Facing the Future School is a school located in
Mashimoni Mashimoni is a part of Kibera slum in Nairobi. Mashimoni Primary School, Facing the Future School, Mashimoni Good Samaritan School for the Orphans (MAGOSO) and Mashimoni Squatters Schools exist. Many of its residents are Luhyas and Kambas. It is ...
,
Kibera
Kibera (Kinubi language, Kinubi: ''Forest'' or ''Jungle'') is a division and neighbourhood of Nairobi, Kenya, from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and also the largest urban slum in all of Africa. The 2009 Kenya Popul ...
.
The school was established as a partnership with
grassroots
A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...
leader Simeon Ajigo in 2011 and Cross-Cultural Thresholds, a
non-profit group
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
founded by Carter Via and located in
White Plains, New York.
Simeon Ajigo spent part of his childhood living in
Kibera
Kibera (Kinubi language, Kinubi: ''Forest'' or ''Jungle'') is a division and neighbourhood of Nairobi, Kenya, from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and also the largest urban slum in all of Africa. The 2009 Kenya Popul ...
and later worked for many years at the
Kibera
Kibera (Kinubi language, Kinubi: ''Forest'' or ''Jungle'') is a division and neighbourhood of Nairobi, Kenya, from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and also the largest urban slum in all of Africa. The 2009 Kenya Popul ...
YMCA. After conducting research, Simeon learned that a number of single mothers were giving their children alcohol while they left the house for work. For these women, it was a choice between staying at home and not having the money to feed them both, or leaving their child asleep at home, and finding the money to survive. Simeon made it his mission to build a daycare. Shortly, Simeon's vision for Facing the Future School (FAFU) grew to include a
nursery,
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
,
health center
A healthcare center, health center, or community health center is one of a network of clinics staffed by a group of general practitioners and nurses providing healthcare services to people in a certain area. Typical services covered are family pr ...
and a
community outreach
A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geog ...
program for teenagers in
Kibera
Kibera (Kinubi language, Kinubi: ''Forest'' or ''Jungle'') is a division and neighbourhood of Nairobi, Kenya, from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and also the largest urban slum in all of Africa. The 2009 Kenya Popul ...
.
In 2016, FAFU furthered its outreach efforts by partnering with Move to Empower, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit organization located in White Plains, NY. Move to Empower organizes fitness, health literacy and women's support group programs for FAFU students, faculty and parent community.
Education in Nairobi
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