Location: Korogocho slum, Nairobi, Kenya

Mission:Caring for girls from under-privileged and destitute situations by inspiring hope through character development, educational opportunities, family reconciliation, and life skill training.

Who they serve:Teenage girls living in poverty who have dropped out of school

What they do:

• Residential program that provides counseling, mentoring and skill training in quilt-making.
• School education for the girls (TULIP began its own school in Korogocho)
  

Year founded:2002, by Mary Munyi.

Website:

www.tulip-ministry.com

Needs:

• Sponsorship of the girls attending school
• Developing curricula for the school

Their story:Serving in a health clinic in one of Nairobi’s slums, Mary Munyi was saddened by the number of women she met who were single mothers with little education or skills to earn an income. Too many of them engaged in dangerous practices to support themselves or their families. Their poverty and vulnerability was passed on from generation to generation. Their daughters, also out of school and lacking role models to show them how to earn a living without selling themselves, would follow in their mother’s footsteps. Mary could not forget their need and just return to her middle class neighborhood and life. She moved into the slum to mentor some girls and teach them how to quilt. She then sold the quilts to bring the girls an income. Mary’s work eventually grew into the Tumaini Ladies Integrational Program, or TULIP (Tumaini is the Swahili word for hope).