Overnight Daycares Making Good Money In Nairobi Estates

As demand for the service increases, several childcare providers in Nairobi are gradually starting to accept children for overnight stays.

You won’t stumble over a poster for a night daycare, but it does happen, almost invisibly.

The capital’s growing number of working single parents who want to hire caregivers for after-school programs has boosted the silent industry.

For a city with over 4 million residents, nearly 300,000 of whom are children under the age of four, the bubble is not overstated.

Many other working parents and single mothers, including Winnie Musonye, a longtime client of our night services and the mother of a lovely two-year-old baby girl.

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 be daycare crying; he had no idea how to even change diapers,” she says.

Sarah mentioned that she knows several daycare providers that give night services, frequently in their own homes.

According to a recent mapping project, Nairobi has approximately 2700 informal daycares. Since many are not registered with the Kenyan government, the sector’s invisibility continues to be a mystery.