Mathare is a collection of slums with a population of roughly 500,000 people who live, for the majority under the poverty line. Houses of mud and corrugated iron sheet. As the oldest slum in Nairobi, basic services like sanitation, clean water, electricity, and roads are lacking. As in many impoverished areas, children, and teens from Mathare are at incredible risk for unplanned pregnancies, involvement in drugs and alcohol, crime, prostitution, and gangs.

For children growing up in the slums, daring to dream and imagine another life is not an option. Breaking the cycle of poverty, when you cannot afford to learn how to read and write or have any role models to show you a different path is near impossible.