Funding for The Good Road has been provided by-- There's a lot of good happening all over the globe And to see it all Toyota offers vehicles designed for both for everyday drives and rugged roads, off the beaten path Like the Toyota Tundra, Tacoma and the body on frame Forerunner These offroad machines feature available technology For added traction, performance and capability So no matter where your globetrotting takes you Off-road doesn't mean off limits Proud sponsor of The Good Road Toyota, Let's go places Tomorrow's breakthroughs start with the determination and inspiration of today.

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Available for streaming anytime, anywhere.

And by Share More Stories, helping companies understand humans one story at a time.

And by Uncommon Giving.

The Generosity Company.

This is a story about stories.

I'm Earl, and that's Craig, and this is Mark, a technologist and designer from Nairobi.

Specifically, he came from Mathare, one of the largest slum communities in the world.

Growing up there, it-- so it's a really tough-- it's a tough place to grow up.

People went into crime, also some sports.

I got into football, into soccer, and I became a goalkeeper.

I got to the national team level, and I was-- You played for the national team?

Yeah, on the A-Team.

So my mom was like, first of all, keeping all the newspaper cuttings with her son.

Right.

And then she would sell mandazi, which is this-- it's almost like a donut-- on the street.

And then when I came back, she'd spent all that money to make a little bit of a party for me.

And the worst thing is I had not been paid anything.

I had to walk halfway home because-- Oh my gosh.

--the corrupt system, they would take the money and keep it for themselves.

And so I didn't even have enough bus fare to go home as a national team player.

I call her aside, and I'm like, where did you get the money to throw this party?

And she's like, yeah, I mean, it's the money for-- I made from selling mandazis.

So the next day she couldn't start a business, and it's the last time I played football.

I was like, I need to do something else.

And that's when this opportunity with computers came along.

It literally-- I said a prayer the night before, and the next day I was told, hey, do you want to learn how to use computers?

And I'm like, what are computers?

Mathare-- it's a vast, lively, and, at times, dangerous community with a strong learning curve and few legitimate opportunities for those who grew up there.

We're headed there with Mark, but first we want you to hear what happened after he found out what a computer was.

It's a great story.

It's the kind that can inspire people to see their own lives differently.

Like I said, this is a story about stories, the kind of stories that change lives across generations.

So how did a U-18 professional goalkeeper from Mathare become the head of user experience in one of the most prominent technology companies in Africa?

Well, that all started with a couple of Dutch girls.

You can imagine it's these girls who had come from the Netherlands.

They'd seen a lot of blog posts or information about Africa written from the eyes of a Western journalist, and the experiment for them was, what if we go to a place in Africa, and then we teach some kids how to use the computer?

What kind of stories would they tell about themselves and about their own lives from their own perspective?

So you started out as a blogger?

So yeah, I mean, that-- that was the intention.

Yeah, they didn't realize they were dealing with hustlers.

So before I wrote my first blog, I heard at the Dutch embassy, they needed official website.

And then I sat my friend's down, and I was like, I'm going to go down there.

And I'm going to pitch.

They're like, dude, you've never done anything like this.

What are you going to pitch?

So I didn't even know what to wear.

I didn't have any formal clothes.

So I turn up there, and it's this high security area.

And they're like, what are you doing here?

And so I explain myself.

They set me next to the pool, and it's totally-- I've never seen anything like that.

It's the most amazing house I'd been.

So that already is freaking me out a little bit.

And then the guys who were pitching were like professionals in their expensive suits and a briefcase with a lot of work they've done in branding and marketing.

And here I was with nothing, and then it was my turn.

They asked, why should we give you this opportunity?

You've never done anything.

And I said, exactly.

I have nothing else going, and there's 20 of us.

For these guys, it's just a job.

For us, it's life and death.

And it's like, wow.

He says, we'll give you guys a chance.

And I'm like, are you kidding me?

And I went out crying, and we made it.

We got our first paycheck, and that was it.

Wow.

20 of us-- we split it.

Everybody went home happy.

And from that time, we were like OK, this is a profession.

It all started with a couple of Dutch girls with a donated computer saying, let's get some stories.

Yeah, we're still friends.

But yeah, that's how it started.

It's hustling, and just trying to keep a positive attitude, and just trying to look for opportunity when it comes in.

When you see it, grab it with both hands and don't let go.

Yeah.

That once in a lifetime opportunity is what Mark is trying to bring to Mathare.

He is mentoring Mathare's next generation in an effort to pay it forward.

To get a full understanding of the challenges they're facing, Mark and some of the young men he has taken under his wing take us to a rooftop overlooking Mathare.

Getting there was a bit of a challenge.

You have different sides to this.

Mark is pointing out the section 4A to our right and C4A to our left, which he says is the more impoverished of the two, and where he grew up.

Careful.

It's a drop.

Dude.

Craig, are you OK?

Craig doesn't excel at heights.

Oh boy.

But once he made it up, we got a real look at Mathare.

How many people live in this-- in this slum?

Yeah, you have easily 600,000 in just-- squished in this little spot.

And the census is not-- nobody knows.

Like if you look at Google on a map, it's a blank spot.

I grew up without a birth-- like a birth certificate.

Right.

So a lot of people just get born not going to hospital.

Right.

So you have-- and you can see how many kids there are.

It's just-- sex is free.

Well, how many generations back does your family go?

Three.

Three generations here?

So I tell people I'm from Nairobi, and they say, but nobody comes from Nairobi.

Yeah.

But then, it's true.

She-- she brought up my mom here selling illegal liquor.

It's called Tyson.

Some of it-- they have a-- Wait.

You have a brand for your illegal liquor?

So it depends on what you're drinking.

It's-- they named them like Yokozuna, or Tyson-- Yes.

--or [inaudible].

Yokozuna?

Yokozuna like a sumo wrestler.

Yeah.

Because if you take one, it floors you.

It knocks you out.

There's a time 50 people went blind just taking-- Wow.

And then they're telling the lady who's running the place, even if you turn off the lights, we'll still continue drinking.

[laughter] Oh my gosh.

So how does someone end up in the slums.

I mean, three generations back, what were they-- were they farmers?

They came to the city for a job?

Yeah.

Right.

So my grandma just raised my mom to go to school.

She was one of the first to go to school, and that was really a good thing, because she valued education.

Right.

And so whichever way-- she made sure I also went to school and my brother went to school.

Wow, I mean, it's a-- it is a lot to take in.

Honestly, it's-- it's big, and it seems big and insurmountable.

Yeah, and it's been like this for generations.

It's difficult for me to place it.

Right.

And sometimes it's difficult for me to explain why I got out and not them.

Do you feel like it's your responsibility to pull all of these people out of the slum?

Yes.

These are your people, huh?

But it's also a fun place to live.

It's a fun place to grow up because you socialize with everybody.

You have no-- you can't avoid each other.

You have to be friends.

I have good memories growing up here.

There is a football field up there.

There's a-- Well, I see people playing football there.

Yeah, so you start there barefoot.

Yeah.

And then you make football out of plastic bags, and leaves, and this.

Yeah, yeah, totally.

And then-- And then next thing you end up on the U-18 national team.

The national team, yeah.

Just like that.

Yeah, yeah.

Mark took us into Mathare to meet his old friends and walk the streets.

He wanted us to see it for ourselves-- the good and the bad.

[non-english speech] Steven.

Nice to meet you, Steven.

We went to the same school.

We grew up together.

[laughter] I don't know-- We were on the main drag, but he wanted to take us deeper into the community.

It was a good thing Mark was in the lead, because we quickly lost all sense of direction.

Is this where you got your haircut?

Hey, get this guy a haircut.

He needs a haircut.

He needs a haircut, man.

[non-english speech] People were friendly, and it seemed safe enough, but Mark assured us that it would be a very different story if we were alone or here after dark.

And then how much does it cost to eat here?

It's-- it's really.

It's really affordable.

I could eat beans-- Chapati?

--chapati and a cup of tea for 30 bob.

That's like $0.03.

That-- that's-- that's not a good ditch if you fall in there.

You good, Craig?

So, you smell that?

Yep, I'm great, [inaudible].

That molasses smell?

That's-- Yeah, that's that liquor?

Yeah.

You want some?

[laughter] Do I want to go blind?

Don't tempt us.

Don't temp us.

So these are for instant justice.

Instant justice-- Mark explained what happened to one of his friends not far from here.

And he was trying to steal someone's mobile phone, and right in front of us they put one around him.

Put the tire around his head.

Put gasoline on him.

Gasoline.

And lit him up.

Lit it?

And just killed him?

And they wouldn't let us-- if-- if you try to stop it, you got lynched, and it's just angry people.

And they just burned him alive.

So-- And this happened right here?

Yeah, it happens-- it's not once.

I've seen four of my friends die like that.

Here, people are frustrated by the unreliable justice system.

Yeah.

So that they would take you to the cop, and then you give a bribe.

And you're back smiling and mocking them going.

And they just get fed up.

You burn molasses, and the sweat is mixed with chemicals, and then sometimes jet fuel, sometimes-- I don't know where and how.

They just experiment, and then they make super potent liquor.

For 20 bob, you are lit.

And then they'll slap on some music.

This is a club.

Jambo.

This is a yuca place.

Oh, yeah, this is our kind of club right here.

This is our-- That's where you go and get lit.

This is the movie theater.

This is the movie theater.

Yeah, yeah.

So a guy-- you get a DVD player for-- for some money.

You get in and watch a film.

We were tourists and felt like it, dipping in and out, trying to understand, and failing.

But even Mark struggled with what to do about this place that he used to call home.

If these people are your responsibility, what's the way forward?

Now, that's a tough question.

I always struggle with that, because I don't make enough.

There's too many issues, and you can't-- even if you try and throw-- the little money I had doesn't go far enough.

And I feel like, yeah, we turn a blind eye when we're on the other side where it's shiny.

And we try and forget that there's side of our country and our society.

Do you think these guys have the hope that they can be like you?

Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

We talk about it, and there's enough examples that come out.

And my hope was seeing a living person who understands what it is to live here, or to exist here, and coming out.

It's encouraging-- and so it encouraged me, and I hope it encourages them when-- so when I come here, it's to support guys like this is, to bring them the t-shirt projects, to have young people-- like the design project I was doing is to try and teach some of these kids design and try and do the little I can.

And I think if you all chip in one after the other, we'll get the situation changed.

Mark's not giving up.

He's an ever present example of possibility for the youth of Mathare at the Ghetto Foundation, an organization on the edge of Mathare that supports young people as they work to rise out of poverty.

Mark was eager to show us some of the design work he was currently doing with them.

So it's using sports, and education, and trying to bring people together, basically.

Right.

They started this, and I'm giving you-- see the Mandela quote up there.

Yep.

It always seems impossible until it is done.

Jambo, I am [inaudible].

[non-english speech] I'm Samuel.

Mark supports these young men and their journey out of Mathare through teaching them design and business skills.

Their story was Mark's story, and he's doing everything he can to help them find the same success that he did.

Really?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know what my name is?

Bridges.

[laughter] So they are making you [inaudible].. That's my name-- Earl Bridges.

That's my name.

Yeah, from August this year in Kenya, plastic bags were banned.

Yeah.

This meant an opportunity.

Yeah.

So we utilized that opportunity, and we've been making these bags since.

Brilliant.

Yeah, you guys have a lot of these bags.

And you do silk screening?

Yeah, we do screening, too, for-- Yes.

--for the branding.

Wow.

Awesome, man.

But some of these guys are younger than I am, but then, yeah, it's-- it's the same-- it's the same neighborhood I grew up with playing football at MYSA.

And then, yeah.

But then these are the-- the young ones come in to take over.

Yeah.

I'm [inaudible].

I'm an old man now.

[laughter] Walking around, we at least got a sense of what Mathare was-- just another place where people try to live their lives, a place full of stories-- good stories and bad, but mostly in between, like everywhere else.

Mark and the Ghetto Foundation aren't the only ones making a difference in Nairobi.

What you are seeing is student work from Filamujuani..

It's not your average film school, though.

It's an organization in Nairobi that teaches underprivileged young adults basic video and photography skills.

They're not based in the slums, but they service most of them.

They rotate in a cast of talented teachers from all over the world to help train their students.

They then find internships and jobs that the students wouldn't normally have access to.

We caught up with Ken, their founder, on the set of a popular Kenyan TV show that employs a crew mostly comprised of graduates from this program.

So I grew up in an area in Nairobi called Eastleigh.

Eastleigh is also known as small Mogadishu because of the many Somali refugees there.

So at that time, it would just be a bit unsafe.

So I just grew up loving video and photography, and it kept me out of trouble.

It allowed me to pay my way through college and allowed me to travel the world.

So what I'm trying to do now is to get others who may be in situations that like I was in-- that kind of situation-- to learn the same skill.

Everyone has a story to tell.

Right.

And I think, most of the time, this story of self is always forgotten, or people don't tell it.

And because of the nature of the work I do, I work mostly with young people from some of these slums, as we call it-- as you call them here.

And the idea is when they're training the guests, they learn how to tell their own stories.

It wasn't like a charity came in and sponsored you to come out of the slums.

It was just your own curiosity and your own talent that pulled you out of the slums and put you out there.

And now, for any kid that you run into that came from that area, it's easy for them to see a path forward.

Story is powerful.

No matter how good the steak you had for lunch was, you didn't cry.

And can you imagine if you're from a place where your story has always been told by others.

Right.

And now you have the tools to tell your own story.

I mean, that's the-- that's a change.

That's huge.

That's massive.

So being part of creating a story is just an amazing privilege.

What I love with that is that you're giving an optimism for the next generation, and you're doing that through storytelling.

And to me, that's-- that's pretty huge.

What I've seen with these young people is that they believe they have what it takes to change their future.

Mark and Ken's stories are a model for youth who grew up like them.

It demonstrates a way to break the cycles of violence and poverty that plague many of the communities they came from.

Ken introduced us to an amazing young woman who came up through this program and happens to be the first assistant director here on set.

Meet Ijawa.

We met up with her after our respective shoot days, and she took us to her home in Kibera an impoverished community on the outskirts of Nairobi with as many problems as Mathare and probably twice the population.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

People would sit and watch your show right here?

Yes.

Every night this is where we-- Yeah, yeah.

Everyone comes together, and they see what you did.

Yeah.

And remind us, Ijawa, what is your role with the show.

I'm the first AD.

In the TV industry, first AD means you're in control of everything that is happening on set.

You're in control of the schedule.

You're in control of the cast and the crew.

All the problems are brought to you.

Then, if you have the wisdom or not, you need to find the wisdom and solve each and every problem.

And this is all for an international TV show-- International.

That airs weekly.

Yeah.

"Us" is weekly.

Apparently we're doing six days in a week.

The only day I have is on Sunday, but it's still a working day because I need to wake up, read all the scripts, and schedule for the next week.

And your mother.

And you still have to do all of that.

You still have to come and visit your mom.

Your son is waiting like, mom, I've not seen you for a week.

You have personal things you need to do.

Right.

But it's work.

Say hi.

Let's go.

Inside.

You're a handsome young man.

How old are you, Tariq?

Six.

Six?

Six years old.

Oh, you're a good looking boy.

Ijawa's is not your typical journey to motherhood.

Six years ago, I saw a drunk man.

I heard him talking, and I don't understand what he's saying.

So I just stood there, wait for him to finish.

After he finished, I went near that place.

Then I heard a sound of, like-- I think it's a dog.

I was confused.

Then I went, opened the paper bag.

I saw a hand of a kid.

Inside a paper bag?

Inside a paper bag.

I was so shocked.

Where my mom is-- that is exactly where she was sitting.

I came running, told her I've seen a kid.

So when I went back there, I saw people had already gathered.

No one is there helping the kid or-- they're just sympathizing.

I stood with them thinking, OK, what am I going to do?

I had a wrap like [inaudible] has.

I just took it off my shoulders and wrapped the kid with that paper bag.

Carried the kid, calm the kid at home.

He didn't even cry the whole night.

He was just-- Wow.

Wow.

--silent.

Even I was so shocked.

I'm thinking, maybe I'm sleeping with a dead body, because you don't know what is happening.

She didn't-- he didn't drink anything.

He wasn't taking anything.

I'm like, I'm so confused.

I don't know what to do.

The next morning, we took the kid to the hospital.

Right.

Just let me see if he'll be alive.

That's it.

Just saving his life then.

From there, we know what to do.

We checked everybody.

Luckily, he was fine.

He's not sick, anything.

Then after we brought him back home, that's when she told me that we'll keep the baby.

I'm still 17 years old.

Still hustling to look nice, buy new clothes.

But one way or another, I almost feel like the kid is a blessing to me, because immediately afterwards, that is when I got an opportunity to go to Filamujuani And after then, everything else just changed.

My whole life changed.

Everything changed.

And that beautiful boy is your six-year-old son.

He's my six-year-old son.

He's the one that just ran by.

It's just amazing.

Yeah.

Thank you for sharing that.

Tell me his name again?

Tariq.

Tariq, meaning a blessing on the road.

He was found on the road.

He's a blessing that I found on the road.

Tariq was the beginning of a new story for Ijawa, but just the beginning.

Ijawa has dreams of becoming a director herself, so she can tell her own story for the next generation.

I really feel like one thing that really encouraged me is that the first program I did for Ken was almost same to what my story is, so I felt as if they were talking about me.

So I felt like someone else told a story of me.

I wish I could evolve that story and tell it to someone else that would change many more lives.

Wow.

Yeah, because someone's story changed my life.

I feel like my story will change 20 more, 30 more, 100 more.

Wow.

Yeah.

That's quite a reason to do this.

That's amazing.

This is the power of story that Ken spoke of, the power to move you to tears or action, or to reimagine what you thought was possible.

Ijawa tells us of the domino effect of these stories-- that ability for one person's story to touch many.

That's why Mark and Ken use their own success stories as a way to transform the future of the next generation.

Story is a creative act, and empowering people to create their own story can be just as important as any other basic need for a fulfilling life.

It's giving people the tools to reimagine their lives and be the author of their own story.

In the words of Nelson Mandela, it always seems impossible until it is done.

Getting the impossible done-- this is the power of story.

There is so much more to explore, and we want you to join us on The Good Road.

For more in-depth content, meet us on the internet at thegoodroad.tv.

Hear more great stories, connect organizations, and make sure you download our podcast, Philanthropology.

Funding for The Good Road has been provided by-- Every road is a good road When you're behind the wheel of a Toyota Hybrid From the Toyota Venza and Sienna to Highlander Hybrid and Rav IV Hybrid And with available all-wheel drive these vehicles are designed to go the distance wether your driving to work, school or down the coast of Tanzania Proud sponsor of The Good Road, Toyota Let's go places Tomorrow's breakthroughs start with the determination and inspiration of today.

AMD helps solve the world's toughest and most interesting challenges by creating high performance computing technologies.

And by The Great Courses Plus-- hundreds of topics from expert instructors to help you expand your knowledge.

Available for streaming anytime, anywhere.

And by Share More Stories, helping companies understand humans one story at a time.

And by Uncommon Giving.

The Generosity Company.