The Wajukuu Art Project

The Wajukuu Art Project was started in 2004 to create a place where young children could come and make art as a form to cope with their experiences of living in the slums of Mukuru in Nairobi. Wajukuu is a community-based organization, that allows art to lead connection to these children’s community and heritage. Not only are they using art to cope but they are using art as a form of employment and education. Instead of relying on intergenerational cycles of prostitution and substance abuse, Wajukku is trying to break this cycle by promoting artistic endeavors into financial freedom and financial independence. By creating better employment opportunities for the youth and helping them develop their artistic skills, art is creating a sense of “dignity” among these young kids to help them realize their self-worth.

Wajukuu Art Project is a registered community-based organization situated in the Lunga-lunga neighborhood of the greater Mukuru slums. The collective aims to make the Mukuru a place where children can thrive as well as create employment through the production and sale of quality art works. Through art classes, Wajukuu empowers children and youth to use art to connect with their heritage, cope with challenges they face in their home and community, speak out against injustice levied upon them, and envisage an alternative future.

Wajukkuu means grandchildren in Swahili, the founders of this project believe that it is important to recognize the actions of our parents and grandparents impact us, and we can also impact our children and our grandchildren as well, really focusing on the intergenerational thinking and community. The group chose the name Wajukuu, which was derived from a Swahili proverb “majuto ni mjukuu huja baadae”. The proverb means that consequences of mistakes by parents or a certain generation are felt by the children or the next generation. This proverb was relevant to Wajukkuu because they express the suffering felt by the “mistakes” of their parents.