By Kenneth Jura | Kenya
Remember when you were in form four or grade 12? What plans did you have apart from excelling in your Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education? This is the question posed by Baraka Mwaura corporate relations executive of Love Light during the launch of “The Project City Lights Curriculum” for street families that was recently launched at Pawa254.
Love Light seeks to offer long term solutions to challenges facing street families whose main work is to heal disparity actively, by edifying and providing economic and educational opportunities for the underprivileged around the world.
Project City Lights is Love Light’s fourth project since its inception in 2010. The founder, Brian Murimi, started the organization on the teachings of Isaiah 58 of the Bible.
Prezzo
During the event the MC narrated a story of three street children; John, James and Prezzo, not Prezzo the rapper but another Prezzo who deserves recognition as he raps too. He had gotten 425 marks from his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education which gave him a chance to join Mang’u High School. He had his parents who instead had him given out for adoption to a Briton lady. When prezzo was back from school, Mang’u, he was told of the lady’s intended return to her country, he was saddened by the news but found comfort almost immediately that his needs would be taken care of by another family in the absence of Mrs. Green (not her real name) Things got thick for the caretaker parents that he dropped out of school and the street around Wabera became home. This is where Prezzo resides and retires after a day of madam, nisaidie na shilingi kumi nikunywe chai , madam assist me with 10 shillings so as to buy tea.
This is an example of street brilliance that continues to beg and fend for themselves the best way they knew how.
Mr. Murimi explained twenty point challenges that the curriculum addresses which was collapsed to four; These are
- Self esteem pillar promotes uplifting of street families’ esteem while emulating God’s word and his never ending love.
- Counseling pillar this strives to counsel them no matter what they went through and eventually re-uniting them with their families.
- Health pillar, offer teaching on the prevention of treatable respiratory diseases which they most suffer from due cold nights and days.
- Business pillar’s main objective is to improve the quality of street families by engaging them in business related ventures, talent search, its nurture and prepare them for job prospects so as to eventually help them come out of the streets and be self reliant.
Prof Nathan Kahara, the president of Former Mayors International and a former mayor of Nairobi, was the guest of honor who said that it was indeed the government’s responsibility to take care of street families however it had miserably failed.
“Street families are not a street problem but societal” Mr. Amani Maranga, Director of 360 degrees, a marketing and communications agency, said during a panel discussion.
You can indeed partner with Love Light by committing monthly financial resources towards their projects which will indeed go a long way in making the lives of street families’ hospitable, warm and quite cheerful. Here are the partnering avenues.
Kenyan Transfer
Account Name: (LOVELIGHT) FIFTY-EIGHT
Account number: 01134232041000
Co-operative Bank of Kenya
Branch: City Hall
MPESA
Select payment services
Select paybill
Business number 400200
Account number: 01134232041000
Kingdom Clothing’s Managing Director Job Mwanga told the audience that 10% of his company’s income is remitted to Love Light.
Among those who attended the launch included Mr. and Mrs. Kanjii Mbugua, Deputy Presidential aspirant 2013 General Elections Ronnie Osumba, Njeri Mwangi, General Manager Pawa254, Linda Ogeda Managing Director LightBox Limited among other dignitaries who feted Brian Murimi as one of the youngest visionary mind that the country had.
Photos courtesy of Pawa254
Kenneth Jura 