ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2021
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In 2021, over 25,000 young leaders on 2,000+ campuses across 153 nations applied to join the Class of 2021. 136 campuses worldwide (just 6%) were selected to host the 2,000+ Millennium Fellows. The Class of 2021 is bold, innovative, and inclusive.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT THOMAS MOMBO AMUTI, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2021.
University of Nairobi Kenyatta National Hospital Campus | Nairobi, Kenya | Advancing SDG 4 & UNAI 3
" Education is a multi-collaborative field where individuals come together to find the most feasible solutions to the challenges facing the common learner. This could not be more emphasized especially when dealing with children in homes, who, due to inadequate attention being paid to their education, may end up where they started, back in the cold. However, by networking with like minded fellows pursuing a similar goal, and with the advice of my mentors as well as skills that I hope to gain during this fellowship, I believe that together we can make a difference for the children and walk with them as they strive for a successful future. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Nikuwezeshe Kujiweza
This project, based on SDG – 4, aims to provide for young children and youth in Smile's children’ home, a refurbished space within their homes wherein they can study with minimal interruptions, use the room as a mini-library to store their books and bags and use the room occasionally as a rest area. This is because, home owners usually channel their resources to providing food and shelter, with basic education sometimes being a challenge. Once they are of age, some of these children, due to lack of proper education, end up back where they had once escaped from, the streets; and the cycle begins all over again.
This project has 2 parts. The first involves refurbishing the local open space to a conducive learning environment. As is, the space for learning is 13 feet x 8 feet x 7.5feet and made of 4 wooden columns and beams, plywood walls, ceramic tiled floor and corrugated roofing sheets roof cover. Within the space, there are shelves unto which bags and local vegetable are kept. There are also several benches and desks, but with time, they have worn out. Owing to this, we aim to convert, with the help of the children, the open space to a semi-closed structure, with additional shelves to store the books as well as new and stronger desks and chairs.
The second part of the project involves conducting a book drive. Instead of seeking funds for the same, we plan to involve our friends, family members and local community. We plan to approach them and ask for previous books that they have, as well as donations in exercise books and stationery. Our plan is to hand over the books on the same day as we ‘re-open’ the learning space, and hopefully have the children fill in the shelves themselves.
About the Millennium Fellow
Thomas Amuti is a medic, living in Kenya who since early childhood has had a passion to help children in homes and find solutions that could enable them be self-sustaining in future. Previously, he has done this with his peers through a charity group, Angel Arms of Hope. Through the group, they have provided basic amenities to several children homes, and since 2019, have started offering mentorship to young teenagers and supporting them educationally, mostly by organizing book drives and inculcating mentorship programs in other activities. Thomas aspires to use the available resources to help the children in homes get the best educational boost they can get.
