Safaricom has today donated Ksh 100,000 to Hot Sun Foundation, a charity foundation in Kibera suburb.
The cheque is a part of Safaricom Foundation’s plan to shove up slum dwellers by funding youth programmes as a way of eradicating poverty and killing idleness in the regions.
With Kibera being infamous for heinous activities such as residents interfering with the railway and harbouring criminals, Slum TV which is an affiliate of the NGO, is rebranding Kibera, by showing the beautiful side of the slums.
It’s the Slum TV that made Mercy Murugi, a renowned Kenyan film producer and production manager to nominate the Foundation that would eventually be the first beneficiary of the Safaricom-funded campaign. She said that the fund will be used to purchase equipment for the Foundation that seeks to empower the people of Kibera through music and films.
“Currently, we have only one lapel microphone and the insufficiency of equipment has been puzzling us, limiting our intakes to only a few. This money will enable us purchase the eluding equipment,” said Mercy lauding Safaricom for giving back to the community.
The selection of the project to benefit from the Safaricom Foundation is through social media. The voting which is people-based, allows users to participate in choosing a project that gets financial aid from Safaricom, as part of Safaricom’s corporate social responsibility.
“Hot Sun Foundation received majority of votes on Facebook and Twitter and we did a pre-visit to the place. We were amazed by the good work the charity project is doing to the Kibera youth who would otherwise be idle and engage in societal malpractices,” said Sanda Ojiambo, Safaricom’s head of corporate responsibility.
“At Safaricom Foundation we solicit for information from the social media and focus on projects that empower people. This allows people to choose for the projects,” said Ojiambo.
Targeting 75 financially needy charity initiatives, Safaricom Foundation is working with Capital FM to support projects that provide sustainable solutions to the most pressing social challenges. Each project will receive Kshs 100, 000 from the Foundation kitty.
