Jamii Bora

Today was so different than I thought it would be. We were told we'd be going to Jamii Bora Children's Home. However, we were blown away by what we encountered there. "Jamii Bora" in the town of Kuputiei (outside of Nairobi) is the vision come true of a Swedish women named Ingrid Munro who worked for the African Housing Fund over 20 years ago. Street beggars in her community wanted her to help them find housing and her dream was to permanantely move them from a life of poverty. She started out by asking the street beggars to save the money they earned from begging. It took a long while for the people to trust her but eventually they started pooling their money together and years later the Jamii Bora Fund was created. Jamii Bora has become the first African ECO-friendly village built with microfiancing to provide housing for the poor. Jamii Bora started employing the street beggars and people in the local community to produce the materials for construction...bricks and tiles from raw materials like dirt, gravel, and cement. Then they started building homes. These homes have toilets, running water and solar power electricity. The town has several wells and above ground tanks plus a waste water treatment plant and they use recycled water for the toilets and gardens. There is a primary school and a children's home for abandoned kids. Jamii Bora Trust continues to make loans to people who are now former beggars, prostitutes and thieves so they can purchase a home. They already have all the construction materials finished to build 8 communities with 240 houses each for about 10,000 people. They have plans underway to build a secondary school. Jamii Bora is on Masai land...Masai is one of the Kenyan tribes. Traditionally tribes are very separate and do not integrate. But these particular Masai people wanted to welcome others to their land. They said, we will all be in heaven together...why not get to know each other now? While we were at Jamii Bora, we got a tour of the factory (wood walls with a tin roof and dirt floor) where they explained the entire production process with demonstrations. We saw them working on a new water tank and heard a description of the entire community development plan. We visited a little general store where one women was selling produce, food, candies including Obama gum and beautiful Masai fabric. One women, Cecilia invited us into her home. She told us how she has been waiting 27 years to have a home of her own. She used to be a drunkard and street beggar and now her life has been transformed thanks to God and the Swedish visionary, Ingrid Munro. We met the boys from the children's home who were home from school for lunch. They introduced themselves, sang to us and then we sang all together. One boy, James the song leader in grade 8, won my heart. He had beautiful light brown eyes full of light and was so endearing to me. We received a tour of the school where we met several teachers and saw students in their classrooms. Jamii Bora was a dream of just one woman with a passion for the poor and the outcasts of society. She has changed the world for so many people. There's so much I can learn from her perseverance and determination. This is love and service in action. I am awed that I was able to experience it. The Jamii Bora model is one of the most effective and sustainable solutions to combat poverty I've ever seen. Imagine if this town was replicated in other parts of Africa and around the world...we would be so many steps closer to eliminating poverty!

If you're really interested in learning more about Jamii Bora check out these videos:

• Jamii Bora on CNBC Africa
• Jamii Bora Success Story: Wilson Maina Part 1 and Part 2

"Not even the sky is the limit." Ingrid Munro

To top off a great day...three of my teammates and I took a hip hop dance class at Destiny Dance next door to our hotel. Yes, I TOOK DANCE CLASS IN KENYA!! I am in heaven now!

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