Who are you? It's a simple question, but Clinton Kamau takes his time answering it. First he says he is a Christian. Then, after a short pause: "I'm an orphan."

Clinton grew up with his younger brother and their mother in a slum in Thika. She was raising them alone and could no longer manage the school fees or the daily struggle to make ends meet. One day she was gone. That is how the two brothers came to The Ark.

Years later, when Clinton was already in high school, Jackson reached out to her. He wanted to tell her that her sons were healthy and doing well. She wanted nothing to do with them and hung up.

In this interview, Clinton speaks openly about what that did to him. He talks about the anger he felt back then and the long road to forgiveness. He also reflects on the question so many people ask: how can a good God allow this to happen? He offers no easy answers. Instead, he gives an honest account of growing up without parents, of what his life could have become, and of what gave him something to hold on to. When he is asked what he would say to his mother if he met her today, his answer is as simple as it is moving.

This is a part of an interview Clinton. Here you can see the full interview, here the part where Clinton speaks about his study at the University in Nairobi and here about being a Christianin the Ark and outside.