Foundation of Hope ... meet David Dinda

When I first met David (as our Kibera site representative) during our bootcamp with the Strathmore students, I did not think that his life story will be more interesting than a novel. I was wondering: "Who is this talkative and confident guy? Hm, life seems to be an easy thing for him."Little did I know. As it turned out, he is the coach, the cordinator, the consultant, the mentor and many other things to the youth in the Foundation of Hope.

David is only 27 years old but once I started talking to him, I wanted to ask more and more questions. I felt guilty at times as I was acting more as an investigative reporter than a friend. However, I learnt a wealth of information not only about him but also about the system in Kenya and what you have to overcome if you want to make your life a success story and as you read further, you will see that David did indeed made it.

David was brought up by the community as many other kids in Kibera. His father died when he was 2 years old and his Mum past away when he was 10. As if the situation was not dark enough, one of his siblings was so shocked at the death of their Mum that he past away the same day. David found himself on the streets and he was later on picked up by a family in Kibera who took him in and helped him clear the primary school.

When he was 16 years old, the family member gave him 5,000 KES to make something of himself. He started his first business of selling mandazis and worked for 4 years until he was able to pay his fees and attend high school. Trying to manage his business and also attend the school, somebody just noticed that "this guy should be studying" instead of managing it all by himself. However, the journey was not all that easy from here. He quietly mentioned of having to change the school as he hit a teacher and walked away - the street life troubles influencing his behaviour at that time.

Later on David became volunteer in the community (as he says, it was time to pay it back) and there one day he met a guy he calls De Santis from Washington DC. As he simply put it, he gave De Santis tour of Kibera and he started to sponsor his college education. David still wears the bracelent with his name and dreams of doing his Master's in Washington DC (I do hope his dream will come true but cannot even imagine how much are the kids going to miss him). David completed his Bachelor studies at the Kenyan Institute of Social Work & Community Development but did not stop there. As I found out, he got certificates in football administration, counselling, business mentorship and level 1 law and I probably forgot a few.

And you know what his biggest challenge is at the moment? Getting a passport. Later this year, he should be representing Foundation of Hope in Netherlands and Norway. However, he found out that he was born under a different name than his ID states as he was born Muslim. Now, there is a headache for Kenyan authorities. He needs both of his documents to be able to have a passport issued. I just hope he gets it in time to travel as I know he would do a world of good out there just as he does with the kids and youth in Kibera.