The lost children of Kenya’s political violence

Esther Kiarie, a counselor who does art therapy with the youngest children, says they keep drawing houses and waiting vehicles — apparently to make an escape. Many recoil from the idea of going home.

A 6-year-old boy in one orphanage says he cannot remember where he lives. He only knows his mother's name and that she braids hair in a salon run by a woman he calls "Mama Dana." All the orphanage workers know is that he turned up at a nearby refugee camp.

In some ways, missing children have been easier to find than the adults. Children tend to be taken in by someone or turned over to officials. The Red Cross said it has located only about 100 of the approximately 1,000 adults who have been reported missing by relatives.

David Mwangi, 7, said he hasn't seen his parents since just after the election.

On that late December day, the boy was home in the western city of Nakuru when men forced their way into his house and started burning everything. His family is Kikuyu, the tribe of President Mwai Kibaki, whose members have clashed with ethnic groups that supported the opposition.

David ran out of the house and didn't go back. He slept in the street for a few days, then got on a bus for the 100-mile trip to Nairobi. He said he didn't pay; he doesn't remember anyone asking. He wandered around the capital until another child took him to the police, who sent him to an orphanage.

Thin-limbed in a school uniform of blue shorts and matching checkered shirt, David told his story with a wooden face. He sat quietly and didn't smile as he talked.

His parents are all right, he said. They weren't home when the men came. They had gone to visit his grandmother on the other side of town. So they must be all right, he said.

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