Sewing One School Uniform at a Time For Disadvantaged Students at Zero Price

By  Ann Ndungu

Nairobi’s Mathare slum is one of Africa’s most populated and veritably Kenya’s most densely populated piece of real estate with 68,941 persons living within a square kilometer in contrast to the national average of a paltry 82 persons per square kilometer, national stats show.

Upon visiting the place one gets a real sense of the precarity that abounds here with basic social amenities including potable water, sanitation facilities and proper housing units scarcely visible to the eye.

And compounding the dire situation are reported instances of gang violence a worrying phenomenon that arguably makes life here a Hobbesian affair. 

Welcome to this locale that Billian Ojiwa, 34, a 2018 Mandela Washington (YALI) leadership program alumni, calls home.

He’s the founder of a national initiative that ameliorates the inexcusable nakedness of school going children whose guardians are too hard up to purchase school uniforms regularly.

His eight-year-old grassroots movement known in the Kiswahili parlance as the Ficha  Uchi ( hide our nakedness) initiative(FUI) gives empathy,honour and hope to primary school going pupils drawn from across Kenya  who would otherwise be attending class with tattered uniforms were it not for the altruism extended by Ojiwa and Co. who purchase uniform for them at zero cost.

“ We started by my personal contributions and contributions from my friends and through crowdfunding campaigns which we pushed online and many Kenyans supported the initiative,” says Ojiwa regarding how they began the initiative.

Born in a family of four boys Ojiwa learnt the ropes of living responsibly at an early age after his parents separated, leaving the mother to solely eke out a living making batik drawings and selling them at Maasai market, an open-air bazaar frequented by foreigners and local art lovers found in Nairobi so as to fend four extra mouths. All the while the estranged father,a primary school teacher had relocated to Gem, their ancestral rural home found in western Kenya.

Pursuing filial love forced an impressionable Ojiwa to play itinerant- with Nairobi the capital and Gem being his portion.

In 2002 while in his second year at Ukwala Boys High School, found in Western Kenya, his mother died, followed a year later by his father. 

He was 14-years then, relocating to Mathare to help an aunt run a restaurant.

“ Being the eldest child in the family I had no option but to take full responsibility beginning with that of my life and those close to me. That taught me never to take for granted opportunities that come knocking in my direction,” says Ojiwa who failed on his second attempt to become a Member of Parliament (MP) for Mathare  in national elections  held in 2022 having thrown his hat in the ring for the first time in 2013 but floundered.

“ My formal education for example was catered for by benefactors who hardly knew me. And for that I will eternally be grateful. And I believe the encouragement from my grandmother who routinely reminded me no dream is beyond one’s reach so long as one is disciplined, kept away from drugs and remembered to come back for those left behind are the reasons that motivates me to become a champion for my community here in Mathare,” says Ojiwa who upon completing his secondary education sought work as a labourer, laying bricks and mortar, a route that a lot of boys in this hood are wont to follow even today.

But the bricklaying ended up only being a sojourn for Ojiwa for he ended up seduced by music where he naturally evolved and excelled.

 As the Good Book implores if one excels in their work they end up serving kings.

This truism epitomizes the narrow road taken by Ojiwa who ended up endearing himself to the ubiquitous diplomatic corps found in the only African state, where a UN headquarters sits.

With the monetary proceeds gotten from musical jigs Ojiwa launched the Billian Music Family (BMF) in 2010, an “ institutional platform to support kid’s talents and to provide a space for them to further their dreams and their personal development,” says its website.

Then in 2013 aged 25 a parent pleaded with him to purchase a uniform for her school going girl. That one request turned seminal, giving birth to FUI.

“We wanted to make sure every primary school going child had a respectable school uniform, free from being dirty or torn.For tattered uniforms have a negative psychological effect on a growing mind,” says Ojiwa. 

The FUI is fully funded by members including donor contributions in form of fabrics and sewing materials with local tailors endorsed by parents and teachers getting engaged to assist in stitching the uniforms at half price.

To date FUI has provided uniforms to over 10,000 students, says Ojiwa.

It turns out one in every five Kenyans lives in slum areas, according to the National Treasury, fuelled by the push of rural urban migration as people seek better paying jobs leading to what the government refers to as the ‘urbanisation of poverty’. 

In its draft 2020 Budget Policy Statement (BPS) the Treasury stated 10 million Kenyans resided in slums, or 21.2 percent Kenya’s 47 million populations, with Nairobi leading with 36 percent of its population living in slums.

 “The recently concluded population census estimates that 10 million Kenyans dwell in slums while over 90 percent of Kenyans living in urban areas live in rented houses, 65 percent of whom live in informal settlements,” said Treasury in the BPS.

With such grim statistics it’s no wonder many Kenyan parents are unable to purchase new uniforms for their children regularly choosing to instead buy hand-me-downs as an alternative.

“ These children start school disadvantaged beginning with the neighborhood they come from, add the condition of uniform they attend school with.  Many children are made to feel inferior besides getting bullied by their peers and as a result the self esteem and self-worthiness of these children is gutted,” says Ojiwa. 

The Billian Music Family Centre together with the FUI also provides apprentice sessions to adults looking for employment as tailors who often turn out to be parents of a recipient of a FUI supplied school uniform. Presently there are 200 community tailors drawn from across the country.

Do your partner with the Government if yes, how and if no why not, I ask Ojiwa 

How does one reach out to the  organisation if they need help ?

“ We have a research team which usually visits schools around our target areas and some also reach out through our social media accounts,” says Ojiwa.

And has the Kenyan Government cared to engage with FUI?

“ Nope, because all our letters to the Ministry of Education have never been replied,” he says.

Keywords:Mathare slum:Billian Ojiwa:Ficha Uchi Initiative (FUI):School uniform donations:Kenya’s urban poverty