This was Day 1 of the Malaika Foundation.
The very beginning, before it even had a name.
Before I truly understood what was happening in this forgotten corner of the world.
Before I could ever imagine that, together with others, we would be able to save the lives of so many children.
It all started with these photographs.
With the desire to show the world who they are, to bring their stories, their voices, and their cries for hope into the light. These images weren’t just portraits. They were a message. A call for help.
Through them, I was asking: “Look at them. Help me. Send something, just enough to buy a piece of bread.”
But I didn’t do it alone.
Sabbath, a girl from Nairobi whom I met by pure coincidence, was the first to offer her help. She understood what I was trying to do and stood by me without hesitation.
Then the help of Brownie, the first orphan I met on the street. He is the one who introduced me to the raw and painful reality of thousands of children with no family, no shelter, no food.
They didn’t just help me. They became the heart of it all.
Together, Sabbath and Brownie became the very soul of what would one day become the Malaika Foundation.
Without them, none of this would have existed.
Four years have passed.
Not all the children in these photos made it. Some were lost far too soon.
But many others are still here. Still alive. And now, they know what it means to be loved.
They’ve learned to hope again.
This was just the beginning. And from that first day, we never stopped.
Because when you save one life, you save many, their life, your own, and the lives of those who choose not to look away.