Amplifying Voices in Nairobi

Twenty-six-year-old Eliud Wambua lives with his family in Mathare, a large slum in Nairobi, Kenya.

Homes, engineered from scrap materials like corrugated metal, are situated along dirt roads that are littered with trash and that flood when it rains. There is too much alcohol and not enough clean water, too few schools and not enough jobs. When people can’t work, Eliud notes, crime rates rise.

“It is disturbing that living conditions of where Nairobi’s poor majority live continue to worsen by the day instead of improving,” said Otieno Oquok, Resonate Global Mission’s coordinator for Nairobi Transformational Network (NTN).

That’s why NTN is working with organizations throughout Nairobi to bring together and empower one of the city’s greatest assets to transform communities: young people like Eliud.

Bringing People Together

NTN wants to see better living conditions for Nairobi’s communities. There is no simple solution to the challenges young adults like Eliud, his family, and his community in Nairobi face; better living conditions will require leaders in the church, government, education, business, and other sectors to work together.

“Individual efforts are good in and of themselves but they cannot solve the huge urban challenges we currently face,” said Otieno.

The people who make up the network of NTN noticed that there were important voices missing from the conversation of community transformation.

A Young Population

“The majority of [Nairobi’s] residents are young people,” said Otieno. He notes that young adults in the city have the numbers to make changes in their communities, but they don’t realize that they have the power. They have a voice, but they aren’t being heard.

In order to give young adults a space where they could find their voices and work together, NTN partnered with Centre for Urban Mission, Msingi Trust, Footprints for Change, Inspiration Centre, and Do It With Boldness. Your support of Resonate helped make it possible for these organizations to coordinate youth forums—trainings that gather young people like Eliud together so they can learn and discuss how to transform their communities through a biblical perspective.

“Raising critical consciousness among young people will help them know the sources of their challenges, see the potential that they have, and practically act to change the situation,” said Otieno.

Eliud is one of the young adults who have participated in the youth forums. The oldest of his brothers, his family looks to him for care. Family responsibilities make it hard for him to find time for ministry—he disciples young people, ages 13 to 23, at his church. He’d like to go to seminary, but can’t afford it. He learned about the youth forums through his church and thought it would be a good opportunity to learn.

“[I] thought it would sharpen my skills socially and spiritually,” he said. “I have participated four times and am still looking forward to more."

At each youth forum, young adults gather in a circle. They listen to one another share about their communities, learn about things like government and economics, read Scripture, and discuss what God has to say about the challenges they face in their communities.

“The Bible has been used to justify oppression. It has been used to justify injustice. It has been used to marginalize communities,” said Otieno. “We are reading through the same Scriptures, but reading it from the perspectives of [those living in poverty] and [those who are oppressed.]”

Community Transformation Takes Time

Community transformation takes time, but young adults who are attending the youth forums are already noticing changes in themselves.

“It has shaped how I read the Bible,” said Eliud. He and many other young adults said they were reading the Bible through the perspective of the challenges they face for the very first time. They said that they now understand the connection between faith and politics.

Eliud said he’s also been able to bring conversations from the youth forums to other young people in his community, especially teenagers and young adults he ministers to at his church.

“NTN became the platform for the youth to not only find their voice but to also amplify it,” said Otieno. “The young people have a role to play and NTN recognizes the importance of their voice to transforming the city of Nairobi.”