Community Media Programs
The community media projects were a result of the social and economic issues affecting the people. Many people in the informal settlements suffer due to lack of information. As an intervention the community media program aims at raising awareness, informing, educating and last but not least entertaining. The program was established and is managed by the locals who grew up in the same environment.
YOUTH MEDIA STATION
The Youth Media Center is a non-profit organization founded in 2011, whose aim is to empower young people from the urban slums of Nairobi. Both school going and non-school going youth are equipped with skills on media, journalism and communication for their personal and community development for earning a living or advance for further formal training in a media school.
Its establishment was informed by the ambitious youth who had a strong desire for media but lacked finances to pursue the same. Media and film training has been out of reach of many young people from Nairobi’s informal settlements. The center offers an exceptional and free training for these youths with an aim of contributing to their economic and social development. To date it has trained close to thirty young people from the slums of Nairobi.
FM RADIO STATION
The Radio Station is a community based organization in the slum of Nairobi. The program was established in the year 2006 to mobilize active community participation through media. It seeks to use the power of radio to inform the community on what matters to them with an aim of empowering them. The programs are anchored around the most important issues affecting the community. Starting with the basic governance and human rights, as well as addressing health and education issues. Further on environmental topics such as water and sanitation are discussed, also topics concerning attitude and behavior change, talent and skill development to achieve peace and justice.
A medical health facility offering health services to the community members at a subsidized cost Activities include:
- Attending to the general examination of patients (adults/ children)
- Serve at the medical counter
- Conduct counseling sessions
- Work in the maternity wing
- Lab tests
- Nursing
A medical health facility offering health services to the community members at a subsidized cost Activities include:
- Attending to the general examination of patients (adults/ children)
- Serve at the medical counter
- Conduct counseling sessions
- Work in the maternity wing
- Lab tests
- Nursing
Children Programs
The children program addresses issues affecting children, especially on their rights and responsibilities, education and basic needs. The program aims at mentoring, guiding and empowering children to become responsible adults. This is achieved by nurturing their talents, helping them to discover their possibilities and enhancing their self-esteem.
CHILDREN RESCUE CENTER
The Children Rescue Center works with social workers to rescue vulnerable street children in lack of the very basic needs like food, shelter, clothing, education and care. Many children in the slums of Nairobi and its neighboring settlements go to the streets specifically ending up at the municipal dumpsite to scavenge for food and other valuables. These expose them to an extreme vulnerability.
About 60 street/destitute children per year are targeted by the center, aged between 8 to 16 years old. The main objective of the centeris to rehabilitate and reintegrate children in difficult circumstances. By so doing the center strives to give love, dignity and hope to the children working in the dumpsite. The children also get a chance to improve their life, living conditions and to be reintegrated in the community.
The center provides several activities like group learning, group and individual counseling, sport and games, handwork, art, cultural activities, acrobatics, scouting, pastoral teaching, gardening, feeding program, cleaning and hygiene, outing and exposure trips. The social workers apart from providing the above services they also organize and facilitate parents/guardian sensitization workshop on various social issues. The good news is that a good number of children at the Rescue Center go through a positive transformation that gives them the possibility to be reintegrated and reconciled with the society. More than 300 children are currently supported in various schools by the program.
CHILDREN REHABILITATION CENTER
The program targets children, who use different type of drugs like glue, marijuana, tobacco and others. Most of them come from poor families usually with a single parent living in a degraded situation. So the center focuses on drug users among most neglected and disadvantaged children, facilitating a process of rehabilitation and reintegration in their families.
The center is basically a drop-in where the children get basic education, recreation, cultural and sports
activities, medical care and food. Main activity being street work to meet their educational and training needs and to offer spiritual and moral guidance through counseling. Parents are also involved in this process through home visits and meeting where they get information about their responsibilities among other topics.
The program also involves the community in this process through the community leaders, creating awareness by holding peaceful demonstrations, sports and other activities on various ways of dealing with different challenges facing the community.
More than 60 children come in the center and after one year they usually join different rehabilitation homes, schools and vocational training centers. In addition the center inhabits an alcoholic anonymous program that targets to rehabilitate and reintegrate back to the community adults addicted to alcohol.
The main rehabilitation home is located in the outskirts of Nairobi. There the children and the adults have the chance to finish their education and reform their lives, far away from their negative influencing environment. As soon as the rehabilitation process is done, the home takes care of the reintegration into the community.
TEACHING CHILDREN
There`s a need for teachers in almost every school in the slums and the surrounding settlements, as well as in rural areas. Especially small informal schools located in the slums are in need of support.
The school system in Kenya starts with three years of pre-school, followed by eight years of primary education and four years of secondary education (form four). After that the children get the chance to go to university. The majority of the children passes primary school and are unable to join secondary school due to financial and social problems.
SPECIAL CHILDREN PROGRAMS
There are a lot of short term programs that aim at empowering children in expression, participation, child rights and responsibility.
This is being achieved by using photography, digital stories, magazine, radio, art and craft, theatre and more. These programs can be sustained and continued by the participants even after the initial project period is over.
The indigenous Maasai community has been neglected for some time. The community still upholds their rich culture even under the 21st century influence. However different individuals and groups among them works tirelessly to empower the community and realize social change and transformation especially through education.
The indigenous Maasai community has been neglected for some time. The community still upholds their rich culture even under the 21st century influence. However different individuals and groups among them works tirelessly to empower the community and realize social change and transformation especially through education.