Imagine one million people living in a place the size of New York’s Central Park.  Then, try to fathom living in a house made of mud, cardboard, and corrugated tin with no running water, plumbing, and minimal electricity.  Add in the problem of 50,000 orphans and diseases like malaria, cholera, and AIDS.  This is the reality of day-to-day life in Kibera, Kenya.  Kibera is the largest slum in Africa, and the second-largest in the world.

Since 2007, the New Canaan YMCA has been partnering with Facing the Future (FAFU), a child development center in Kibera.  The center currently cares for 122 children, ranging from infants up to young teenagers, and for the past three and a half years, the Y has been providing the children with food, school uniforms, classroom materials, medical attention, and mosquito netting.   

Recently, our Y sent a group of volunteers to Kibera to assist FAFU with building a new facility about three times the size of the previous facility.  The new facility includes multiple classrooms, a bathroom, and a CFW Health Store.  The CFW Health Store will provide access to medicine for Kibera’s most common killer diseases, including malaria, respiratory infections, and dysentery.  The site in Kibera will also be a training center for other childcare and health services.

One of our Y’s main goals is to provide Facing the Future with the tools to become self-sufficient in serving the youth of Kibera.  The CFW Health Store will provide FAFU with the opportunity to generate revenue.  Additionally, our Y purchased a kerosene pump for FAFU to sell kerosene, Kibera’s leading commodity.