Daniel Githinji 34 came to the United States from Kenya with a dream of sending money back home to build himself a house and start his own small business in Kirinyaga after winning a lottery. Instead he has been homeless for 4 years.
“I came here out of need! To help my family in Kenya and live my dream. But now I'm sick, undocumented and alone beside I'm looking at deportation.
Before I was homeless, I rented a real old apartment so I wouldn't have to stay on the street. But the rent was higher than my pay. My priority was to send money back home,” said the homeless man.
Mr Githinji's story is similar to thousands of immigrants with illusions of a better life who find themselves on the streets, it's hard to find work when you have been in and out jail so many times.
“There are times when I go upto three days without eating. Most people are afraid of you, because they think we're all drug addicts. I have seen the worst, but now I don't do drugs anymore. I just want a chance, drug addiction, mental illness, poor health and domestic violence are among the most cited causes for homelessness. Between 60 and 70 percent of the homeless are African American and white and approximately 30 percent of the rest are immigrants.”
Most alarming, however, is about half of the homeless are women and many of them are single mothers. For Kenyans and Africans who come to the US, the jobs you get are what you could not do in Kenya. From cleaning old women to toilets and sleeping only for 2 hours.
A bank executive can come to live and work in the US but start from being a cleaner. Just before you to the embassy begging for that Visa ........Think
For Mr. Githinji, the pride and dreams of those he left behind won't let him return empty handed.
Hatakama
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