JARIBUNI VILLAGE

Kilifi County, Kenya

Large families, daily care
and pragmatic solidarity.

The Child to Child for Africa Foundation has been operating in Jaribuni, a rural village in Kilifi County, focusing on education, food support, health promotion and community-based initiatives across four local areas.

The intervention includes placing children in schools through distance adoption, women’s empowerment meetings, hygiene education and income-generating activities with parents.

What I observed there stayed with me longer than any statistic could: large families, often led by a single parent, navigating scarcity through a kind of pragmatic solidarity.

Child to Child for Africa ↗

ELSEWHERE

Kenya, 2016

From the margins,
you see the centre.

I went to Kenya in 2016 with a camera, an open schedule and one question I could not quite articulate yet: what does community look like when it is built through everyday acts of care?

In Jaribuni and Ukunda, through the work of two non-profit foundations, I encountered classrooms, kitchens, gardens, courtyards and vocational spaces where care was not an idea. It was something organized, repeated and shared.

What stayed with me was not distance, nor difference, but recognition: people creating systems of support where life asks for more than one person can carry alone.

There were families, teachers, house mothers, students, children and local communities building forms of continuity from the ground up.

From the margins, the centre became clearer: not as a place of power, but as the place where responsibility, tenderness and survival meet.

FOUNDATIONS

Germano Chincherini Foundation ↗ Child to Child for Africa ↗

A woman with curly dark hair and a young boy with dark skin and short hair standing in the doorway of a rustic stone building, smiling at the camera.

Two young boys leaning against a slanted tree in a rural village setting, with a thatched hut in the background and water containers placed on the ground nearby.

Women carrying large parcels on their heads walking through a rural village, with children in the background and simple buildings around.

A young child standing behind a large, heart-shaped tree branch in front of a traditional mud hut with a thatched roof in a rural area. The child is wearing an orange shirt and looking at the camera. The ground is bare, and the sky is cloudy.

A woman in a white dress with black and blue patterns pours liquid from a yellow container into a blue basin, surrounded by other yellow containers and bags, with several people and trees in the background.

A young girl standing outside, holding some green fruit, with a thoughtful expression. In the background, there are trees, a makeshift clothesline with clothing hanging, and simple houses in a rural area.

Three women walking on a dirt street carrying bags on their heads, with children playing in the background, in a rural area.

A group of children in casual clothing sitting and standing outside near a rustic building with a window, with a vehicle's tire partially visible in the foreground.

Children playing on large metal pipes outdoors on a dirt ground with trees in the background.

Young girl standing outdoors holding an adult's hand, with a dirt ground, palm trees, and small huts in the background.

A woman holding a young child in an outdoor setting with dirt ground, a motorcycle, and a building in the background.

A man sitting on the ground with watermelons, two boys near a palm tree, in a dry rural landscape with sparse trees and hills in the background.

A young smiling boy with short curly hair standing outdoors on dry, sandy ground in a rural area with sparse trees.

A young child in a red shirt sitting on the dirt ground, looking up with a curious expression, with a plastic bottle and some straw around.

A young boy in a red shirt and khaki pants standing on a dirt path outside, with plastic containers and other items in the background.

Six children playing on a dirt patch in a rural area with trees and rolling hills in the background.

Two young children with short hair, one wearing a checked green shirt and the other a dirty brown shirt, sitting in a rustic environment.

A group of people, including a woman holding a baby, sitting on the ground outside a mud hut in a rural area. The woman is smiling, and other children and adults are nearby.

A young girl with short hair and a light-colored dress stands on a dirt ground in a rural area with trees and traditional round huts made of mud and thatch in the background.

Group of children playing outdoors on dirt ground, with some children smiling and striking fighting poses.

Four young children playing in a muddy pond surrounded by grass and bushes.

A young sick girl with swollen legs and feet sitting on the ground outside a mud wall, surrounded by other children and adults in a rural setting.

A young boy with short curly hair and a serious expression standing outdoors, with a blurred background of wooden structures and miscellaneous items.

A woman holding a surprised-looking baby in a green outfit, while a girl in a green top watches in the background.

Two young boys and a girl looking at an open notebook, surrounded by several people inside a rustic room with mud walls.

Two children sitting inside a small, rustic structure made of wood and mud. One girl in a pink shirt is leaning on a bed or mat, looking at the camera. A boy in a blue shirt is next to her, and a third person is partially visible in the foreground.

A small, rustic mud and stone-walled room with a wooden door partially open, letting in light. Inside, there are storage bags, plastic containers, and bowls, some stacked on top of each other, with a dirt floor.

Five children standing outside a rustic hut, looking inside. The children are in a rural setting with trees and open land in the background. The hut has a thatched roof and mud walls.

Two young girls standing outdoors against a rustic wall with a sign that reads 'DEAD'S IN', one girl in a yellow dress and the other in a blue top and striped skirt, both barefoot.

A rustic bedroom with wooden and stone walls, a simple wooden bed with a worn mattress, and laundry hanging on a line. There are clothes, bags, and a box on a bench, and sunlight filters through gaps in the walls.

A woman holding a baby and a young girl in a rural outdoor setting.

Young girl in a pink and white polka dot dress standing inside a rustic, modest dwelling with a mud floor, holding onto a wooden bed frame, with various personal belongings and clothes around.

Children playing outside a traditional mud and thatch hut in a rural village with trees and dirt ground under a partly cloudy sky.

Two children playing basketball on an outdoor court. One child is shooting the ball while the other watches nearby. There is a white fence and trees in the background.

A young girl in a light-colored dress stands barefoot on a dirt ground, holding a wooden stick upright in front of her, in front of a weathered building with peeling paint and a window.

Group of women gathered outdoors in a rural village, surrounded by trees and simple buildings, with bundles of supplies or products placed on the ground around them.

A dirt yard with two small banana trees in the foreground, surrounded by worn mud and concrete paths, and several modest houses. In the background, a group of people, including women and children, gather near a small building, with a large communication tower in the distance and a partly cloudy sky overhead.

MAMA LORENZA’S VOCATIONAL CENTER

Ukunda, Kwale County, Kenya

Skills as a form
of autonomy.

Founded in 2011 in Ukunda, Mama Lorenza’s Vocational Center works on female empowerment and psychological support in a safe environment, providing professional education for young women with challenging backgrounds.

Around 70 students pass through every year. The two-year program covers tailoring, leather processing, hairdressing, cosmetics, computer science, management and cooking.

Students tend the center’s garden, contribute to bread production and chicken breeding, and sell their work through an in-house showroom and salon. Each student receives counseling sessions focused on autonomy and decision-making.

At the end of two years, they sit an exam. They leave with a diploma, and with something harder to name but easier to recognize.

Group of schoolchildren in uniforms celebrating in classroom, holding bottles and smiling.

School girl walking down a covered outdoor corridor toward a blue building with green lawn and palm trees under a partly cloudy sky.

A woman sewing with a sewing machine in a classroom or workshop, with tables, hanging bags, and people working in the background.

A girl in a pink top and floral skirt writing on a black chalkboard in a classroom, with a sign reading 'STUDENTS LEADERS MEETING' and some notes on the blackboard.

Students sitting at desks in a classroom, writing in notebooks, under a yellow lattice wall and natural light.

Students in a classroom with sewing machines and colorful fabric and clothing decorations hanging on the wall.

Classroom or school notice board with handwritten and printed charts showing student names, scores, and results. A separate fabric or paper with sewn or glued hooks or small pockets for displaying items.

Three students in school uniforms standing in a classroom, with a yellow wall and window behind them.

Women in a hair salon with shelves of hair products on the wall, one woman getting her hair styled, and a worker attending to another client.

Group of students wearing school uniforms sitting at desks in a classroom, with posters on the wall behind them.

Children sitting under wooden tables with carved animal-shaped legs, wearing school uniforms and socks.

Two smiling schoolgirls in tan uniforms with checkered ties sitting in a classroom, holding bottles of Fanta soda and snacks, with other children and classroom decorations in the background.

A classroom filled with women working at desks, with various supplies and colorful bags hanging on the wall. The photo is taken through a small opening.

GERMANO CHINCHERINI FOUNDATION

Ukunda, Kwale County, Kenya

A home built
around care.

In 2008, the Germano Chincherini Foundation opened the first block of Nyumba ya Watoto 1, House of Children, in Ukunda, a semi-rural village in Kwale County near Diani Beach.

The project supports children who have lost their parents, housing them in small family units of 8 to 10. Each home has house mothers who raise, nourish and educate them on a monthly salary from the Foundation.

Each home has electricity, running water, separate rooms for boys and girls, a courtyard, gardens and a communal kitchen. A vegetable garden, called shamba, is tended by the children themselves when not at school, and the harvest is shared across all homes.

From time to time, the Foundation organizes gatherings between the children and their birth parents. The children prepare songs, dances and acrobatic performances. They show what they’ve learned. Their parents come, when they can.

Germano Chincherini Foundation ↗