Here you can find the mission of the organization, and the people behind Kibera Tours Nairobi.
Kibera
Who is Kibera Tours?
Meet our Founders, Freddy, Winnie and Esther
From the left to the right:
Ester’s son Barry, Ester’s husband Marc, Freddy, Winnie, and Delwyne
Omondi Fredrik Otieno (Freddy) - Owner, Co-Founder Kibera Tours, Executive Director Hope and Shine Center
Freddy was born in Kibera and has lived here for his whole life. He likes the fact that Kibera has a strong and united voice. Freddy likes working in the tourism business and he’ll surely make you feel at home in Kibera. He will show you his Kibera, the ‘city of hope’.
Freddy is the co-founder and Executive Director of Kibera Tours and the Hope and Shine Center. He is co-responsible for the organization and guidance of the tours. Before starting the Hope and Shine Center, Freddy volunteered in the Kibera Youth Club to provide children with after-school activities. He is also the contact person for the following organizations you will be visiting along the route: Hope and Shine Kibera Center, Kibera Youth Club, and all other locations.
Winnie Muhonja - Owner, Co-Founder Kibera Tours, Teacher Hope and Shine Center
Winnie would like to welcome you to Kibera and show you around. She loves to talk about the positive sides of Kibera so please feel free to ask anything you’d like to know about Kibera.
Winnie is also a resident of Kibera. Winnie has worked for several NGO’s and likes to work with children. Winnie is dedicated to making Kibera a better place to live and has thus dedicated herself to educating the kids of Kibera at the Hope and Shine Center school. She is a performer and loves to sing and dance, a true benefit to our school.
Winnie is the co-founder and is also responsible for the organization and guidance of the tours. She is also the contact person for the following organizations you will be visiting along the route: Hope and Shine Kibera Center, Biogas Center, and the railway line viewpoint to learn more about the transportation and housing materials used in Kibera (mud, wood, concrete blocks, iron, etc.).
Esther Bloemenkamp
Esther is of Dutch nationality. She and her husband adopted their son Barry, born in Kenya. During the adoption process they lived in Nairobi for over a half year. Together with Winnie, Freddy and others, Esther developed the tour that will not only show you Kibera as it is but will also focus on the positive sides of Kibera so you will feel inspired to come back! Esther is the co-founder of the tours.
Our Mission
Our mission is to promote Kibera as the city of hope.
We promote Kibera as a city of hope by organizing tours and showing the mostly unseen part of Nairobi to tourists visiting Kenya. We show Kibera as it is. We visit different places with our guests to show them the positive sides of Kibera and the ways people try to improve their lives and work towards and hope for a better future.
We will also provide new hope by (co-)funding the projects and organizations that we will visit with our tours. Since we are a community-based non-profit organization all our ‘profits’ go to Kibera-based projects to improve the lives of the children. Funding also supports the operations of our own Hope and Shine Center. Further the tours will provide employment for the people of Kibera.
In 2009 Kibera Tours started organizing tours within Kibera. The first tours were developed in cooperation with Swedish, Danish, Dutch etc., adoption families and the Sawadee The enthusiastic reviews of the first tourists inspired us to go ahead and show Kibera to more and more tourists in Kenya.
