One year of education for an orphaned child in Kenya

Place Kibera Nairobi, Kenya

Affiliate Project Kijiji Cha Upendo (Village of Love)

Just 7 kilometers from the heart of Nairobi lies Kibera - a world unto its own. Africa's largest urban slum and home to nearly a million people, Kibera is a dense sea of tin roofs and well-worn red soil paths that become rivers of mud in the rainy season. Its people straddle life on the outskirts of a bustling, vibrant and booming economic centre, but struggle to meet the most basic needs. Its children and youth yearn for a different life. They peer out into the big wide world from behind a plethora of barriers, as if looking through a key hole. For them, education is the key to unlocking dreams. Dreams of a life outside the slum.
When Tracy, already orphaned once, also lost her adoptive mother, her hopes and dreams crashed around her. But Kijiji Cha Upendo paid her high school fees, giving her the chance for a scholarship to university. Now a qualified teacher, Tracy pays school fees for needy children in her school. She says, “Education is the light of hope in a child’s life.”

This sustaining investment directly targets orphaned and vulnerable children living in the Kibera informal settlement community of Nairobi. These kids have big dreams, but virtually no hope of continuing education in order to achieve them. They are living with caregivers who have opened their hearts and doors to provide them with loving homes. However, these families struggle to earn enough to provide for basic needs and pay school fees for all the children in their care. As a result, most children end up leaving school to contribute income through informal economic activities. By investing in school fees we enable these kids to continue their education, while reducing the financial burden on our caregiver families. This sponsorship is connected to our overall efforts to empower caregiver families of orphans and vulnerable children in Kibera. Our subsidizing school fees is a short term measure that enables immediate change for families while we work with caregivers to strengthen livelihoods. Our approach goes beyond simple educational subsidies to support a system of familial and community support which contributes to the ability of orphaned and vulnerable children to develop and thrive.