He only has one name, Abubakar, given to him by others who live on the streets of Mombasa. But unlike them, the teenager has no recollection of a previous, more sheltered life and no knowledge of any relatives or their whereabouts. He spoke to IRIN on 21 September.
"As early as I can remember, I have always been on the street. I know I am 17 years old because the older members of the street families tell me so. I have never been to school. I don't know who my parents are. I only hear rumours that my mother left me and went to Europe.
"At first, other street families took care of me but as I grew up, I learnt to take care of myself. To survive, every day I go round with a sack collecting plastic material for recycling.
"I guess I am lucky in that I have never been sick and so have never had to go to hospital, otherwise I don't know what I would do if I fell sick. I buy water for drinking the same way I buy food, from street vendors. When I don't have money I scavenge for food in the dumpsters that I comb through for plastic material.
"Because I have been on the street for so long, I am senior now. Even if they are older than me, boys who come to the street now have to show me respect. I am in charge of the recycling of plastic here along this street where we have more than 300 families eking out a living.
"I have a house made of cardboard boxes and other material up that tree that I have lived in for the last four years. I would like to move to a proper house soon. I have saved 600 shillings [US $9] from the recycling business, I now need 400 shillings more [$6] to enable me rent a house in the Magongo slums. I hope to start a small business later as I save more money.
"My only regret is that my interest in music will never come to much. I know that if I got someone to produce my music I could go far, but this is just a dream for now. I am a member of a groups of street children who would like to be musicians, we call ourselves 'Wafalme wa Mombasa' [Kings of Mombasa] but we mainly sing to entertain ourselves, knowing very well that without money we cannot get anywhere.
"Since I have been on the street, no organisation - government or private - has tried to help me. I would like to go to school or even learn a trade if I am too old for school, but that is not something I think about too much as no one has offered to help; I just have to work hard and get myself off the street."
Js/am
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
