.

Now six years old, Angel is living with a family in Huruma slum, Nairobi. Her biological mother was never found, so she was informally adopted by Teresia Wairimu, 38, and her two sons. All members of the family are HIV positive, as is Angel.

In 2008, Teresia gave birth to her third son, but before she could reach a clinic, she went into labour and delivered him in one of the many alley ways. At the time, heavy rains had caused severe flooding throughout the slum, so the baby washed away and died.

How our local partner, Pendekezo Letu (PKL), is helping

It’s hard living here but with PKL’s support, life is getting better for the Wairimu family. They have moved out of their old one-roomed iron shack into a new two-roomed house next door; Angel attends primary school; her 18-year-old brother is studying mechanics and her eldest brother, 22, is attending secondary school.

Before PKL, the family slept on pieces of wood and cardboard inside their rusted iron sheet shack. They now have basic household items, such as beds, blankets, mattresses, kerosene lamps and cooking utensils; as well PKL provides monthly high-protein food supplements like unimix, cooking oil, cereals and beans for the whole family.

Teresia is a member of a PKL-supported women’s HIV support group (the 35 members are all HIV positive). They hold weekly meetings where they make crocheted woollen tea cosies; these are then exported to the UK and sold for £10 each at a chain of tea shops in London. Currently approximately 30 per month are sold, but we anticipate expanding to 100 per month.

A big thank you to British Airways for transporting the tea cosies free of charge and to Huw Marks, owner of the tea shops, who returns all the proceeds to the group.

In order to supplement Teresia’s income from the sale of the tea cosies, PKL has also provided her with a small business loan to start a grocery shop, from which she now earns a net profit of US $3 per day.


Martin Swinchatt has spent the past 20 years in Africa, working primarily with the International Rescue Committee in Somalia, South Sudan and Kakuma refugee camp. Before becoming Africa Regional Representative for Caritas Australia he was the Founder and first Director of PKL.