From Kilimanjaro to Starehe: A story of survival, rescue, and hope

Author Name : Virginia Migwi

Published Date : April 29, 2026

In 1966, 32 boys from Kisii, aged between 9 and 18, were rescued from slavery in Tanzania and brought to Starehe Boys’ Centre.

One of them, 14-year-old Wako, shared how he had been taken from his home in 1962 by a fellow Kisii tribesman and transported to the Moshi district. There, in the forests at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, he and many others were forced to cut trees — given barely any food, no pay, and made to sleep in bushes. Even when sick, they were forced to work. Some boys lost their lives under the brutal conditions.

They revealed that nearly 600 Kenyan boys were scattered across Moshi, Tanga, and Njombe. When Kenyan and Tanzanian government officials began pursuing the traffickers, the men fled.

The boys were briefly sheltered at Starehe before being reunited with their parents and guardians in Kisii — a chapter of pain, rescue, and the restoration of hope.

Every child deserves safety, dignity, and the chance to hope again.