Daniela Ernst is a German national, and she has run a project in Mombasa for several years for the marginalised community.
When we came to know each other on social media, I asked her to visit our school in Nairobi,Korogocho slums. Earlier, I had already met Stephan Creifelds through the same social media.
Daniela visits our school
When Daniela was coming back to Kenya from Germany, I had an opportunity to introduce each other, and Stephan communicated with Daniela, and they shared our vision together.
When Daniela was back in Kenia she went to see for herself what we do for vulnerable children in the Korogocho slums.
Daniela visited our school on the 16th of October 2024. After picking up Daniela and her team at Hotel in Nairobi town by taxi, and upon arriving in our school in Korogocho slums, we welcomed them and shared tea in the slums together as a family.
We showed Daniela our school. In the Korogocho slums, there are over 200,000 people living on just 1.5 square kilometers in corrugutad-iron shacks. Many of them search the dumps for recyclable materials they can sell or leftover food to eat.
We walked through this part of huge slums. Daniela found it surreal. Children were playing in the drains, in the toilets of the slums. Some people run small “businesses “with readily available goods, much of it collected from the huge landfill located nearby. Waste is a means of survival.
The harsh reality of the slums
The sights of the landfill are incredible. And everywhere you can see people looking for recyclable materials, they look like ants in the distance. When the wind blows from the landfill, a foul-smelling stench reaches our noses.
Is there also a garbage dump like this in Europe? I asked Daniela. Actually, there were no words to describe what she saw. It doesn’t seem real, but unfortunately it is our reality. A reality that many people in European and North American countries turn a blind eye to.
There were questions upon questions, but I didn’t find any real answers to all those issues for the slums dwellers in the Korogocho slums. Daniela was stunned, sad, and helpless.
After all the day walk, Daniela had a strong experience of Korogocho slums, and she had clear information about our school and Korogocho to share with Stephan Creifelds in Germany. When Daniela visited Korogocho, Stephan had already started supporting our school feeding program. Daniela, seeing the smiles of the faces of our kids during her visit, contributed over 200 euros, which was used to buy the foodstuffs for our school that took us for the whole term.
Daniela’s visit to Korogocho was a great opportunity for our school and to the supporters who might be willing to support us!