Street boy impresses Sonko with fluent English

Street boy impresses Sonko with fluent English

A video of a young Nairobi street boy whose command of English is immaculate has gone viral on social media and has prompted Kenyans to donate towards his education.

The most notable well-wisher is Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko who has since launched a search exercise for the 15-year-old.

The young Morris was recorded by a volunteer of the Homeless of Nairobi Charity Group.

In the 2’18” clip, Morris articulates on the need to give opportunity to street children, saying the street equally harbors talented and knowledgeable families, only that they do not have the same opportunity as other citizens.

He further put Nairobi Governor Dr. Evans Kidero on the spot after the county executive kicked street urchins out of the Central Business District (CBD) ahead of US President Barack Obama’s Kenyan tour.

Street children need the opportunity

Morris said: “My message to the public is that in the streets we have talented people, and we have those who have knowledge, but what they are lacking is something called opportunity”

“Opportunity is an English word that simply means chance. So, they are lacking that chance and if they are given that chance I am sure, 99.9 percent sure – you cannot be 100 percent sure – because we have those who have a normal mode of understanding and a high mode of understanding.”

“To cut the long story short, what these people need is an opportunity,” he stressed.

“… For instance when Obama was coming to Kenya, we have this service we call the National Youth Service. They started clearing us. I thought by clearing us they would take us to a better place where we would go and sleep, go to school and so on and so forth, but they were just clearing us… (shakes head).”

“They took us to a certain police station called Moroto… It was a type of clearing, you just clear so that when the VIPs come, they just see it is an industrialized country.”

“My message to the government is; let us give these people the opportunity; only that – no more, no less.”

“To the President of the county, that is the Governor, Nairobi County is the leading city in Kenya with a lot of the so-called chokoras. These street families let us give them opportunity; my key word is opportunity.”

According to the volunteer who recorded the clip, Morris is a standard eight dropout who escaped to the streets after facing discrimination in his family.

The recording was an instant hit among Kenyans who have since sought more information about Morris’ background.

The charity group consequently posted a full transcript of the interview on their Facebook page ‘Homeless of Nairobi’.

In the transcript, the young lad narrated his heart-wrenching experiences with his family that saw him seek refuge in the streets of Nairobi.

Suffered discrimination

“I’ve been on the streets for one year now…I suffered from family discrimination. They did not want me and fought a lot. My father was a polygamist and a drunkard,” explained Morris.

Kenyans contacted the charity group on how they can help take Morris back to school. By Tuesday evening, a sponsor had agreed to pay his school fees for a year.

Senator Mike Sonko, touched by the boy’s message, offered to assist saying: “Hamjamboni. Whoever knows where this street kid in the below video (Morris) is should contact my office for immediate assistance.”

Radio personality Caroline Mutoko was also awed by the street boy’s mastery of Queen’s language: “I have watched this thrice. Each time I learn, hear, observe something new.”

Watch Morris’ video below:

 

 

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