Pendekezo Letu Education Center

$10377.83 Raised of $10,378 Goal

Project Summary:

Pendekezo Letu (PKL), meaning “our right to have a choice” in Kiswahili, is a registered Kenyan, non-religious, non-profit organization. It was established in 1997 to assist young girls living and working on the streets, their families and other vulnerable children living in marginalized urban and rural communities in Kenya. PKL’s efforts are concentrated in five major slums in Nairobi County (Mathare, Kibera, Majengo, Dandora & Korogocho), as well as a number of smaller informal settlements within rural satellite towns in neighboring Kiambu county. These efforts include; short-term, residential rehabilitation of girls living and working on the streets , education support, family empowerment, vocational skills training, access to justice for children in conflict with the law, capacity building of community child protection, lobbying and advocacy. Every year, PKL recruits 100 “street” girls (homeless) to undergo a 10 month rehabilitation at PKL’s halfway home located in Ngoliba, on the outskirts of Nairobi. The 10 month (March to December) rehabilitation process includes intensive guidance & counseling, provision of basic needs and safe shelter, basic life coping skills and remedial education. After 10 months, the 100 girls are reintegrated with their families and are enrolled in formal primary schools alongside their school-age siblings (about 200) by provision of school uniforms, stationary, enrollment fees and feeding program fees. Every year, PKL enrolls between 250 – 300 children in primary schools. Additionally, PKL has a full time lawyer and a paralegal to represent Children in Conflict with the Law (CCLs) in the juvenile justice system (JJS) . Those who are released from the JJS are reunited with their families, receive guidance and counseling and are enrolled in schools or vocational skills training.

No. of children: 100 girls, 20 teen-mothers and their babies, 2300 children from Ngoliba Primary School.

PROJECT: Electric pump for Pendekezo Education Center

Objective: Replace the pump at Pendekezo Letu Center Summary: The electric pump at Pendekezo directs water from the nearby Athi River onto the farm. The pump is essential for irrigation especially during the dry season where water scarcity is frequent. Their old pump recently broke down leaving the center with no means to water their crops. The new electric pump will provide the children and their staff constant water supply for chores and farming. Through irrigation, the farm helps improve the nutrition of the girls and staff at the center and provides gainful employment for 50 farm workers residing within the community. The farm is also expected to produce enough vegetables to feed 2300 children in Ngoliba primary and secondary schools, through their new partner Macheo- school feeding program, who have contracted them to produce vegetables on the farm for their school feeding program