by Naomi Van Stapele

I walked down one of the serpentine, narrow allies in the slum to meet a friend who owned a local bar near the river. I had discussed with him that I could visit to talk to some of the young men wasting their days inside his bar. He was a former Maji Mazuri youth but had left the group when his girlfriend got pregnant and he had to start working in one the bars his older brother owned to take care of his new family. About a year ago he had saved enough money to open his own small bar. As a former youth, however, he still felt responsible to support some of the younger men he met in his bar to make different choices in life and he knew Maji Mazuri could help.

At ten in the morning the bar was already packed with jobless, young men who clearly were half way through a jerry can of Chang’aa, illegal alcohol. This sight always made me sad. I sat among them and we began to talk. We talked about how their days looked like, how they struggled to survive and what had brought them to be in a bar at ten in the morning. I was struck by their candidness and touched by their insights. After a couple of hours I asked them to visit the Maji Mazuri youth coordinator, MC, who lived in the slum and whom they all knew very well. I explained about Maji Mazuri’s work with the youth in the slum. Some reacted shy, reluctant to believe that contacting Maji Mazuri could make a difference, but one young man stared at me intensely.

After a few weeks I had to travel back home. A year later, August 2009, I travelled back to Kenya to work with Maji Mazuri on strengthening the Maji Mazuri Education and Talent Program. Upon arrival I was anxious to go to Mathare and meet my friends. I went the same day and also met some of the new youth members. One of them looked very familiar. It was the young man from the bar. He had met with MC who had advised him to join the Maji Mazuri youth group. Frank, as he is called, had not only joined the group but had been able to access college education via Maji Mazuri at the same time. In one year his whole life had changed. He graduated in December 2009 and he now works as an IT technician at a company in the city centre.

This story illustrates how powerful and pivotal the Maji Mazuri Education and Talent Progam is. Frank made the journey from the river to the city centre in one year because of the opportunities Maji Mazuri was able to offer him. Eight Maji Mazuri youth graduated college this year, eight youth who are now finding their way on the job market, eight youth who otherwise would have been forced to brew illegal alcohol, engage in crime or in prostitution in order to survive.