Kwareslum Youth Self Help Group Project

LCCC SIFE has partnered with the Kwareslum Youth Self Help Group. This Group is working with the youth in Kenya to help alleviate the high unemployment rate for youths in Kenya. The Kwareslum Youth Self Help Group is run by Jones Obiria, who has return home after college to make a difference in his hometown by opening a Learning Center.

We are part of a U.S. collaboration effort with The Young Entrepreneurs Alliance(YEA) and Babson College to provide support for the development of the Learning Center. In 2008, Mr. Obiria applied for a Fellowship through Echoing Green and made it to the semi finals. This fellowship comes with a $30,000 stipend. We will help him prepare to resubmit his application for 2010.

Jones Obiria's Dream

"My goal and passion is to create the first youth education center in our village. We have over 9,000 youth between the ages of 15 and 23 who have not completed or enrolled in secondary school education. They have grown up surrounded by poverty. Ironically, they must all work just to survive but are in a community that does not have meaningful work paying above poverty wages. So, it is imperative that these youth receive an education and, at the same time, be taught how to use their education to break the terrible cycle of poverty that has crippled this community for generations"

The Igenaitambe Youth Center

The group is working on opening a Learning Center for youths. The Igenaitambe Youth Center will start out with 25 students, who will go to school for 5 hours a day and then work in the Poultry Business "Longstones Fowles" for 3 hours a day. Jones will also provide lunch to all the students, something that is not normally done in Kenya. When the students pass their college exams, they will receive free college tuition if they agree to return and teach at the center for 5 years. The center will provide an education and vocational training for youths.