The modern society has been witnessing an outburst of humanitarian organisations championing for the issues of the female child.
These ever growing high number of campaigns targeted at highlighting issues mostly affecting the girls has made the society to overly neglect boys. The situation is even worse in Nairobi slums where life is naturally a challenge given the financial status of the slum dwellers.
Kimani, a boy child rights activist living in Karanja Road estate lamented that today's society has perfected the art of vilifying the boys by protecting girls. He noted an incident where there was a case of domestic violence and the woman suffered an injury and the man is harshly taken to task. Ironically, if the man suffered, there is little or nothing that is done to help him get justice.
This is just an indication that the boy child is on the verge of massive wastage in the society. Across the country, there is not even a single humanitarian organisation that has come out in public to highlight the plights of the male child. This does not mean boys have no challenges in their environments, but the problem is that no one is there to loudly air their concerns.
In Kibera schools, girls are often provided with free sanitary towels and frequently encouraged to take their education seriously. On the other hand, no one has ever come out to distribute free pants to the boys or even give a focus on their reproductive health.
The neglect of the boys in the area has had negative impacts on the social lives of the boys. In 2015, the number of boys who dropped from the education system doubled that of the girls. The drop outs often get into crimes or resort to the streets thereby increasing the number of street families in the city.
This is a ticking time bomb that activists say should be addressed before it fully explodes.