Our Vocational Students’ Poem of Thanks

REFORMED

They laughed at us
When we roamed the streets
They scorned us
When we over turned the dustbins
They spat at us
When we passed near them with tattered clothes
And stinking bodies

They sneered at us
When we lay on the streets
In the cold nights
And heavy rains
They starred at us
When we sniffed glue
They never took notice
When we begged for food

But today
We design their clothes
We build their mansions
We dress their hair
We drive and repair their cars
We fix their appliances
We make their furniture

They no longer despise us
For we no longer stink
We no longer beg
We no longer sniff
We no longer starve
Our donors have seen us
We are reformed and refined.

Alex Mutiso composed the “Reformed” poem with Jitegemee’s vocational students.