2 floors will provide modern, spacious classrooms, and we will have a large and secure playground on the roof. We will also open a new secondary school in the building. There will be an elevator for the disabled children, solar panels to generate electricity and a rain water harvesting system.

Major contributors to the fund so far include the Duara organization in the Netherlands, the Highbury Foundation in Canada, and the Maji Mazuri USA Board.

We are presently finalizing the purchase of some additional land adjacent to the main plot in order to be better able to accommodate the new secondary school.

Please take advantage of this unique opportunity to prove that, when Americans and others invest in well thought through, locally directed, development projects, there is a huge return in terms of economic, social and spiritual progress.

You can mail checks to Maji Mazuri USA, at 4783 Summerset Lane, Atlanta, Georgia 30338, or you can use the PayPal link right here on this web site. All donations are tax deductible in the USA, and 100% of you gift goes to Kenya. We make no charges for administration or fundraising.

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Since 2005 Maji Mazuri USA has raised over $700,000 while incurring total expenses of less than 1% , and these are funded separately by our supporters. Maji Mazuri USA is a 501 c 3 not-for-profit organization recognized by the IRS.

Our audited accounts and much more information are available here on this site.

Kevin Corcoran April 28th 2009

The Mathare Valley slum in Nairobi . . . .

This is where Maji Mazuri (which means ‘clean water’ in Swahili) has been working for the past 20 years establishing a micro business loan program, a head start school, a program for young teens and a youth program. This is where, every day, we serve hundreds of children, youth and adults who are trying to escape from poverty, disease and crime.

And this where we are now poised to build a 30,000 square foot community center on 5 floors to bring together all these programs – and more – under one, safe and secure roof. You can be a key player to help make this happen.

We need $2 million to complete the project and establish an endowment fund to maintain the facility in the years to come. We have already raised over $200,000. The land is bought and the architectural plans have been drawn up.

The new Community Center

You have a unique opportunity to help make this happen; to prove that, when Americans and others invest in well thought through, locally directed, development projects, there is a huge return in terms of economic, social and spiritual progress.

Please send your checks (payable to Maji Mazuri USA) to Maji Mazuri, USA at 4783 Summerset Lane, Atlanta, Georgia 30338, or you can use the PayPal link on this site (right-hand column).

More about the new center . . . .

We have acquired the land to build the community center, right in the slum, but with vital frontage on the main road that skirts it. This means that secure access to the building will be available day and night.

This 30,000 square foot facility will house all of our existing programs – the Head Start school, with places for 350 children, the micro-business loan program, the Teens program and the youth Group – plus a new clinic, a community hall, a library, and an Internet café. 2 floors will provide modern, spacious classrooms, and we will have a large and secure playground on the roof. There will be an elevator for the disabled children, solar panels to generate electricity and a rain water harvesting system.

This is what Wanjiku Kironyo – Maji Mazuri’s Founder and Director – says about the new center:

“The new Head Start school will have a capacity for over 350 children – in a safe and purpose-built environment. It will also have a large playground on the roof. Our first school, which was really just a shanty structure, was burnt down in riots in November 2006. Our present school, which we rent in Mathare Valley, is far too small for the 168 children that we care for right now.”

The present Head Start school is very crowded . . . .

“This will be the first multi-purpose facility in the Mathare Valley slum. It will be a wonderful symbol of hope for the half million people living all around it. It will play a key role in helping literally thousands of children, young people and adults change their lives for the better.”

Wanjiku is being modest when she describes the impact of the new community center. The center can serve as a model for others in Kenya, in the rest of Africa, and indeed, throughout the Third World.

Please take advantage of this unique opportunity to prove that, when Americans and others invest in well thought through, locally directed, development projects, there is a huge return in terms of economic, social and spiritual progress.

You can mail checks made out to Maji Mazuri USA, at 4783 Summerset Lane, Atlanta, Georgia 30338, or you can use the PayPal link right here on this web site. All donations are tax deductible in the USA – and 100% of you gift goes to Kenya. We make no charges for administration or fundraising!

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About Maji Mazuri

Since 2005 Maji Mazuri USA has raised over $600,000 while incurring expenses of less than 1% , and these are funded separately by our supporters. Maji Mazuri USA is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization recognized by the IRS.

Our audited accounts and much more information are available here on this site.

It has always been our intention to move these children to our Kiserian campus in the countryside where we have a flourishing school (with class sizes of 20 to 30) and a farm. What we needed was residential accomodation. Well, we have completed a new dormitory, and kitchen and dining room, and they have been fully equipped. This means we were able to move 18 children to Kiserian a few weeks ago. They have a foster mother who cares for them, as well as several helpers to cook, do laundry and so on. The school is right next to the dormitory and there is a large playing field.

We thought you would like to see the comments that some of the children made, below. (We will make sure they all have blankets – see Victor’s comment!) Many thanks to all our supporters for doing so much to help make this possible. This is a wonderful step forward for these children. It also means that we have more space in the Kasarani Children’s Centre for new orphan cases, and to cater better for our mentally challenged children.

Susan Mando: “My new school is called Maji Mazuri. We have 11 classes. In our school we have a big farm! we eat food with vitamins. I am so happy in my new school.”

Mary Wairimu: “My new school is very comfortable because it has a lot of land. The land is very fertile! I am in grade 7 and I am very excited and enjoying the weather so much.”

Victor Ouma: “The school is very good but its too cold! The land is also very big! I’m in grade 7 and my class teacher is teacher Stephen he is the best teacher I have ever had! The dorm is good but it is very dull in the evening as we have no television!”

(When we have reliable electricity we will get the children a T.V…!)

A couple of years ago the Church decided to include Maji Mazuri among its official ministries and total funds raised jumped from $19,700 in 2005 to over $55,200 in 2006. In 2007 the Highbury Foundation very generously provided the Church with $77,500 for Maji Mazuri projects – $27,500 to equip our Upper Matasia School with a borehole and pump, and $50,000 to provide capital for the Maji Mazuri Mavuno micro business loan program which operates in the Mathare Valley slum area of Nairobi.

Meanwhile, last December, the parishioners of St. Paul’s raised $39,000 in a Christmas appeal to fund the purchase of a tractor for our farm in Kiserian. All in all in 2007 St. Paul’s and the Highbury Foundation sent $145,800 to Maji Mazuri in Kenya. This wonderful achievement is having a huge impact on the quality of life and well being of many children and families in Upper Matasia, Kiserian and the Mathare Valley.

Everyone involved with Maji Mazuri is deeply grateful to the Highbury Foundation and to the many members of St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Edmonton who have given so freely and faithfully to our programs.

To-date we have raised over $22,000, and all of these funds have been sent to Kenya where they are being distributed by Wanjiku Kironyo and her team to the victims of the violence. A big “thank you” to everyone who contributed so generously!

More than 3 million people live in Nairobi, capital of Kenya in East Africa, and 2/3 of them live in slums like Mathare Valley, where Maji Mazuri operates. There, some 500,000 people live crammed together in huts made of bits of tin, wood and cardboard. There is no sewer system, no clean water, no electric power, no paved streets. Unemployment is very high; crime is rife; illegal alcohol and drugs are plentiful; violence is endemic; and HIV/AIDS is widespread.Maji Mazuri – ‘clean water’In 1987, a remarkable Kenya woman – Wanjiku Kironyo – stepped into this world, and began to work with some of the women to empower them to change their own lives. What started as a small micro-loan program has blossomed into seven projects: a head start program in the slum, two schools, an orphanage for disabled children, youth training and development programs, a farm and a greatly expanded business loan program – with several hundred members.

A partnership between dedicated caring individuals in Africa and people like you and meThe Maji Mazuri team in Kenya has no shortage of dedication, commitment, ideas and compassion. What they need from us is financial support, and to know that many people in the developed world care about Africa and want to help. Hope for the future is a powerful force for good!

Let’s show them that we care….and help them to transform their lives!Please take a look at the rest of the site and find out more about us, and about the good work of Maji Mazuri in Kenya.Maji Mazuri USA is a non profit 501 c 3 organization approved by the IRS. In 2005, more than 99% of the funds we received went directly to Kenya. (Our audited accounts are on the site).