Up With Hope Dispatch

We recently travelled to Western Kenya to remember our late comrade Farouk who passed away when I was not in the country. This was my chance to reconnect with him and give him some final words where he was buried next to his ancestors. We made shirts and brough the whole family along. It was a really special moment though very emotionally difficult. I miss him everyday and hate that he left us so early.

Hanging with Farouk's kids in the shade. We all love this land and I wish we could have stayed longer.

One of the biggest events in our careers was when on March 8th during International Women's Day, the United Nations Secretary General visited our group. The security was absolutely crazy and seemed like it happened in a flash but it was a day we'll never forget. Kaka made it in to the papers walking next to the big guys (see above)

We cleaned the community for two days straight

Area Member of Parliament K1 and UN Habitat Executive Director Joan Close along with Kaka and Tush, two big community leaders.

You can see a short video I made of the visit below.

After the UNSG visit something very miraculous happened. We have been wanting this road to be paved for years and suddenly trucks showed up dumping materials. Youth of the community were hired and soon got to work building a great new addition to the community thanks to the MP K1.

Was so happy to see the centre hosting the Israel Aparthied film festival. We talked about the conflict and watched a film about the impact of settlements in Jerusalem. I have always wanted to bring the UWH concept to Palestine because of the importance of space for youth who are so affected by the apartheid there.

We had a peacemaking workshop from the German Government institution GIZ about our slum soccer pitch and how to maintain it (it's dying for repairs)

My real friends :)

One of our comrades Fredrick Mwaura who runs a feeding program out of the centre helped to redevelop a valuable space that UWH first developed. We love the new facelift.