They laughed at us
When we roamed the streets
They scorned us
When we over turned the dustbins
They spat at us
When we passed near them with tattered clothes
And stinking bodies

They sneered at us
When we lay on the streets
In the cold nights
And heavy rains
They starred at us
When we sniffed glue
They never took notice
When we begged for food

But today
We design their clothes
We build their mansions
We dress their hair
We drive and repair their cars
We fix their appliances
We make their furniture

They no longer despise us
For we no longer stink
We no longer beg
We no longer sniff
We no longer starve
Our donors have seen us
We are reformed and refined.

Alex Mutiso composed the “Reformed” poem with Jitegemee’s vocational students.

Q: What is Architecture for Humanity?

A: Architecture for Humanity (AfH) is an organization that provides design services to people and groups that might not typically have access to architects, engineers, or designers. There are local Architecture for Humanity chapters all over the world.

Q: What kind of projects have you worked on with Architecture for Humanity?

A: I’ve been fortunate enough to work on some small projects locally here in Washington, D.C., and also around the world. Several years ago, I travelled to Nigeria and helped to design a primary school there. The last project I worked on was a Children’s Center in India. We designed a campus with dormitories for sixty boys, a community center, a kitchen and dining building, offices, a small marketplace and a cricket field.

Q: How is the Jitegemee building project different?

A:The Jitegemee project is really different than any other project I’ve worked on because we’ve been able to work very closely with the actual school members  students, teachers, and parents  to design it. I think if you really want a project to be successful, you have to really get involved with the users and make them a part of the decision-making process. We, as architects, know how to design, but the students, teachers, and parents, know Jitegemee. So, to really take advantage of this, we hosted a school design workshop with the school to start the design process off. We put together a “planning committee” together made up of about 9 students, 4 teachers, and 8 parents and had a four-day long workshop with them to explain just what goes into designing a school, have discussions on what they liked and disliked, and what their short and long-term goals for the school were. We even travelled to other examples of new schools so they could get a feel for design and construction projects. It also allowed them to see concepts and solutions they might not have been familiar with in the first place. In the end, we left with a very good idea of the school, its members, and its goals. We all left not only as informed participants, but also as friends. It wasn’t your typical architect-client relationship. Although we were still the architect and they were still the client, we were making decisions together on an equal footing. It really became a learning experience for everyone and helped to spread ownership of the project.

Q: What is the building project status?

A:We had a great start with the design workshop. From there we have been working through detailed design of the new school campus. When we left the workshop, we had a really good idea of what everyone wanted and why they wanted it. Presently we are taking all of that information and working on the details. Exactly how big are the classrooms? How will the school be sustainable and use less energy and collect rainwater? Where is the best place for windows so there is enough natural light in the building without a lot of heat gain and glare? All of those kinds of details need to be figured out while still maintaining good communication with the planning committee in Machakos. As we make design-oriented decisions, we need them to respond and let us know if it will work for them programmatically. It’s a process that takes longer than traditional design, but I think that in the end, the new Jitegemee campus will be specifically tailored to the organization’s needs and wants and will be a very intimate solution to the school’s experience.

Q: What are the important next steps?

A:I think the most important thing is to keep up the involvement and awareness of the project. This is actually a very unique endeavor and the more people that are involved and aware, the more successful it will be. For instance, I was recently invited to speak at a conference on Green Buildings in Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, by the United Nations Human Settlement Division (UNHabitat) where I gave a presentation on responsible design education, and community involvement. I was able to present the Jitegemee building project as a case study to the delegation and it was very well received. Many of the attendees were very interested in how they could learn more, if they could contribute, and how they might participate in projects like this in the future. It really proved that the way we are going about this building project is not only unique, but that the potential to build something really special at many different levels is very possible.

Mark Palmer , LEED AP, is a member of the Washington, D.C., chapter of Architecture for Humanity (AfH DC) and is the lead designer on the Jitegemee building project.

It was during our school vacation, in August 2009, when the Director informed me about some visitors who were to come that year. The visitors were none other than architects Mark Palmer and Rayya Newman, board member Shu Kahn, her daughter Jenya, and husband Kevin, and teacher Emily Gasoi. These guys were led by dear Madam Farah. Their idea was to share with us about how to come up with a design for the new Jitegemee school.

A planning committee was formed composed of parents, staff and students. We met early in the morning to travel to Nairobi University School of Design where we met with professor Musau Kimeu. We saw different buildings with different designs, though they appeared to be very expensive. Professor Kimeu led through our discussion in coming with an affordable plan to our new school. It took us not less than two hours! Every point discussed was put down in paper for future reference.

Then we went to Catholic University where we saw a rainwater catchments system and very huge concrete tanks, so big that they could hold large amounts of water that could be used if a drought occurs. Both parents and students came up with such an idea so that Jitegemee can have such tanks—but these tanks seemed too expensive.

Then we were able to visit a solar panel shop. It was not encouraging because the solar panels were not very affordable. The day was coming to an end and everyone was tired. But the next day, we still had one more place to visit: The Limuru School.

It took us one hour to our destination. When we arrived, everyone was pleased because it looked affordable. We saw their program was just like Jitegemee. This was the kind of school we had been looking for. It had a nice and spacious library where kids could learn without interference, good classrooms, and plastic water tanks to collect rain. It gave us hope that we can have a school just like that.

It was an amazing and very important journey that was taking Jitegemee another step after many years.

Bravo, Jitegemee sponsors!

By Charles Wambua Kieti

Today, thankfully, rain has returned and our economy has begun to recover. But the price of food and basic goods has remained too high for many poor families. Many children dropped from school due to lack of food and money for small expenses, such as after-school tuition payments. But thanks to the friends and supporters of Jitegemee, we managed to walk the year without registering any school drop outs.

Our work with street children is driven at all times by understanding that each child is an individual with a unique set of experience, aspirations, needs and challenges. We conduct comprehensive surveys in schools that our children attend to assess their academic progress. We also ensure that we conduct personal evaluations of all Jitegemee-sponsored school children, especially during the three month-long school holidays that they spend at our center. This assists us make the right decision on how to support the kids. Talking with their teachers and classmates helps Jitegemee staff understand our children’s challenges even better. Each one of us does his part and considers that the welfare of these children is our own responsibility.

This year, we held a graduation ceremony for 54 vocational students (21 girls and 33 boys) who have made the transition from the streets to the workplace. “I don’t know where I would be now if it were not for the Jitegemee program,” said Lucy Ka-vunga, who is now a qualified tailor and dressmaker. “It is amazing that I play a very great role in supporting my family with food and school support for my siblings.

“Before I joined Jitegemee I would not express myself, I was untrustworthy and did not care what happened,” said Stephen Mwanzia, who has been trained in motor vehicle wiring. “My mentor has a lot of trust in me. I am the person keeping records for this business and I do help him manage his work. He says he has a lot of faith in me and the customers give him similar information. Thank you Jitegemee supporters for helping me become who I am.”

Many of the vocational graduates have been employed by the mentors who taught them their trade. Others have opted to start their own small businesses. Street children are robbed of their dignity through communities’ ignorance and fear; but Jitegemee has come out strongly to empower them and reaffirm their potential. Contrary to when the children were in the streets, now the majority of community members want to be associated with Jitegemee graduates. Street children need support to succeed in life.

Our secondary school program has not lagged behind. Currently, Jitegemee supports 13 scholars in prestigious secondary schools. This year, Nzioka Paul, who just began his first year at Kitondo Secondary School, has so far scored an A in all subjects, including science and mathematics. Sophie Mutuku, an orphan who began her first year at Misyani Girls High School, posted a B in almost all subjects.

Jitegemee is also pleased to report outstanding success in college. One recent graduate, Mwende Musyoka, is already employed in early education, while another, Musa Tom, is working as a trained electrician.

We attribute much of this success to our “attachment” program, where secondary school students spend school breaks working in an office or an institution as an unpaid intern. This program has built up the career ambitions of our students. After spending time working at a state-run wire news service, Jitegemee scholar Muli Kieti will be joining Kenya School of Mass Communication. Another recent secondary school graduate, Mbithe Mutinda also intends to pursue a Diploma in Journalism, while Lilian Syokau will be joining the Kenya Medical Training College for a Diploma in Nursing.

Through experiences like these, Jitegemee’s children are developing personal esteem and are fulfilling their responsibilities for supporting other children. This year, we invited our secondary school kids to orient the younger Class 8 candidates on what happens in secondary school. Secondary school graduates also gave a talk about their life experiences after school to all Jitegemee scholars, demonstrating how former street children have developed aspiration and ambition for the future in addition to a sense of commitment to others.

In 2010, Jitegemee is working hard to realize our goal of building a new educational center with offices, classrooms, a library and a computer lab on an acre of land that we purchased last year. Although we have faced some unexpected hurdles along the way, we know that we shall realize our goal. We sincerely appreciate your donations which have made all this possible. Together, we will continue to make a difference in these children’s lives.

By Mike Kimeu

Overview

• Three classrooms to be separated by removable walls, which can be taken out to create a large hall for big assemblies.
• Solar shading and strategic building orientation (positioning the building to take advantage of the sun path) to keep our new facilities cool naturally.
• A large garden, which could be used to grow produce for meals, families in need or sale in the marketplace.
• A play area for our youths.
• A library and computer room equipped with tables and chairs for studying and reading. Parents will be able to take classes and have access to the Internet in the library, and the local community will be invited on certain days of the week.
• A well ventilated kitchen with a fuel-efficient stove, hot water, cool storage and enough food preparation space to prepare meals in an efficient way.
• A solar hot water heater providing hot water for cooking, cleaning and other purposes.
• Separate latrines for boys and girls. The latrines will be well ventilated and will compost waste into fertilizer for agricultural use.
• Roofs designed to collect rain water and direct it into storage tanks for later use.

Photos

Please click on any of the photos below to enlarge the photo and start an album screen show.

Our Current Facilities

Our current building doesn’t have a large enough outdoor gathering space to accommodate our growing student body.

Our current building doesn’t have solar shading to keep the building cool naturally.

We currently only have one classroom. It isn’t big enough to accommodate our entire student body.

Our small library has no room for tables or chairs for reading or studying.

The shed we use for a kitchen lacks the food preparation space necessary to prepare meals in an efficient way.

Our current kitchen is very simple and doesn’t have a fuel-efficient stove, so it requires a lot of firewood.

Boys and girls share use of our single pit latrine, which isn’t ventilated.

Our Future Facilities

Solar shading and building orientation (positioning the building to take advantage of the sun path) will keep our new facilities cool naturally.	Our new compound will have a large garden, which could be used to grow produce for meals, families in need or sale in the marketplace.	Our new compound will include play areas for our youth.	We will have not one but three classrooms. They will be separated by removable walls, which can be taken out to create a large hall for big assemblies.	Our new classrooms will have lots of storage space.	Our new library will have tables and chairs for studying and reading.	Our new kitchen will be ventilated and have hot water, cool storage and enough food preparation space to prepare meals in an efficient way.
A solar hot water heater will provide hot water for cooking, cleaning and other purposes.	We will have separate sanitary facilities for boys and girls.	Our new latrines will be ventilated, reducing flies and smells and improving sanitation.	Our new latrines will compost waste into fertilizer for agricultural use.	Separating solid and liquid waste will allow the solid to be mixed with ash and become fertilizer.	The roofs of our new facilities will be designed to collect rain water and direct it into storage tanks for later use.	Water collection and storage will ensure we always have enough water for cleaning, crop irrigation and grey water.

Watch the YouTube video below to find out more about what coming in second in the competition means to us. (Special thanks to Umberto of Emotions Music for letting us use his original soundtrack of Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo`ole’s version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World.” For more on Umberto and Emotions Music, please visit http://www.emotionsmusic.com, http://www.facebook.com/emotionsmusic, http://www.youtube.com/emotionsmusic , http://www.blogtv.com/People/emotionsmusic, or http://www.twitter.com/emotionsmusic.)

How Did the Contest Work?

The July 2010 Green Open Challenge ran from July 5 through July 30, 2010. The Challenge offered projects that promote promote sustainable climate-friendly paths of development the opportunity to earn a permanent spot on the GlobalGiving website if they could mobilize supporters to raise US $4,000 from at least 50 unique donors during this time period.

How Did Organizations Win?

Projects meeting the minimum requirements of raising $4,000 from at least 50 unique donors automatically earned a permanent spot on GlobalGiving. These projects were also eligible to compete for additional funding.

What was the Prize Structure?

The three projects that raised the most money during the challenge received additional awards of $10,000, $5,000, and $3,000 respectively. The three projects receiving the greatest number of donations from unique donors received additional awards of $4,000, $2,000 and $1,000 respectively. 

When I was about seven years old, I went to the city of Nairobi. I used to take other people’s property and run away. One day luck was not on my side. I stole a woman’s bag but when I was running away, I was caught and beaten by a mob.

At nine or ten years old, I came to Machakos. I had nowhere to live. I had spoiled my respect with my friends, so I didn’t have friends. One day I met some children who talked about a program for street children. At first, I was afraid to go there, but then a man came to me when I was standing outside the supermarket. I was so afraid and I kept a distance from him but he told me that he was a teacher from the children’s program. I was happy because I had already heard of the place.

He told me there will always be githeri (corn and beans) and porridge and that there will no longer be child harassment. When I got to the place, I found children and one of the teachers. The teachers were so happy and were treating us like their own children. I was in this place for about one year and here my behavior really changed a lot and I became a responsible person.

After some months, we had a camping trip to Mombasa. Every one of us was happy about it. From Mombasa, my life changed so much from worse to good. My parents were happy about the change. Even in the village, I was again respected.

I am now fully at home. I cooperate with my parents and teachers and I think that’s why today I am like this. So thanks to all those who help Jitegemee and those who have that willing heart to support children. It is from that support that I have come all this way to this far.

Now, I am doing panel beating (auto body—learning to repair damaged vehicles). I am doing very well and I am expecting to start my own business after the learning process. I want also to teach other (street children) about my trade and my skills. Thanks.

By Mwania Musyoka

The final design and plan reflects the recommendations the Jitegemee Board of Directors and the volunteer architects from the Washington, D.C., chapter of Architects for Humanity made in December 2009 to the planning committee in Machakos, Kenya, along with the planning committee’s subsequent recommendations.

The planning committee is a group of students, teachers and parents who formed a committee during the architects’ visit to Kenya in August 2009.  During the visit, the committee members joined the architects and board members on a trip to see examples of other buildings and affordable, environmentally sustainable designs in Kenya. We learned how the roof can be designed to harvest water (a very important resource in Machakos, which is known for its lack of rain) and how buildings can be designed to keep cool without air conditioning. We even saw toilets that composted human waste into fertilizer, another pretty simple but powerful technology that improves the crop harvest.

If we can raise $90,000 by the summer, we can break ground on our new education center this fall. The planning committee will pick and manage the architectural team and contractor.

“NYAMA!” everybody else responded. Looking around the yard of Jitegemee’s rented house, I was shocked to realize that every single student had contributed to the thunderous echo.  Nyama means “meat” in Swahili and is the refrain in a Kenyan children’s game, signaling that the leader was about to announce the name of an animal.  About one hundred kids, from 5 to 21, stood in front of me, and I could not find one who did not seem genuinely excited about jumping every time the animal’s meat was edible.   As my visit to Kenya continued, I became increasingly impressed by these Jitegemee students. No game seemed too boring for them. No joke seemed too bland. No kid was too ‘uncool’ to talk to. No challenge was too tough to overcome.

I had come with my parents to visit Jitegemee and to participate in a workshop that involved architects, students, guardians and teachers in planning a new school building to be constructed on an acre of land that Jitegemee, a program for street children in Machakos Kenya, had just purchased.

I spent my first few days in Kenya in this workshop, working together with a planning committee of 25 students and adults led by two incredible members of Architects for Humanity. The entire committee travelled to Nairobi to learn how to keep a building naturally cool by shading it from the sun, how to collect rainwater from a roof, and other forms of sustainable, efficient architecture.  At the University of Nairobi, we got a lecture from one of Kenya’s most prominent environmentally-sustainable designers.  In a small town north of Nairobi, we visited a school with a beautiful library large enough for the community to learn and study in, a far cry from Jitegemee’s small library in a cramped teacher’s office.

Although no one on our planning committee had ever designed a school before and many had no more than an 8th  grade education, they soaked up the information. They understood our budget limitations and the importance of prioritizing. When we were introduced to the intricacies of solar panels at a well-known company in Nairobi, not a single committee member believed the product was worth the high prices. Even the fourteen- year-olds understood the value of money and the concept of trade-offs.

The lessons learned will extend well beyond Jitegemee’s new home. When an architect explained that the orientation of a building can have an enormous effect on the temperature within it, the guardians immediately began talking about the orientation of their own houses. They could scarcely wait to return to Machakos and spread the news of what they had learned.

Enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility were traits that everyone in Jitegemee shared.  I was fortunate enough to accompany about 130 Jitegemee students and staff to Amboseli National Park on its annual field trip. We slept in bunk beds at a dusty primary school. Our visit to the park the next day was marred by the same severe drought that had created food and water shortages in Machakos.   At Amboseli, the lack of water had destroyed much of the vegetation, leaving the wild animals without food. We were all silent as we passed zebra carcasses in the dust.  Still, the circumstances did not keep the students from enjoying the trip. Many were excited simply to be on a bus for the first time and to journey far beyond the edge of their town. Others took full advantage of the environmental lesson in front of them. Muli Kieti, a recent high school graduate who is now doing an unpaid journalism internship at a state-run news wire, spent the entire time in the park jotting down notes for an article he planned to write.

Muli is about my age, and he already knows that he is passionate about journalism. In fact, it seemed that all the Jitegemee students my age had already established their goals for the future. Most of the vocational students introduced themselves with both their name and their trade. Two girls my age informed me numerous times, through their giggles, that it was not acceptable for me to be in college and not know what I want to be when I grow up. They had a point. While I spent my freshman year dabbling in subjects like linguistics that I had no intention in pursuing as a career, these vocational students had already started their own businesses and were earning money to support their little sisters and brothers.

These kids had grown up on the streets and most were still often forced to skip meals, yet in the bus to Amboseli they offered me half of the snack that the teacher had just given them.  On our overnight trip, despite having gone to bed very late, despite the lack of warm water and the inescapable dust, the Jitegemee students woke up before the sun rose to wash themselves and polish their shoes.

The students refused to accept the identity of “street kid.” They presented themselves as respectable, young individuals with bright prospects. As equals, we compared music tastes. As equals, we taught each other games. As equals, we shared details about our lives.

As I watched the group play Nyama again, however, the truth dawned on me: We were not quite equal. I would get bored of jumping every time somebody shouted “cow”. I would never choose to wake up at 5 a.m. to polish my shoes.  I could never relate to each new Jitegemee student and give them the comfort of knowing they were not alone in what they have been through.  In truth, each Jitegemee student was superior to me in mental strength, compassion, and self-awareness.  They were fortunate to find Jitegemee, and I was fortunate to experience, however briefly, the family that they have become.

By Jenya Kahn-Lang

In August 2009, Rayya Newman and Mark Palmer, two volunteer architects, visited Kenya with Jitegemee board members to begin the design process. They conducted a five-day workshop introducing our teachers, parents and students to environmentally sustainable designs, such as roofs that collect rainwater, latrines that compost waste, and classrooms that stay cool due to natural ventilation.

Below is a YouTube video with clips from the workshop.