By Joe Mwai | Chair of the Board
Dear Supporters:
This is SYSC’s first project update since becoming a part of Global Giving. In just 30 days, we raised over $5,000 from 62 donors all over the world. This is a really big help and will go a long way in helping SYSC implement youth vocational skills training program. We thank you with all our hearts.
We want to let you know that we are putting the wheels in motion to begin a first phase of training. With funds raised to date we will rent program space and hire an instructor for six months. This will allow us to offer free tailoring training and HIV/AIDS education, testing, counseling in order to give a new start to eight youth. Tailoring is a skill in high demand in Kenya’s growing informal economy.
We also want to take this chance to tell you a little bit more about SYSC. The three slums we serve began to grow in the 1960s after landless people displaced by the Mau Mau freedom war settled in Nyeri county. In 1994, Anna Nyokabi Karanja, commonly known as Mama Mugo, became concerned about the extreme poverty facing Nyeri's growing numbers of homeless children and youth. She opened the doors to her home, turning two rooms into a drop-in shelter and starting a feeding program, supported by food and clothing donations from the local community. In response to increased demand for services at Mama Mugo's centre caused by a growing population, and with the help of friends and well wishers, the Shauri Yako Community Youth Support Centre was born in 2000.
Although we are now a registered charity and part of Global Giving, we remain a community-focused, grassroots organization. We are motivated every day by Anna’s generosity and desire to help children and youth set their lives on a better path. We have learned that sustainably helping people escape poverty is providing them with skill for employment.
Sadly, Anna passed away on July 19, 2010, but she would be touched deeply to know of our success through Global Giving. Thank you for caring about and supporting our work.
Many blessings!
Joe Mwai,
Chair of the Board
SYSC
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