A walk in the street of any Kenyan city will not be complete without an encounter with street children, which begs the question on why the population of adults living in the streets is significantly less.

The reality is that many of the street kids do not live to be adults, according to one man who has survived to tell the tale of the harsh Nairobi street life - Isaack Karimi- who is now a trader in Ngong.

Karimi intimated to Pulselive.co.ke that the environment street kids live in is extremely hostile and filled with many hazards including drug abuse and poor health exacerbated by lack of shelter and the bullet.

Many of those who survive the poor conditions resort to crime where the result is almost always death – or prison if they are lucky.

Although being temporarily trapped in the life of drug abuse and crime, Karimi has managed to build a family and is now focusing on changing the lives of street families in Kenya.

Karimi abandoned the dark world of stealing scrap metals at Lang’ata Cemetery and chose to start a legitimate water-selling business in Rongai.

It is here that he met a wife and they started a family and shortly after, were blessed with their first child.

Later, the wife conceived again and this time, they were twins that they decided to name them after President Uhuru Kenyatta and Mama Ngina Kenyatta.

“We named our twins Uhuru ole Kenyatta and Ngina Kenyatta to honor President Kenyatta’s initiative of free maternity that have allowed us to bring up a healthy family,” Karimi says.

He adds that he has big plans for his children - praying that they become lawyers and build on his positive legacy, but that's not all he does.

"I am looking to help more street children move out of the street life. Even as I look after my small family, I often have to look out for my bigger family in the streets".

"The rainy season was especially tough as I had to bury many of them who died while sleeping in the river banks. I have a wish of one day meeting President Uhuru so that I can explain to him the plight of street families," he recounts with remorse.