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HOPE IN THE SLUM
Kawangware Street Children and Youth ProjectKawangware Slum, Nairobi, Kenya
There are more than 250,000 people living in the Kawangware slum, just outside Nairobi, and most of them live on less than $1 a day. The unemployment rate is staggering, HIV/AIDS is rampant and the community does not have the proper resources to help.
Kawangware Street Children and Youth Project (KSCYP) rescues orphans and vulnerable children living in the slum by providing them with basic human needs and opportunity. This includes counseling, safe and fun activities such as soccer, a hot lunch and schools fees (when money allows).
KSCYP also teaches some of the older youth how to make eco-friendly paper bags from recycled materials that are sold to hotels and tour companies. The profits from this sustainable small business help run KSCYP. Youth are taught business skills so when they start their own businesses, which is the ultimate goal, they will know how to manage it efficiently.
Currently, this youth-led micro-enterprise operates from two small 10 ft. by 15 ft. rooms. Despite the cramped space, the business has been very successful and shows great promise. Building KSCYP a new eco-friendly space will help expand the paper bag business which will help more than 300 vulnerable youth and children. GO invites you to help the children living in the Kawangware slum to discover, develop, and utilize their potential!
Fundraising goal: $26,111
Your donations can provide the following:
| $10 | Bag of Cement |
| $37 | Window |
| $67 | Durable door |
| $600 | Professional fees for “green” architecture assessment and design |
| $3000 | Labor to build Phase I of the business center |
Eva Wanjiru, born in October, 2004, is Irene Nguhi’s daughter, and they both call KSCYP “home”. Eva’s father deserted her and her mother shortly after she was born, and they were forced to roam the streets until they found KSCYP. Irene, still in her teens, is one of the single mothers working with the paper-bag making micro-enterprise. KSCYP is teaching Irene new skills, and she one day hopes to have her own business. KSCYP is giving both mother and child a chance at a better life.
Amos Aalano is a role model to the other kids living at KCYP. Forced to turn to the streets when his mother was no longer able to provide him with food or a family life, Amos joined KSCYP in 2002 after living on the streets of Nairobi for 7 years. Amos is multi-talented and excels at almost everything. He prints wonderfully on the paper bags, he is a musician, and he is a footballer now playing for Kenyatta National Hospital-Division. Amos tells GO,
KSCYP will always be in my mind and heart with how it has transformed my life and those of my friends who have been in the same terrible life situation like myself. The paper bag workshop will expand and more income generating activities shall be formed. This means more children and youths shall be absorbed, more talents and skills shall be discovered, tapped and developed, meaning youths shall be prepared to face life challenges.
