Environmental activist Truphena Muthoni has opened up about her challenging childhood, revealing that she was once abandoned and spent several years in foster care and a children’s home.
Speaking during an interview with Kameme FM on Thursday, December 18, 2025, Muthoni recalled that she was placed in foster care at a young age before being moved to a children’s homelocated along Thika Road.
“Yes, there was a time I was abandoned, but I am not ready to speak about that in detail right now. There was a time I stayed with my grandparents when I was small, and later I went to a children’s home. I cannot remember its exact name, but it was on Thika Road,” she said.
She revealed that she stayed in the children’s home for approximately two years, around the age of seven, in the years around 2007 and 2008.
During this period, her parents and other relatives were alive, but family circumstances led to her placement in care.
“I stayed in the children’s home for around two years, when I was about seven years old, around 2007 or 2008,” she said.
The activist shared that she is the fifth of six children in her family, which includes two boys and four girls, and that frequent family challenges led her to attend around fifteen different schools while growing up.
“During that time, my parents and relatives were alive, but I had been placed in the children’s home. My father had six children, and I was the fifth, the second last, two boys and four girls. Because of family challenges, I attended around fifteen different schools. Even while I was in the children’s home, I would go to school and then return to the home,” Muthoni shared.
Despite these disruptions, Muthoni emphasised that she does not harbour bitterness about her upbringing, and she maintains a balanced perspective on her childhood experiences.
“I do not usually feel bitterness or think of it as unfortunate,” she shared.
Intermittent communication
Muthoni then explained that she communicates with family members only when they initiate contact.
She shared that while her father and grandparents do occasionally speak to her, she does not initiate conversations herself.
The activist said that this approach has helped her maintain healthy boundaries while navigating complex family dynamics.
“When my parents decide to speak to me, I speak back to them, but if they do not initiate, I also do not speak. The same applies to my grandparents; if they speak to me, I respond; if not, I do not initiate conversation. My father does not speak to me often, but when he does, I reply. So, when people speak to me, I respond, but I do not start conversations myself,” she shared.
