Not Invisible Anymore
350,000 children in Kenya work as domestic labourers. Most of them are girls. #ISeeYou #NotInvisibleAnymore
A crisis hiding in plain sight
In homes across Kenya, children sweep floors before the sun comes up and wash dishes long after it sets. They do not appear in school registers. They do not appear in labour statistics. They appear in the corner of a kitchen, in the back of a courtyard, in the household next to yours.
Society has learned to look away. A girl with a broom is so familiar she becomes furniture — part of the architecture of someone else’s family. Invisible because we have agreed not to see.
This monument is a refusal of that agreement. A child who would normally remain hidden inside someone else’s home is now standing in the middle of public life. Invisible becomes visible. Private becomes public. Ignored becomes acknowledged.
She is right here. She has been here the whole time.
What this looks like, every day
The people doing the work
The Not Invisible Anymore program works with twelve frontline organisations across Kenya. They run helplines, safe houses, legal aid, and community programs that protect children in domestic work – every day, with or without a monument in the street.
Childline Kenya
Operates Kenya's only nationwide 24/7 toll-free child helpline. Counselling, rescue, safe shelter, medical care and legal support — every time you call 116.
African Institute of Children Studies
Research and advocacy on child protection across Africa. Led the Hidden in Plain Sight study with the Freedom Fund.
AMKA Africa Justice Initiative
Legal aid and access-to-justice support for women and children affected by violence and exploitation.
Azadi
Survivor-led organisation working to end modern slavery through advocacy, support and lived-experience leadership.
Baridi Kwa Baridi
Community-based protection and rescue work with vulnerable children in coastal and informal urban settlements.
Busara
Behavioural science research partner using community insights to shape interventions that protect at-risk children.
Busia Beyond Crime
Cross-border child protection along the Kenya–Uganda corridor, focused on trafficking prevention and rescue.
Geno Community Development Initiative
Grassroots organisation working with vulnerable families to keep children in school and out of exploitative labour.
Investing in Children and their Societies
Long-term programs supporting child protection, education and economic resilience in vulnerable Kenyan communities.
Maisha Girls Safe House
A safe house and rehabilitation centre for girls rescued from abuse, exploitation and child domestic work.
Maono Africa
Creative agency partner producing the NIA monument and on-ground activations across Nairobi.
We Reach
Community outreach and direct support for children in exploitative work and at-risk households.
Behind the monument
The Not Invisible Anymore monument was created in collaboration with children with lived experience of domestic work – girls who shared what they wanted the world to see, and what they wanted the world to stop pretending not to see.
The work is theirs. The acknowledgement is overdue.
To every child whose story sits inside this sculpture — thank you for letting us see you. We will keep looking.
Acknowledgments
- Creative partner — Maono Africa
- Research partner — Busara
- Strategy partner — Khangarue
- Convened by — The Freedom Fund
Three things you can do today
Call 116
If you know a child working in someone's home and you are worried about their welfare, call Childline Kenya. Free. 24 hours. Confidential.
Share #ISeeYou
Tell people what you saw. Share the monument. Use #ISeeYou and #NotInvisibleAnymore. The conversation is the campaign.
Read the research
Hidden in Plain Sight - the Freedom Fund and African Institute of Children Studies' study of child domestic work in Kenya.