MLife to bring 15 American youths to Kenya on learning tour

Mwangi Mukami, MLIFE’s Founder and President at a past event.

A Kenyan development organisation has announced an ambitious new campaign to raise $75,000 to fund a cultural immersion trip for 15 American youth and young adults to Kenya next month.

The MLIFE Foundation, which has offices in Kenya and in San Francisco, USA, said the 10-day learning tour is part of MLIFE’s Healing Circle Programme – a year-long nonviolence prevention initiative combining literacy, wellness, and workforce development.

From June 8 to 18, the participants – called Scholars (ages 14–17) and Fellows (ages 18–24) – will travel from the San Francisco Bay Area to Nairobi and Kilifi, Kenya.

“This trip showed me I’m more than my zip code or my past. I am part of something greater,” said Lazarus Tulali, a former MLIFE Scholar who joined the 2023 Kenya exchange.

The Healing Circle Program is funded in part by California’s Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) grant and targets youth from some of San Francisco’s most under-resourced neighborhoods, including Bayview-Hunters Point, the Mission District, and SoMa.

Mwangi Mukami, MLIFE’s Founder and President said that most participants will be traveling internationally for the first time.  For many, this will be their first direct connection with African culture and history, he said in a statement.

 While in Kenya, the youth will engage with local nonprofits, visit wildlife sanctuaries, and learn about African history through a restorative, community-led lens. MLIFE says the experience is designed to build leadership skills, strengthen identity, and foster global connection.

“I started MLIFE to tell youth like me: You matter. And your future is worth fighting for,” said Mukami. A UC Berkeley graduate, Mwangi has led MLIFE to mobilize over $1 million in philanthropic and social investments across the U.S. and Africa.

Mlife founder Mwangi Mukami with Michelle Obama and Barack Obama at the US embassy in Nairobi when the Obamas visited Kenya in early 2000.

The foundation is calling on donors, businesses, and philanthropic partners to help close the funding gap. Supporters can donate via text (“MLIFE” to 44321), sponsor an entire youth trip for $5,000, or partner with MLIFE on longer-term initiatives.

“Help us take the next generation home, where healing begins,” urges the campaign’s message.

Mukami is well known in Kenya after gaining national recognition in the early 2000s when he was elected President of Kenya’s Children’s Cabinet, a platform established to elevate children’s voices in governance.

As a young advocate, Mukami championed the rights of street children, access to education, and protection from abuse, frequently speaking at national forums and representing Kenyan youth in international spaces.

He then established the Martin Luther King Jr. Africa Foundation, to extend Dr King’s legacy of justice, equality, and nonviolence to the African continent.

After surviving political persecution for his activism, Mukami sought asylum in the United States, where he rebuilt his life.

 He earned a degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and later founded MLIFE Foundation — the nonprofit that reflects his deep commitment to empowering marginalised youth.