“We believe in the inner strength and beauty of every human being,” Ingrid Munro, founder of Jamii Bora, speaks softly into the microphone. “It is often the most destitute that an do the biggest miracles.”
Case in point: an organization that began in 1999 with 50 Nairobi beggars intended to lift themselves and others out of poverty has now expanded to over 170,000 members and 86 branches all over Kenya. Their most recent accomplishment is Africa’s first eco-friendly town built for and by former slum-dwellers. Over 2,500 families from the Kibera slum are set to move in to Kaputei, an environmentally-friendly community located on 293 acres of land just thirty kilometers outside of Nairobi.
When the Kenyan government demanded a pretty penny for hooking the town up to the grid, Jamii Bora, who normally provide microfinance, housing, business school, alcohol counseling and health care to impoverished Kenyans, took matters into their own hands: Kaputei is entirely self-sufficient and sustainable.
- Factories were built to manufacture the red clay and cinder blocks on site that were later used to build the 2,000 + houses. Now the factories serve as permanent means of employment for local residents.
- All of the homes operate via solar panels and a complex wetland system – managed by two Kenyan universities – recycles all of the waste water.
- Wells were put into place to garner tap water and many homes now host a flushing toilet.
- Trees were planted to enhance the beauty of the area, provide wind protection, and to harvest later as means of income.
- The town is even grouped into plots of 200 houses with a neighborhood center centrally-located in each area.
Kenyans are maximizing the one opportunity that the Western world doesn’t have: the ability to start with a clean slate. Many Western intellectuals believe that developing countries are our last hope for implementing sustainability efforts at an early stage. It might seem surprising that this movement would arise from within Kenya, but not to Ingrid Munro.
When asked why Jamii Bora initiatives are consistently successful, she explains: “All of our staff come from our membership…They all have very high degrees…in the university of life…They all hold a docotoral level in social work.” In other words, everyone who works for Jamii Bora was living in poverty at one point, but through dogged persistence, critical self-responsibility, and an acute understanding of their community, they have made a name for themselves – one that proves that poverty alleviation is no longer an exclusively Western-run field. Kaputei is the poor man’s Timbuktu.
Jamii Bora
Jamii Bora works to strengthen and utilize all the skills, determination, and hard work of the people of Kenya to build a better nation through better families through microfinance, education, health, housing, and counseling.
- Organizatio n Type: Non-Profit
- Website: http://www.jamiibora.org/
- Founder(s): Ingrid Munro
- Founded: 1999
- Location: Nairobi, Kenya
- See complete company list here
