Challenge

Kids in Kabiria Slums face major challenges e.g Lack of food, Lack of proper Education . Due to lack of proper engagement they become delinquent and about 40% drop out of school. Those who finish school come back to an economy with no jobs and often resort to crime resulting in many premature deaths. We are training children in Music first to tell and share their stories to the world and develop talent to earn a living

My Journey to toward this kid’s program

My name is Abel Mogaka. I am Kenyan living in the town of Kabiria Nairobi. I have a family, two daughters. 

My journey as a musician started twenty years back when i discovered my gift in music. I pursued it by practicing playing music instruments while in my local church in the rural area of Kisii in kenya. They comprised of the guitar, piano, drum sets and then later on in life I advanced to music vocals and playing the violin.

Evidently, music has been a passion and a gift which I fully enjoy doing and sharing with the people around me. That is why I decided to take it up further and start teaching children in slums.

I started Divine Love Music  Group in 2007 in Kabiria ,Riruta Satellite and Kibera slums. It is a faith-based Non profit organization, which I created with the main intention of reaching children from needy backgrounds, therefore it is purely voluntary as the children cannot pay for the services. My aim was to show them love and give them hope through music.

The program involves getting a number of children from needy background within the locality and taking them through the lessons step-by-step until they gain the necessary skills required in music. The lessons usually take around two hours per day with a number of ten to fifteen children per sitting, from Monday to Saturday. Registration is done in January and the classes begin in February through the year until December when they get to receive their certificates of completion. After having done this for two years, I  register the group with the government of Kenya and is now a legally recognized organisation.

As stated above, most of the children’s parents cannot fully support them economically which has led to many children getting themselves engaged in drugs and into the life of crime in order to survive. Also, their surrounding environments are un-conducive for the healthy growth of a child who is expected to succeed and be an accountable citizen later in life.

Divine Love Music Talented Group came in with the aim of touching lives and transforming them. Due to their present economic situation, the ministry is purely voluntary and free to all the children who come to learn. This has therefore brought a lot of them to the program. There are about 130 active children under the program so far. These are from schools within the slum areas such as Jubilee school, local churches such as Orthodox Church and rehabilitation centres such as Kivuli Center in Kabiria.