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Kawangware Vision Center
We are pleased to be working with the Kawangware Vision (KVC) center in the Kawangware slum bordering Nairobi, Kenya. The Kawangware Vision Center is a locally created and managed organization started by former street child, Agasto Richiu, to provide positive opportunities to get kids off the streets in his community. KVC’s primary income generating business is making silkscreened gift bags out of recycled paper to sell to safari companies, Kenyan companies, tourist shops and even some overseas clients. The collective of former street kids operate out of a cramped and crumbling two-room shack in Kawangware slum. The profits from their business enable the participants to generate income for themselves and to take care of the community’s orphaned or vulnerable children while providing a productive and positive environment for the youth.
In 2008 NextAid began collaborating with the Kawangware Vision Center to come up with sustainable solutions that would improve their business and organization. The project includes building a new “green” workshop and multipurpose facility to expand their operation and ultimately serve more youth. With the help of Green Wave the new space will also include a Children’s Sanctuary. We are currently in the design and costing phase and are consulting with Kenyan architect Kariuki Kiragu who is experienced in eco-friendly building methods.
The partnership been NextAid and KVC has also given many youth an opportunity to learn new vocational skills through an eco-construction training program. The vocational skills that the youth learn while participating in this program enriches their lives and empowers them to become self-sufficient.
Additionally, NextAid will support KVC’s ongoing organizational development by providing computer and technology donations, capacity building and small business skills training. NextAid has also supported KVC in technical assistance and emergency relief funding.
Kawangware Slum
Kawangware is one of the largest slums outside of Nairobi, Kenya. In a population of over 400,000 people, 65% are children and youth. Kawangware lacks strong social and economic structures which consequently means many people lack the basic requirements for life such as clean water. Many children in Kawangware do not attend school because they cannot afford to pay the fee, buy a uniform or purchase the necessary learning materials. This, combined with the absence of programs to assist these children, has led youth to take part in deviant behavior and become at-risk for HIV/AIDS. With the help of KVC, at-risk youth and vulnerable children in the Kawangware slum will be given the opportunity for a brighter future.
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Green Workshop and Multipurpose Facility
Credit: CADD Rendering: Anderson Nyaga Design:Kariuki Kiragu General CADD input: Waswa Nyongesa.
The multipurpose facility and green workshop will allow KVC to increase its business and accommodate more youth and vulnerable children. The new center will include an expanded space for KVC’s bag-making business and a facility to make hydra form bricks. In addition to the expanded workshops, features of the new facility include arbor-loo compost toilets, a shaded veranda for child feeding programs, self-manufactured bricks and roof tiles, and an office. Also included on site will be locally made furniture, rainwater catchment and harvesting, a water well, and the sustainable farming of vegetables and bamboo.
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Eco-Construction and Accounting Training Program
The youth skills training program teaches students vocational skills in the area of eco-technology. The program is currently underway and making wonderful progress! The first group of apprentices, which consists of 7 young women and 8 young men, have been learning the skills necessary for eco-technology from expert tutors. The invaluable coursework teaches the apprentices how to manufacture eco-bricks, tiles, and other construction materials onsite in Kawangware. The students have demonstrated that they are extremely passionate about the program and immersed in what they are learning; during a recent session the teacher arrived late to find that one of the young women was teaching the other students entirely from memory of the last class!
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Agasto Richiu
Agasto has dedicated his life to serving the vulnerable and homeless children in his community. He has created lasting change for hundreds of children in the Kawangware slum by uplifting them through the improvement of their economic livelihoods. Agasto grew up in the slums experiencing many of the hardships that are facing children today. As he got older, he felt it was his duty to stop the suffering that many street children experienced, especially when the hardship was caused by HIV/AIDS. In order to carry out his mission of positively transforming the lives of street children, Agasto has initiated numerous projects in Kawangware that focus on the task of uplifting children and youth. Since he began the Kawangware Vision Center in 2002, Agasto has provided direct livelihood to hundreds of youth and vulnerable children. Read an amazing letter written by Agasto after his first visit to Los Angeles, this December 2009.
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Kariuki Kiragu
NextAid is thrilled to be working closely with architect Kariuki Kiragu during the planning and construction process of the Kawangware Vision Center. Kariuki is a visionary architect who applies his talent to projects that utilize local resources in 3order to gain sustainable social, economic, and environmental benefits. Kariuki, who has a great deal of experience with field-based leadership, shares NextAid's passions for helping orphans and vulnerable children, and sustainable environmental conservation. For example, in 2004 he successfully built a sustainable village in Nyumbani in order to accommodate 1,000 HIV/AIDS orphans and 125 elders. Kariuki has proven to be an inspiration for the communities and people his projects support, as well as, the entire NextAid team. Find him on Sustainable Holistic African Development Alliance.
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Children’s Sanctuary
The Green Wave Children’s Sanctuary will be an earth-friendly, safe, and loving facility fulfilling early childhood development needs (day-care, enrichment activities, and health and nutrition programs) for orphaned and vulnerable children at the Kawangware Vision Center. The sanctuary is intended to provide familial support for younger children while their brothers and/or sisters are working.
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