Center for Child Protection and Trauma Recovery for Victims of Abuse

Shelter for sexually abused or neglected children and adolescents

Project Objective

• Admission and care of children and adolescents who have been subjected to sexual exploitation or neglect

• Support for minors during court proceedings

• Protection against further violence

Initial Situation

According to UNICEF estimates, 30,000 children in the Mombasa metropolitan area are involved in child prostitution. Most of them are girls between the ages of 12 and 18. Numerous tourists seek to use and exploit these children. An increasing number of human trafficking cases are also being reported. Daughters from vulnerable families in rural areas, in particular, are being trafficked to the coast. For many years, the number of police-reported cases of sexual abuse has been rising.

In 2013, the director of OKOA SASA noticed the increasing number of (street) children in Mombasa who were victims of sexual exploitation. She therefore decided to establish a shelter in line with her motto, “Help immediately.” There are now three shelters that can accommodate a total of 50 children and adolescents. It is not uncommon for the young girls—who are still children themselves—to be pregnant as a result of rape when they arrive at OKOA SASA.

What does that mean, specifically?

The Okoa Sasa Center for Child Protection and Trauma Recovery takes in children who have been victims of sexual exploitation or have survived attempted murder. In emergency situations, children aged five to sixteen are provided with a place to sleep, food, and psychological support to help them process their traumatic experiences. The staff ensures that the children’s well-being always comes first. Sometimes, due to the brutality of the violence they have suffered, multiple hospital visits are necessary. OKOA SASA facilitates both physical and psychological recovery to the greatest extent possible.

It is not uncommon for the young girls—who are still children themselves—to be pregnant as a result of rape when they arrive at OKOA SASA. Here, they receive loving care and are prepared for childbirth. As a result, the shelters usually house up to ten additional infants and toddlers who also require care.

The children and adolescents are referred to the center by the Kenyan Child Welfare Agency and the police. However, the staff also actively reach out to victims of violence and offer their support. To this end, they conduct outreach work in various high-risk areas to make girls—often minors—involved in prostitution aware of available assistance. Sometimes the staff also receive reports of abuse cases involving young children, which they investigate.

The Okoa Sasa shelter is, in theory, an emergency shelter. In practice, however, the length of the children’s stay depends on how long the court proceedings take and what kind of environment the children can return to afterward. The staff members help the children prepare for court proceedings against their abusers. To this end, OKOA SASA also works with pro bono attorneys.
 

OKOA SASA ensures a smooth transition for children returning from the shelter to their families. To this end, staff members visit the mothers—who are often single parents—as well as other parents or relatives. Awareness-raising sessions and counseling sessions are held to ensure that the child can return to a safe environment and is protected from violence and abuse in the future.

Protection Against Sexual Exploitation—Including Online

The Center’s work is complemented by the project “Strengthening Capacities to Sustainably Combat Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA).” This is because the sexual exploitation of children is increasingly taking place in the digital realm. Children who grow up in extreme poverty, without family support, or as orphans are particularly at risk.

To identify affected children early on and provide them with targeted assistance, the project strengthens the local child protection network in Mombasa. Police, schools, counseling centers, parents, and community leaders are made aware of online child abuse and trained to recognize suspected cases, report them, and provide trauma-informed support to affected children. Volunteer Community Referral Committees play a key role in this process.

In this way, the two approaches complement each other: While the center offers affected children a safe space, psychosocial support, and help in processing their traumatic experiences, the OCSEA project ensures that at-risk and affected children in the community are identified earlier and referred more quickly to appropriate support services.