Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Boys Club-A Safe Space for Slum Boys


Kibera like most slums is a harsh and difficult place to live in. The unending struggles to make it through life with enormous obstacles which include diseases, poverty and other quandaries of life from birth to death creates a vicious cycle of  poverty culture that has become difficult to break. These plethoras of challenges have called for measures in an attempt to curb this generational shame.
The Children of Kibera Foundation in collaboration with LitWorld-an NGO based in New York have started boys and girls clubs to help this unique group firmly lodged in a precarious situation overcome these challenges.
The Boys Club was a response measure to address the needs of the boy child who suffers silently at the expense of the girl child. The club acts as a ‘safe space’ for the boys who engage in different activities that are tailored to meet their educational, social and polito-economic needs. It draws its objective from a curriculum that spells out seven social norms that form the pillars of all the engagements within the club.
Currently the club holds a proud membership of close to forty enthusiastic and promising boys who are drawn from nearly all the 13 villages making up the slum. These are members of ages 10-16, all of whom are school going. The club provides a platform for the members to explicitly express themselves and also exposes them to other worlds so as to widen their worldview. This is done through skype meetings with boys from other clubs outside Kenya, watching documentaries and movies etcetera, etcetera.  The boys also make social trips and engage in team building activities, sports and games. All these are blended to create individuals with strong personalities, good morals and very much optimistic of a prosperous future.




 A mentor at work


 Inculcating a reading culture


 Lets read together


 Generous donation from friends


 Being inspired


 Let go through the seven strengths


 Exchange program with Uweza Foundation


We are the boys!


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