Kenya's Children Scarred by Violence

3 February 2008 BBC

Van is 13-years-old and comes from the town of Eldoret - one of the flash-points of Kenya's recent ethnic violence. As he talks about the events that befell his family a fortnight ago, his voice drops to a whisper. "My mother was attacked by men with machetes. I didn't see it - when I arrived, there was only blood on the floor." I went to the neighbor's house - his leg was broken. I was so very scared. He told me to run for my life." It is a story that could have been told by any one of thousands of Kenya's displaced children.

More than 60 of them are here in the SOS Children's Home - an orphanage on the outskirts of Nairobi. For the lucky ones, there is a chance their parents may be missing, but still alive. The rest of them already know that the events of recent weeks have left them orphans.