General Conference Special: Kids of Kenya

NAIROBI, Kenya — In Nairobi, Kenya, you’ll find a bustling city at the edge of a vast savanna. Towering skyscrapers can be seen from the plains where lions, rhinos, and giraffe roam.

But what can’t be seen from afar are the rows and rows of sheet metal homes that fill the city’s slums.

There, hundreds of thousands of families live in poverty. Children roam the alleyways begging for food. There is no running water, no sanitation, and no sewage system. Life for the poorest of the poor in Kenya cannot compare to even the neediest of neighborhoods in America.

To outsiders, it may seem impossible to escape, but, to some on the inside, there is a path out of poverty. It begins with children, and it centers on education. With the help of several local church members, kids of Kenya are fed, housed and happy, and they have hope for their futures and the future of their country.

President Gordon B. Hinckley taught, “If you are worried about the future, then look to the upbringing of your children.” It is imperative to love them, teach them, respect them, and pray with and for them.