School-leaver at 11, domestic slave at 12, gang member at 15: how a missing birth certificate derailed a life

Unable to access her documentation, Esther* found herself trapped in a spiral of abuse typical of Kenya’s child labour problem

As a preteen, Esther*, now 20, says she could not wait for the weekdays to come around. Going to school meant an escape from the dark, tin-roof home she shared with her mother in a poorer part of Makadara, a high-density neighbourhood on the south side of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

She disliked that their house sat directly in front of an open sewer and had walls so thin she knew exactly what her neighbours were up to. But it was the boredom between naps and chores she dreaded the most.

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