In 2015, 26 individuals climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise over $300,000 for a new building to provide safe and stable housing for girls experiencing abuse or poverty from Kibera, Kenya’s largest slum. In addition to housing, the center will also include a computer lab, library, kitchen, social hall, and a multi-faith prayer room along with an array of eco-friendly amenities including a community garden and rain harvesting and water purification system. This project has been a dream of the girls from the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy and its leadership for many years. If a girl is living in a home where she is being abused or there is no electricity or food, it is very difficult for her to focus on her education, which is her path out of poverty. Giving girls a safe and stable home will improve their health and wellbeing, as well as boost their academic performance.

Community Development Capacity: The Boarding & Community Center will provide safe, secure housing and living conditions with consistent electricity, water, health-services, and academic tutoring and resources. From here, students will be able to improve their academic performance and meet their physical, mental, and emotional needs. Ultimately, this environment will give them the space to excel academically, graduate, enroll in college or establish a business of their own, and live an independent, healthy adult life, breaking the cycle of poverty. Additionally, by utilizing both local labor and local materials for the construction of the project, this building seeks to build upon local capacity in skilled labor and create jobs for the Kibera community. These jobs will help laborers provide for their families and also build their skills, allowing them to continue working in the field and finding steady employment when the project has finished.

Community Ownership: The designs for the building were created with input from many local stakeholders. The building offers essential safe housing facilities for the girls from the school, but also offers amenities for the larger community such as classrooms, a social hall, and a library that could be utilized by local individuals, nonprofits, or organizations. The building offers a prayer room which is inclusive of multiple faiths, representing the diversity of the community and the school, which serves both Christian and Muslim students. Additionally, addressing a community need for clean water, the architecture incorporates eco-friendly aspects such as a rain water purification system to capture, clean, and store water. Lastly, by employing local workers and purchasing supplies locally, we are fostering community ownership in the project. The building will be state-of-the-art and a source of pride for the school and the community!

The Community’s Role

The girls from KGSA highlighted the need for the dormitory and advocated for its development. Thus, this project has been a dream of the school’s leadership for many years and is supported by the KGSA Foundation, a US nonprofit that provides financial and technical assistance to the school.

The school leadership has helped plan and design the building as well as help fundraise and coordinate the logistics for the project. The community provided the land for the project and the building is designed pro-bono by a Kenyan architectural firm in Nairobi, just outside of Kibera. The construction companies will use local labor, providing jobs to the Kibera community and creating community buy-in. The building includes community spaces to benefit not only the girls, but their families and the larger Kibera community. The school’s founder joined the founder of the KGSA Foundation and 24 other supporters to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and raise over $300,000 for the project.

Team Member Qualifications

Design Source: The building was designed pro-bono by an architectural firm based in Nairobi made up of experienced professionals providing architectural planning services to design corporate offices, hotels, and retail and residential developments for internationally-known organizations including Barclays Bank, Panasonic, Care International, and others.

Matt Tierney: A pro-bono architectural consultant who has his MS from the University of Minnesota’s College of Design and works at the Snow Krelich Architectural Firm in Minneapolis. He has helped with the architectural designs and also climbed Kilimanjaro to raise money for the project.

Abdul Kassim and Ryan Sarafolean: Abdul and Ryan are the founders of the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy and the KGSA Foundation, respectively. Over the past ten years they have worked together to build a school for girls, starting with a one-room classroom to now serving 130 girls annually.