Unafanya kazi gani?

I intern in a middle class neighborhood called Nairobi West. Amanda and I commute there every Tuesday and Thursday to spend a few hours working (plus the three hours on matatus). The organization is called the Center for Domestic Training and Development, and is a bit similar to the fantastic group I worked with last semester, ONE DC.

The Center deals with the huge number of Kenyans who are employed as cooks, laundresses, housekeepers, and childcare specialists, most of whom have moved from rural areas to Nairobi in search of work. Domestic labor is one of the biggest career fields in Kenya, but also one of the most overlooked. Half of the young women in Kibera are employed as domestic workers in Nairobi. It's an issue inseparable from urban migration, human trafficking, labor rights, and women's rights.

Many of the women who move voluntarily or are coerced into coming to Nairobi end up associating with organizations called bureaus that operate downtown. In theory, they works as agents for the women, but the reality of the situation is quite scary. The women live in horrible conditions and are often physically, emotionally, or sexually abused by men who share their living quarters (kikombas). Their agents essentially sell them to employers who often exploit or abuse them in turn.

A main project of the Center for Domestic Training is to reach out to these women. Those who were abused are taken in as rescue cases, and all others are eligible for the Center's month-long training program. They're housed at the Nairobi West compound where they learn to cook for themselves, clean their living quarters, and do their own laundry. The Center then connects the students to employers who come in search of a housekeeper, and the students leave when they're ready. If they can, they pay back the Center for their training in small installments.

The Center has about forty students at a time – they take classes on skills training, personal development, labor rights, and HIV/AIDS awareness. Because so many of the girls left secondary school to move to Nairobi and work, the Center has recently introduced a literacy program that allows students to earn their high school degrees through classes on Sundays (Sundays are required days off in the contract employers must sign with the students they hire).

I've been incredibly inspired by the people I've met at the Center. This organization gives people a chance to pull themselves up and support themselves and their children, and provides a safe place in case the women are abused or exploited in the workplace after leaving the compound. Most of the staff are former trainees who feel that the Center is their home. This is effective sustainable development at its best.

The Center has outgrown itself. Two new compounds opened last year – one is just getting running in the slum of Satellite, and one is thriving in the slum of Eastleigh thanks to a UNHCR grant, allowing hundreds of Somali refugees to receive training. The system they've worked out functions gloriously. All the Center needs is more space and the funding to continue growing.

Amanda and I have been working to organize the office, create an employer database, and create a library catalog of donated books. We've also taught a staff seminar; and Amanda intends to continue working in the classroom. I'd like to work on documenting rescue cases and ex-students who have started their own businesses, as there are a lot of forgotten success stories. I just need a translator, as most don't speak English and many don't speak Swahili.

Amanda is working to get a grant from UNIFEM to do more advocacy work, while I'm trying to expand the literacy program through the Commonwealth Education Fund or UNESCO. The Center is working with essentially no supplies right even, even though adult education is a priority of the Kenyan government and a number of development NGOs. Ideally, I can get the Center some classroom supplies, textbooks compatible with national standards, bookshelves, and computers. We'll see. The Center is a fantastic cause and is very successful thus far, so I've got my fingers crossed.