Guest Speaker: Thomas Nyawir - Mirror of Hope Project
Tomi belongs to Nairobi Kilimani Alfajiri Rotary Club. He is currently involved in establishing a library for a school in Kibera and runs mentorship for the students at this school.
Tomi lives in Nairobi, Kenya, and grew up on the streets of Kibera, Africa’s largest urban slum. Tomi’s parents endured hardship to pay for Tomi to complete primary school, but secondary school was not affordable for Tomi’s family. The kindness of an Irish traveller, was to change his life. It was a chance meeting with this stranger, who had asked for Tomi to show him around the slums. When he asked, and found out why Tomi was not in school, he gave Tomi the funds he needed to complete 4 years of secondary schooling. Tomi was able to finish secondary school and went on to achieve a scholarship for Bachelor of Arts in Sustainable Human Development.
Whilst Tomi tried hard to find out the identity of the stranger who helped him, he was unable to. Tomi found a way to instead, to pay it forward. He has founded a service project called ‘Mirror of Hope’. Mirror of Hope offers school sponsorships, school holiday programs, and vocational training for women and HIV/AIDs awareness.
Kibera’s slums have a population of between 800,000 and 1,000,000, within a 2.5 square kilometre area. It has poor sanitation, yet the people there, who have nothing, always have beautiful smiles. They live on less than $2 per day. The Mirror of Hope philosophy is a Hands Up, and not, a Hands Out organisation.
Tommy and President Ken Guests Jenny Lawson and Steve
Exchange student Kimberely celebrating her birthday