Kijiji Cha Upendo (Village of Love) Children’s Project

The project is situated in the informal settlement of Kibera, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, one of the most densely populated and crime ridden spots in the world.

On the streets of Kibera, surrounded by crime, drugs, gangs, prostitution, and violence, 15,000 AIDS-orphaned children fend for themselves. They are very vulnerable! But amazing women, despite extreme poverty, take orphaned children into their homes and hearts to raise along with their biological children.

• Village of Love (in Swahili, Kijiji Cha Upendo) brings these women into a registered organization.
• Women receive funding through small business micro-loans along with training in small business management.
• Childcare is monitored.
• All the children in these families benefit, both orphaned and biological, while AIDS-orphaned children are integrated into the community without stigmatization.
• School fee supplements are provided to ensure no child is sent home from school, and to allow the women to invest as much as possible to expand their small businesses.
• Both women and children receive psychosocial counselling and health referrals as needed.

The goal is to empower women caregivers to become self-sufficient in providing for their children both food and education, and for the children to become responsible adults able to provide for their own families and give back to the community.

IMPACT: The project has grown since 2010 from 15 families with 75 children to 135 families with over 600 children. 

View our Gifts to Empower campaign to help keep AIDS-orphaned and vulnerable children in school in the slum community of Kibera, Kenya. You can provide economic and psycho-social supports for the health and wellbeing of each family.

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