Our History
In 2011, Jonathan and Nancy conducted a survey of the Kabiria informal settlement in Nairobi, Kenya with the help of local community members. What we found was that Kabiria was among the most marginalized areas in Nairobi, with families struggling to support multiple children on as little as $30-60 per month. However, like many of the other slums on the outskirts of Nairobi, it received little attention from the international aid community, far from the more well known slums that are filled with NGOs and volunteers.
Children in these areas attend poorly funded public schools, with overcrowded classrooms of up to 80-100 students per teacher. Furthermore, while tuition is free, families struggle to pay for extra expenses such as uniforms and school supplies, forcing some students to drop out and join the workforce. Up to 50% of these students drop out before they reach secondary school.
We founded the Tujuane Children’s Center in November 2011 in the Kabiria area of Nairobi. In January 2013, we partnered with Nairobi Chapel and moved to a new location, in the nearby Ngando informal settlement. Since then we have grown, hiring 6 teachers, 2 managers, and 1 cook to staff the program, and reaching over 100 children every week.
In June 2015, we realized that without a space of our own, we were limited in what we could do. We made the bold decision to leave the school where we had been renting space and move onto our own property nearby, where we could build dedicated facilities for our program. We secured a lease on a plot of land, which gave us long-term security and the flexibility to invest in the land in whatever ways we needed to support the program. We cleared the land to make a safe playground, built three new classrooms, and installed electricity, running water, and toilets. Since then, we have been able to do much more for the children in our community, and our numbers have continued to increase. This dedicated space will allow us to continue to expand our program, and gives us confidence that we will be serving this community for many years to come!
