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The distance support educational project in Kenya was born in 2006, when Valter Baldaccini made a trip to Africa together with the Focolari Movement. The country left a deep impression on him. Anchored by Christian values and firmly convinced of the importance of the dignity of the individual, Valter Baldaccini immediately promoted an initiative to give concrete help to the poorest people in Nairobi.
After visiting the slums of Nairobi and coming into contact with families who lived in absolute poverty, Valter offered the possibility to attend school to as many children as possible. He saw education as fundamental tool in giving each of them the possibility of a better future: “education is the best gift you can give to a child”.
After this first trip, Valter went to Kenya every year together with a group of his employees.
Life in the Mathare slum on the outskirts of Nairobi is difficult: there are no toilets or clean running water. The lack of work and education and the conditions of extreme poverty force the people there to live "for the day", without the guarantee of a daily hot meal.
It’s a complex and desperate situation where crime takes root easily, with dramatic consequences for the most vulnerable: children.
There are only two public schools in the entire slum where over half a million people live. Not all children attend them and those who go there lack uniforms, textbooks and shoes.
From Valter Baldaccini's first trip in 2006 to today, 129 children and young people have been able to attend school thanks to the support of many donors.
Some of them have attended university or college, or they enrolled in professional training courses that gave them the opportunity to have a job. Thanks to this project their lives have changed and it is they together with Joab Omoto who tell us about it.
Joab Omoto is our contact person in the area and founder of KenToledo Social Service Club, the association of the Focolare Movement that operates in Nairobi, our partner in this social and educational project in Africa.
In 2016 the project, previously promoted by UMBRAGROUP together with the La Gòmena Onlus association, passed under the direct management of the Valter Baldaccini Foundation.
Today there are 40 children and young people who we follow in their education and training path for a better future.
Twice a year they write to us to tell us about their progress and periodically together with Joab we write "Africa's memories" some pages in which there are many photos and their stories.
Distance adopting a child in Kenya.
Only thanks to you will each of them have the possibility of a better future. Donate now.
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