Support for Safe Spaces Nairobi Foundation
Karibu
In other words, welcome in Swahili to the Support for Safe Spaces Nairobi Foundation. We are committed to raising funds for Safe Spaces in Nairobi and making our network and knowledge available upon request. All this with the aim for Safe Spaces Nairobi to operate financially independently by 2025.
Safe Spaces Nairobi
Peninah Nthenya Musyimi
was born and raised in the slums of Nairobi. Ever since she was a child, she told herself that she wanted a life outside the slums. With her incredible perseverance and vision for the future, she managed to go to primary school, high school and university. You can find inspiring videos here, where Peninah tells her life story.
After her studies, she decided that she wanted to dedicate her life to help girls from “her slums” of Mathare to see the possibility of a life outside the slums. She started the organisation Safe Spaces in 2010.
Empower, Educate, Engage are the three priorities through which Safe Spaces operates.
Empower:
For people living in the slums, there is no time or attention for personal development, but at Safe Spaces there is. The girls receive daily coaching, they come into contact with role models, and there are various workshops — such as a reading club, presentation group, dance, poetry, photography — in which they can discover and explore their own identity.
Basketball is a major pillar of the organisation. There are two teams that play in the highest national league. The first team has been national champions of Kenya year after year. Many players use this as an opportunity to get a scholarship for a high school or college in Kenya.
There is also a lot of attention for sexual development, contraception and unwanted sex. The number of teenage pregnancies in the community has fallen from dozens per year to nearly zero.
Girls can also brush their teeth at Safe Spaces, get sanitary towels (so that they can continue to go to school during their periods), wash and so on.
Educate:
Education is extremely important for the girls’ future. Safe Spaces provides scholarships for schools and university. In addition, since 2020 Safe Spaces has a digital library with 40 computers and daily homework assistance. During the holidays, after school, on weekends and during the covid pandemic, girls can do homework, ask questions and take online classes. Also girls and women who are not able to attend school have access to online teaching materials and the Internet.
Safe Spaces has also established a car mechanic training for girls. With this vocational training, the girls are able to find jobs at one of the local garages. The level of education and motivation are so high that the girls are very popular on the labor market.
Engage:
Safe Spaces is an organisation with 1,500 girls associated with it. Nevertheless, Peninah is conscious not to create a gap between these girls, their families and environment in which they live. There is therefore intensive contact with parents, schools, the community in the Mathare slums about various topics: schooling for girls, sexual development, covid prevention measures and more. In this way the girls stay in close contact with their environment.
Girls who have been involved in Safe Spaces for several years are trained to be peer educators. They are mentors to the other girls, keep a close eye on them and share their knowledge and experience.
Working towards financial independence
Safe Spaces in Nairobi is currently largely financially dependent on funds and donations from abroad. The ties with the Netherlands have always been close, because Safe Spaces was supported by a Dutch NGO for a number of years. This is where the personal ties and involvement of a number of board members with Peninah and Safe Spaces arose. They have also visited the organisation several times in recent years and therefore know the local situation well.
It is Peninah’s express wish to work towards a situation in which Safe Spaces can operate financially independently in the coming years. The first income-generating project has already been set up for this: a vertical hydroponics farm, where vegetables are grown that can be sold. Part of the proceeds go to the women who run the farm, and part will benefit Safe Spaces. The proceeds are currently being used to open a second hydroponics farm, like the first, on the site of a secondary school. The school also has its own section where they can grow vegetables, which they use for meals for the students.
Fundraising
Safe Spaces Nairobi has an annual budget of 130,000 euros to finance all school fees, operational costs and other projects. These funds currently come from external sources.
Our foundation raises funds in the following ways:
- Donations from private individuals;
- Donations from companies to support certain projects or university study of one of the young women;
- Annual / monthly support with school fees for one girl;
- Annual / monthly support for specific programs (computer lessons, photography, dance, poetry, reading club);
- Annual / monthly support for basketball league participation, clothing, coach, transportation;
- Donations for hygiene products (sanitary towels, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc.);
- Speaking engagements that Peninah gives at companies, foundations, congresses and other venues;
- Subscribing to funds made available for projects such as Safe Spaces.
Earn money in the (near) future
Income-generating projects where both Safe Spaces in Nairobi and our foundation are currently developing:
- The pad project: Sanitary towels are made on location with a specific device. Safe Spaces can produce enough sanitary towels for the girls themselves, but also sell sanitary towels for a low fee to women and girls in Mathare.
- The water bore hole: Safe Spaces wants to invest in a connection to the drinking water network of Nairobi in the Mathare slums. For example, the organisation can sell clean water to the community for a small fee. Keep them healthy, get clean water cheaper. An additional advantage is that in this way a new meeting place is created where Safe Spaces can make contact with the community.
- Second hydroponics farm
- Clothing factory – for, among other things, school uniforms for the girls. These are always expensive to purchase. In this clothing factory, the school uniforms can be made cheaper and they can also be made for other girls (outside Safe Spaces).
- Our own Safe Spaces car garage where self-trained female car mechanics can work.
The Support for Safe Spaces Nairobi Foundation was established in 2021 by the board below.
The board of the foundation consists of:
- Chairman – Damaris Beems
- Treasurer – Alexander Weiss
- Secretary – Jeanette Roelse
- Board member – Marc Hanssen
Download the Foundation Policy Plan (Dutch) here
RSIN: 8626.53.265
ANBI status
Bank account number: NL79INGB0007785952
Our Sponsors
Support for Safe Spaces Nairobi Foundation
We are committed to raising funds for Safe Spaces in Nairobi and making our network and knowledge available upon request.
Our aim: Safe Spaces Nairobi can operate financially independently by 2025
News
Donations in the Netherlands tax deductable
Supporting Safe Spaces and the girls in the slums with a donation and letting the tax authorities lend a hand is possible. With a periodic donation, donations – large and small – are tax-deductible. Without any hassle at the notary. If you commit your donation to Safe...
New foundation for fundraising Safe Spaces in the Netherlands
It's high time to update you about Safe Spaces in Nairobi. It's been quiet for a while. That's because the former foundation that raised funds for Safe Spaces has suddenly dissolved itself. We immediately jumped into action and took the steps to set up a new...
