How peer education is giving hope to needy children in city slum

Most children are optimistic despite the challenges they undergo at Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum in Nairobi due to peer education.

The teenagers who spoke to the Star on Monday said the ongoing peer education programme in the slum has kept them going alongside keeping many of them in school.

The Slums Outreach Programme community-based organisation’s initiative has been on since 2011 with an objective of slum dwellers’ empowerment for improved livelihoods.

“I’m a model, student and actress. Today, I was invited to Oasis of Hope Foundation to come and share hope with youth about life,” Miss Nyeri County Faih Kasiva told the Star on Sunday.

The 20–year–old first-year student at Mount Kenya University, said she also sensitised her peers on floods and environmental conservation alongside the importance of good sanitation. She is a BA Commerce student majoring in Accounting.

“We have seen how people are dying because of floods. As a student and a model, I have also come to advocate for safety measures about floods and how to keep safe during this flooding season,” Kasiva said.

“Being a model is all about giving back to the society through charity as well as advocating on environmental issues,” Kasiva said.

The organisation’s founder Erick Ambuche said the peer education initiative was one of the ways they used to keep children from the slums in school.

“Our objective is to offer basic civic education and empower youth and women through sustainable programs in the slum,” Ambuche said.

Ambuche said they had helped more than 100 children join Form One after sitting KCPE examinations.

“We decided to invite some of our students so that we engage them in mentorship sessions. This is because we don’t want them to engage in vices that go on in the slum,” Ambuche said.

He mentioned early marriages, unwanted pregnancies, and engaging in criminal activities as some of the vices the mentorship programme helps avoid.

Ambuche said some of the youths in their programmes were from households that had been affected by floods in Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum.

“We request donations of basic needs like foodstuff, bedding, clothing, soaps and cash from well-wishers to help support the flood victims,” Ambuche said.

He said the majority of the dwellers live from hand to mouth and can no longer sustain themselves after their livelihoods were disrupted by the floods.

Ambuche said as an organisation, they were overwhelmed and needed support from Kenyans of goodwill, the government alongside donor organisations to raise funds and resources to effectively execute their activities and meet set goals and objectives.

Joyline Mwende, 18, sat her KCSE examinations at Kirigara Girls Secondary School in 2023 and scored a C(+).

“I joined the Slums Outreach programme when I was in Standard 7. At that time, my mother lacked school fees, that’s why I joined through my sister,” Mwende said.

“Through this programme, I joined secondary school. They helped me in paying my school fees. I got a scholarship and they bought me all that I needed to complete my high school education,” Mwende said.

Mwende said the CBO’s directors were her guardians who she runs to whenever she has problems at home.

“We have been affected by lots of challenges as youth especially living in slums; COVID-19 19 and now floods despite the diverse poverty we live in," Mwende said.

"I urge the government to come help us, this organisation needs facilitation through funding and partnerships to help more children out of poverty.