Chance to Change | Education in Nairobi's Mukuru Slum
Nairobi, Kenya has over 3 million inhabitants and it?s estimated that half of this population lives in slum environments. Living conditions in these run-down areas of the city are extremely poor.? Families reside in small corrugated-iron shacks.? Unemployment rates are high and health care inadequate. Lack of financial means prevents many children from getting an education and of the numbers that are in school, many leave before finishing.?
Primary education in Kenya is supposed to be free, but students still have expenses for their learning materials, meals, uniforms and transport.? ?Songa Mbele na Masomo,? which in Swahili means, ?moving ahead with education,? is one of the educational centers based near the capital city?s, Mukuru slum. The Center is assisting both children who have left school, as well as those who have never managed to join.? Physically- and mentally-challenged children are among the latter of these two groups.
The goal of Songa Mbele na Masomo is to return as many children as possible to the classroom - or to coach pupils within the Center and register them as private candidates for a Certificate of Primary Education.
It is Songa Mbele?s credo that children - no matter where they live - have the right to education.? For Nairobi?s poor, education is the path to a brighter and more secure future.? And it is the ?chance? that these of Nairobi?s children - crave.
Photo documentary by TCI Emerging Photographer program graduate , Anne Salminen-Cesari (Hits: 184325)
All photographs and text in this site are the exclusive property of the
authors. Unauthorized duplication or usage of these images or text is
prohibited by International Copyright Law. Photographs nor texts may be
reproduced, copied or used in any way without the express written permission
of the authors.