A group of students in Kibera using books and studying together to improve education access and literacy.
Every afternoon in Nairobi’s Kibera slum, 62-year-old Joseph Otieno unlocks a modest community library with fewer than 200 well-worn books—but for local children, it is a refuge. A former railway clerk, Joseph began the library during the Covid-19 pandemic after rescuing abandoned books from a closed school. He now uses his pension to keep the space open, offering children a quiet place to read in a neighborhood where space and silence are rare. Despite flooding, theft, and constant financial strain, Joseph persists, believing familiarity with books can expand children’s futures. For young readers like Aisha, who dreams of being an engineer, the library is a rare haven of light and learning.
RFI