Approximately 56% of Kenya’s urban population live in informal settlements (Slums). That is about 2.5 million slum dwellers in about 200 settlements in Nairobi, representing 60% of Nairobi’s population and occupying just 6% of the land. These settlements are not child-friendly, with little to no access to basic services. There is a lot of alcohol and substance abuse, child abuse, immorality, and criminal gangs. Children between the ages of (2–19) are at the highest risk of being exposed to these vices in society.
Kayole is one of the many low-budget areas in Nairobi, Kenya, with an estimated population of about 700,000 residents, most of whom live in abject poverty. More than 60% of the population is unemployed, with most families living on less than a dollar a day due to the reasons mentioned above. Our primary focus is in Soweto, an informal settlement within Kayole, where Children of Destiny is located.
The Kayole Soweto slum traces its origin to 1976. President Jomo Kenyatta, the founding father, ordered people from Embakasi (where the current military barracks stand near Jomo Kenyatta International Airport) to vacate. The Nairobi City Council and military surveyors planned the settlement with social spaces like a market, a school, and a hospital before the dwellers moved in between 1978-79.
Children of destiny (C.O.D.) has been in existence since 2004 and consists of a primary school and a children’s home. It is strategically placed in Soweto as a haven for children and fulfills the parent ministry’s vision, mission, and core values. The values are love, care, excellence, servant leadership, worship, and integrity. The excellent facilities at Children of Destiny offer opportunities to the children for quality education and spiritual nourishment and is a refuge for children who are forsaken and some who were displaced during the post-election violence in 2008. The home caters for the less fortunate in its surroundings by offering the best education at almost nothing as a way of giving back.
