Kawangware Slum School Nairobi, Kenya

Kawangware Methodist Church and School: Offering hope in the slums of Nairobi.

A place where everybody is somebody.” This sign in the Kawangware Church and School compound in the slums of Nairobi in many ways summed up the inspiring and humbling visit of the then President-Designate of the Methodist Church in Britain, Helen Cameron’s visit to the Methodist Church in Kenya and Uganda.

In 1996, the women of the small Methodist congregation in Kawangware slum started a feeding programme in the Church on a Sunday for some of the most needy children in the community. This developed quickly into a kindergarten and a few years’ later, after fundraising for a couple of classrooms, the mothers managed to register a Primary School. The Primary School, which serves children from the slum, now has 108 children on roll, 60 of whom can only afford to pay for a lunch levy. But despite the financial challenges, the Church is determined to continue to provide education and lunch for the most vulnerable children in its’ midst.

Whilst visiting the school, we were treated to a medley of Christian songs from the children, who sang songs of thanksgiving to God for the gift of His love and His presence.

Afterwards, walking through the narrow alleys of the slums to visit a few families supported by the Church, we met one young mother who was struggling to provide for her 7 children ( 3 sets of twins and a young baby) by selling vegetables. Her husband had died in an accident. Her greatest desire was that her children might get an education and so have hope of a better life. Three of her children were being educated at the school. “I thank God,” she said, “that the Methodist Church in Kawangware is offering the hope of a better life for my children.”

As we walked through the slum, we received warm smiles from passers-by in the narrow alleys and were invited into a number of the shacks. We were thanked profusely for visiting and witnessing the reality of life for so many.

This is one of the many ministries run by the Methodist Church in Kenya, which has for years been supported by the World Mission Fund. This visit – like all the others I have made to partner church schools - raised questions for us as we consider our on-going relationship with the global Church:

• How can we continue learn from and continue to support our partners in the Education sector in ways that go beyond fundngi?
• We learned that a school uniform costs $20 in Kenya and is required for a child to attend school. In the slums, this prevents many children from doing so, thus denying them a future. Are there ways/networks we can use to assist with this kind of need?
• Can we encourage more school twinning between Methodist schools to mutually enhance children’s education and global awareness?
• Is there online connectivity potential for both staff and pupils in developing mutual relations, understanding and educational opportunity?

Helen Cameron wrote afterwards: “This was an overwhelming part of the visit. There was so much loving practical care being offered by the church in this location but so much need to be addressed. As we left the slum area and the saints of God on the ground in that community and turned a corner we were immediately in a very affluent suburb of Nairobi and the proximity of such wealth and privilege immediately adjacent to such poverty was disturbing”.