Community Outreach

AmericaShare’s headquarters is located in the heart of Mukuru at the Harambee Community Centre. The centre provides an oasis of calm to the residents of Mukuru, and affords children a quiet place to study, learn and play away from the commotion and chaos of daily life in this impoverished area.

Harambee Centre is home to our community outreach and education programmes.

The Harambee Centre Library

The library is stocked with over twenty thousand books, including novels, textbooks, and study guides. Students of all ages use the library to do their homework, study for exams, and form study groups with their peers. Books are a rare gift in Mukuru. Many schools do not have adequate textbooks, and novels are a luxury most cannot afford.

We also run educational sessions with local schools. The sessions engage younger students in lessons about their health and education through games and music. Additionally, we also host reading clubs at the centre to foster a love of reading amongst the children that frequent the library.

These small group sessions allow students to discuss and express what they are learning in creative ways: through skits, short stories, and songs.

Computer Centre

Harambee’s Computer Centre provides Mukuru’s residents with free digital learning resources and internet connection.

Our on-site computer technicians conduct daily computer lessons, teaching students the basics in Microsoft Word and Excel, as well as how to search the web, look for jobs, and create an email account.

We started with a humble six computers and now host over 60, spread across two labs, thanks to donations from the Rossi Family, TravelElevates (the foundation of The Signature Travel Network) and the Osborne Family.

Over the years we’ve seen the internet used in the most creative of ways - from learning to knit by watching YouTube tutorials - to bidding for online jobs. The opportunities for learning and advancement are endless with access to computers and the internet.

Tusitawi

Thanks to our partners at Learning For Humanity, the Computer Centre is now equipped with Tusitawi, the first eLearning program designed specifically for the Kenyan curriculum. Tusitawi is a digital classroom that includes textbooks, test preparation, video tutorials and learning games for every grade. Given that the majority of schools within Mukuru lack textbooks, computers, and science labs, this program is a game changer for the community.

Virtuoso-Upchurch Learning Centre

In 2013 AmericaShare inaugurated its Virtuoso-Upchurch Learning Centre, dedicated to special needs children, gratefully named for the Virtuoso travel network and its CEO, Matthew Upchurch and his wife Jessica. The professionally staffed centre replaces a brave but hot and overcrowded classroom with an airy, modern new building. The new centre features bright wall murals, tiled floors, new desks and chairs, separate boys and girls bathrooms, specialized learning materials, and a small fenced courtyard which gives the children a pleasant and safe place to play and enjoy their lunch.

Children with special needs have an especially difficult time in a developing country like Kenya. The Virtuoso-Upchurch Learning Centre is a refuge for these children, built to meet their specific needs.

Lacrosse

The game of Lacrosse was not played in Mukuru until 2014, when Ian Macleod, funded by private donors, businesses, and the International Lacrosse Federation, introduced it to the Mukuru community. To date, over 200 students from local schools have regularly participated in practices and games. An AmericaShare School Sponsorship graduate student coaches students every day after school and coordinates matches every week. In December 2015, the Kenya Lacrosse Association was given the distinction of becoming the 54th member of the Federation of International Lacrosse.

Fresh Water

While not terribly glamorous, the borehole we dug next to Harambee Centre gives Mukuru one of its only sources of fresh water. Such are the small and day-to-day things that, along with libraries and computers and loving care, go into revitalizing a community.