Sr Mary Killeen and Fr Manuel Gordejuela set up Mukuru Promotion Centre

I felt very badly when I walked each day to my former school and met ragged, half-starved children coming from the slums and going into city to beg, scavenge, or even in some cases, steal. I felt strongly that something should be done, so I approached the Missionaries of Africa, the priests in our local parish, and found that one of them, a Spaniard called Fr. Manuel Gordejuela, was also very interested in the plight of the children. The parents had spent many months following the District Officer to get a site for the school and in May 1985, Father Manuel and I started a small informal school in the Mukuru Kayaaba slum, calling the project the Mukuru Promotion Centre. I was working part time in Mukuru from 1985 until 1989, as I was still head teacher of my former school. Then in 1990, the Sisters of Mercy and the City Council of Nairobi transferred me to Mukuru to work full time there. To start with the school catered for children over ten years old that were loitering on the streets, and our aim was for the ch ildren to become literate and learn a trade so that they could be self-sufficient. Many of the children from this informal school did succeed and are now working.