Kibera is the largest slum in all of Africa, second largest slum in the world. It is about one mile square with an estimated 1 million people living within it. If you are one who lives on a plot of land this could be very hard to imagine. I’ll try to help you here, the average home is 12ft x 12ft, built with mud walls, a corrugated tin roof, and dirt or concrete floors. Some of these homes have a partition to create two living spaces within them. They do not have running water, plumbing of any kind, and many do not have electricity. And the shanties often house 8 or more people with many of them sleeping on the floor.

Kibera is filled with story, just like everywhere else: tight-knit families, broken relationships, joy, challenges, and dreams of a better life. However, the biggest struggle is probably finding an affordable wage to provide for your family. And with that kind of struggle you find all kinds of coping mechanisms, numbing agents, and desperate, risky, options to provide just enough for that day.

We are so thankful to work alongside local partners who understand what it is like to live here, and who are taking steps to help bring the change people are looking for. Thomas and Beatrice Omolo are bringing hope, dreams and opportunity to the next generation of Kibera. They founded a school in 2008 with 100 students attending, they now have nearly 600. These children are earning an excellent education but let’s not stop there. When families enroll their kids at Saviour King they are cared about and loved on as a whole unit. How could one couple possibly do this for 600 students? Well, they couldn’t. But the teachers, they are the ones carrying out the mission on a daily basis.

These teachers at Saviour King Ed. Ctr. don't just teach these children, they choose to live in their neighborhoods and do life with them. They daily pour their hearts and lives into the well being of these precious children and their families.

So Maddy, one of the Pamoja Love Dream Team Members, came up with a brilliant idea in October as she was in Kibera walking the school grounds and witnessing the teachers loving on the kiddos. She dreamed up the idea of the Teachers for Teachers Project. A project that a school, or a group of friends, could join hands to make a global impact with. We know teachers understand the joys and challenges that come with teaching, and then to imagine the extra demands put on these teachers when parents are struggling to provide the basics like food, medical care, etc.

But we can send them some encouragement and remind them they are loved and cared about. Every $250 donation will provide 5 teachers with a Christmas meal package for their families along with a personal gift. This will be such a huge encouragement to them.

We have made this giving opportunity super easy. You can go to our giving catalog page online and select Teachers for Teachers. Or if you want to each give individually to one teacher you can go to the “Donate” tab and make a $50 donation with a comment listing “Teachers for Teachers”.

We hope you will share this giving opportunity with people you know that would have a heart for It.

Click here to visit the Giving Catalog Page

Together we can make a difference.

-Pamoja Love

I sat there thinking “What? Who am I?” Did she really pick me to be on the prayer team because she thought I was a prayer warrior or did God tell her to pick me just because. I questioned this with every shaking bone in my body, I was terrified to sit face to face with someone who spoke a different language than me, lived in a different culture than me, would have expectations of me. I really didn’t feel qualified to offer a single thing. In fact, why was I going on this trip? Oh yeah, I wanted to meet our sponsor girls in person.

I often wonder if I would have been brave enough to make that first trip had it not been for the love I had for these little girls I had yet to meet. The love I felt for them drowned out a lot of those voices telling me I couldn’t / shouldn’t go. It helped me to think outside of myself. Those girls are what God used to get me out of my comfort zone and closer to His will.

To think of ALLLLLLLLLL the things that followed that first trip and are still being dreamed up. I could have simply missed the ride by not even showing up in response to fear, with no idea of what I missed out on. Actually, I wonder how many times I have done that?

I think the key to squashing fear in the face and stepping towards what we were designed to do is easier than we think, we need to love something more than we love ourselves. Being brave is much easier when we find something bigger than ourselves to care about. So… start looking around, see what makes a little stir, a little compassion, in your heart and try that.

Together we can make a difference.