ABOUT SAFE SPACES
Safe Spaces exists to help girls in the Eastland slums of Nairobi save their own lives.
Safe Spaces was founded by Peninah Nthenya Musyimi in 2008. She began Safe Spaces with just three girls who wanted to learn how to get out of the slums. Now there is 1200 of girls in the program, which is supported by a network of private and institutional donors.
Our mission is to provide a safe space for young girls and young women to learn, develop and grow into strong qualified women who can escape poverty, violence and exclusion.
Our goal is to build a stronger generation of young women who can make a difference in their future and in their communities.
Our motto “I am the change” underlines the importance of empowerment. Each girl has the power to become a role model and a leader in the community.
“I am so happy to see such a great impact in the community that this project has had! The Peer Educators and the women entrepreneurs have already taken responsibility and are growing into community leaders. This is already affecting families’ nutrition and bringing hope that they can create their own futures.”
Among the 75% of Nairobi’s population that lives in the slums, young women continue to be the most severely affected by the poverty, violence and systematic exclusion. Beyond facing discrimination in health, education, nutrition and labour, young women are burdened with most family and household responsibilities. Social and economic vulnerabilities put girls at serious risk of forced early marriage, prostitution, early pregnancy, HIV, physical and sexual exploitation.
ABOUT PENINAH
Peninah Nthenya Musyimi is the founder and director of Safe Spaces. Peninah grew up in the Mathare Valley slums outside of Nairobi, Kenya. She was the first woman in the Nairobi slums to work her way through school and university. She became a lawyer to defend domestic violence victims. After working for the Kenyan government she decided to return to Mathare to support and empower girls in obtaining an education in a safe environment. The road she took to achieve her dreams was not easy.
Through determination and perserverance, she secured a basketball scholarship although that meant learning to play basketball in one month.
Listen to Peninahs inspirational story at TedX talk.