Overnight daycare operators making a killing in Nairobi estates

You will not bump into a poster advertising night daycare services, but it's happening, almost quietly.

The silent business is buoyed by the rising numbers of working single parents in the capital, who are looking to engage caregivers at daycare stations beyond the day.

The bubble is not exaggerated for a capital that boasts over 4 million people, with over 300,000 children said to be aged four years old and below. 

Winnie Musonye, a single mother of a beautiful two-year-old baby girl, is a longstanding beneficiary of such night services, and so are many other working parents and single mothers.

Ms. Musonye works at a major hotel in Nairobi – and has to travel nearly 30 kilometers daily, to and from work.

She says that her daily work routine is so demanding; so much that she hardly gets time to be with her daughter as much as she would like – as a mother.

“There are days when I work through the night, only returning home in the morning, it’s that demanding,” she says.

Musonye who lives alone with her daughter – has an arrangement with a daycare operator in her neighbourhood – who looks after the child at night when she is away at work.

“I pay Sh200 per night to the daycare operator, but I also pack food and clean drinking water for the child, and a few clothes in case she needs to change,” she says.

According to Madam Sarah, the lady who runs the daycare where Musonye is a regular customer, operating a 24-hour daycare is not a cakewalk. 

“There are times when a parent can leave behind a child for three straight days, without telling you in advance. This can affect your work and plans especially if it's a small child who needs a lot of attention,” says Sarah.

She adds: “Most of my customers are single women in the corporate fields, women who travel a lot for work; seminars, retreats and have no house helps at home to take care of their children for them when they are away.”

“There are people, also, who just want to get away from their children; to go out and party with friends and colleagues. I have had a few cases, and it’s okay to go out, provided one follows our operating guidelines."

According to Sarah, anyone planning to leave behind a child for a night stay must fill a special form with their personal details, phone number and name of contact person.

“It is helpful that I operate in my estate, and my customers are mostly people I already know, or are referred to me by our other customers,” says Sarah.

Although most of her customers are single women, she says she has received a few male customers.

“I remember this man who had had a quarrel with the wife one morning, and the wife left for her village in Busia, leaving behind a 14-month old baby. The man came to the daycare also in tears; he had no idea how to even change diapers,” she says.

sarah told Wananchi Reporting that she knows many daycares providers who offer night services; often in their own homes.

A recent mapping exercise put the number of informal daycares in Nairobi at over 2,700. The puzzle remains the invisibility of the sector since many are not registered with government of Kenya.