Our theory of change is simple. We believe that education empowers individuals, that empowered individuals help Mathare thrive, and that a thriving Mathare helps Kenya prosper. When we talk about impact, we're not just talking about the number of young people we've helped, we're also talking about the broader ripple effects in our scholar's lives and in their community.

Here's our impact by the numbers:

Not everything that matters can be easily counted. Yet, the broader impact of our work on the lives of Mathare's youth is increasingly clear. You can hear about this impact in our scholars' own words…

“I have developed skills that I can now share with my peers, which helps make Kenya a land of hard-working and ambitious people, thus refusing poverty. I volunteer as a stylist with local actors who do short school plays in the community. Also, I publicize CMETrust as an organization to the community so that CMETrust Alumni are considered when job and mentoring opportunities or building ideas and projects come up. I hope to see myself among Africa’s top Fashion Designers as I move forward. I also hope to have a stable career as a Fashion Designer, to live a peaceful life, and to continue and do more community work.” – Ketty Olengalo, Post-Secondary School Graduate

“The opportunity you have given me to join the secondary school has enabled me to acquire some skills. Since this year, I was the assistant chairman of the journalism club [at school]. We managed to launch the first volume of the school magazine. Being in the club has helped me gain some qualities since in the future I want to become a journalist.” – Abubakar Abdallah, Secondary School Scholar

“It has indeed been a wonderful and prosperous journey because I have been able to identify myself, know what I want to achieve in life. When I got this scholarship I was very happy because I knew they had chosen me for a reason and I had to prove it through my performance. Thank you very much for having given me this scholarship because it has enabled me to continue with my education while others have not and I hope that you will continue helping other children who are like me. I promise that when I finish school and prosper in life I will surely not forget to give back to the community.” – Esmeralda Okundi, Secondary School Scholar