Smile Community Centre

Smile Community Centre empowers the lives of vulnerable children, youth and women in the informal settlements of Nairobi, Kenya.

Problem Statement
Kenya is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, with the economic growth rate at 4.9% in just the first quarter of 2015. With such a high economic growth rate, it attracts a lot of investors in all the sectors of business be it, agriculture, healthcare, finance, technology and so many more. Opportunities for growing Kenya are so many and varied. However, even with such promise in Kenya, there is still the part of society that lies forgotten and desolate. Negative factors such as HIV/AIDS, environmental hygiene, lack of education and lack of consistent and substantial income are contributing factors to the Increasing population of underprivileged people. This section of the society requires all the positive aid it can be given if they are to rise from the position they are at right now.
How We Started
Smile Community Centre was founded in the year 2009 to fill one of the opportunity niches provided by this situation. Margret Nekesa Khaemba, a mother of three, saw the need in the society for a safe haven where children, youth and women in informal settlements could gain support, training and counseling to help them make a better life for themselves. She worked in the community by counseling women, teaching them home based care, helping needy children with food and linking them to educational support and hospital facilities in the informal settlements of Kayole. As time went by, she learnt that most of the women did not have basic skills to help them earn a living. She mobilized them and registered Smile self-help group, which involved training the women and youth to make bead-works, detergents and food items to sell.
We realized that formalizing the group to a community based organization will allow us to broaden programs and increase the reach of our support; hence we registered the group as a Community Based Organization (CBO) in 2015. This has allowed us to open our doors to Rescue Vulnerable children housing them in our new establishment Smile Community Children Home.
It has also allowed us to Offer special programs such as a feeding program and income generating Programs to help youth and women so that they can help themselves.
Our Mission
To promote self-reliance, education and well-being of women, youth and Children.
Our vision
To see a community free of illiteracy, lack of sustainable income and poor Health.