by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent
NAIROBI(Worthy News) – A Christian-run school caring for hundreds of impoverished and orphaned children as young as 2 near Kenya’s largest garbage dump has been forced from its premises by local authorities, with many youngsters returning to the sprawling dumpsite, its director told Worthy News Saturday.
“They came with police officers and told us to move out from here and join a government school,” explained teacher Jane Mihango, director of the Prince of Peace school and community organization in Nairobi’s Dandora district.
Before the authorities intervened, Prince of Peace cared for 730 children, ranging in age from 2 to 17, according to Mihango. “Only 343 returned,” she told Worthy News.
That leaves 387 children who have not returned to Prince of Peace since the intervention, though it was not immediately clear where all of them are now.
“We told the authorities we collect kids from the dumping site and take care of them and make sure we offer education for their future to stand on their own,” Mihango said.
CHILDREN RETURN TO DUMPSITE
“So we were stranded on where to go. Many children left in fear for their own safety and went back to the dumping site,” she explained.
Authorities reportedly defended the intervention by arguing that the children should attend state-run schools rather than Prince of Peace, which had struggled to provide sufficient bathrooms and food for all students.
The school operated from several simple wooden structures near the Dandora dumpsite, providing education and other assistance to children from some of Nairobi’s poorest families.
Mihango suggested tensions had also developed with surrounding private schools as Prince of Peace attracted increasing numbers of children while other schools struggled with enrollment.
Sources familiar with the dispute alleged that rival interests had paid local authorities and the landlord to halt the Christian school’s operations, though Worthy News could not independently verify those claims.
KENYA STRUGGLES WITH CORRUPTION
The allegations come amid broader concerns about corruption in Kenya. Transparency International ranked the East African nation 130th out of 182 countries in its 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index, giving it only 30 points out of 100. Lower scores indicate higher perceived levels of public-sector corruption.
Kenya’s score fell from 32 a year earlier. The country’s own Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has also documented widespread bribery, with its 2024 survey finding that 30.5 percent of respondents encountered a bribery situation while seeking public services.
The nationwide survey, involving 5,960 adults across all 47 counties, also identified the Teachers Service Commission, the government body responsible for managing public-school teachers, among institutions with high instances of bribery.
These findings did not establish that corruption occurred in the Prince of Peace case. However, Mihango said she subsequently visited several education offices to challenge the action against Prince of Peace.
According to her, education officials who examined the eviction letter eventually indicated that Prince of Peace should be allowed to resume its work.
OFFICIALS REVIEW LETTER
However, returning to the former premises remained impossible, she explained, because the landlady had been told not to allow the organization back onto the property.
The circumstances surrounding the original action and who ultimately authorized it remained unclear.
The upheaval also took a personal toll on Mihango.
“For three days, my heart was beating very fast and I was lying in bed,” she remembered. “But God healed me after prayers.”
“I found it satanic,” Mihango added, referring to the eviction and the health problems she experienced afterward.
EVICTION TAKES TOLL
The Christian organization has since moved into an abandoned location where another school operated about six years ago.
“Now I am staying with 20 kids with nowhere else to go or sleep,” Mihango stressed.
Prince of Peace says it was established as a community-based organization after community workers saw the hardships facing children growing up in Dandora, an impoverished district of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital and largest city, with an estimated population of more than 5.6 million.
Kenyan law provides for free and compulsory basic education. However, poor families can still struggle with expenses associated with keeping children in school, including meals, uniforms and learning materials.
Prince of Peace has sought to bridge that gap by providing education, meals, uniforms and other necessities to orphans and other vulnerable children.
EDUCATION AMID POVERTY
Its programs have included primary and secondary education, with teachers and volunteers working to keep youngsters in classes despite poverty and difficult family circumstances.
The Dandora dumpsite, not far from the school, has long been associated with severe environmental and health concerns.
Smoke from burning waste frequently drifts into surrounding communities. Mihango noted that nighttime fires can leave nearby dwellings filled with smoke, making it difficult to breathe.
The United Nations Environment Programme has previously warned about exposure to air pollution and toxic materials around Dandora, while studies involving children living or attending school nearby have reported respiratory illnesses and exposure to heavy metals.
Yet for some impoverished families, the garbage mountain is also a source of survival, with adults and children searching through discarded materials for food or objects that can be resold.
LIFE BESIDE GARBAGE
Delegates from the Netherlands-based Hope4Juniors Foundation who visited Prince of Peace before the evacuation expressed concern about the conditions in which the children were living and studying.
Without government or outside support, Mihango warned, continuing the organization’s work will be increasingly difficult.
Prince of Peace says many of the children it serves are orphans or otherwise vulnerable, with some raised by relatives who themselves live in severe poverty.
The organization is seeking assistance to provide education, textbooks, uniforms, food, staff salaries, health and welfare support, and suitable school facilities.
Mihango’s immediate concern is what happens to the children who have not returned since the authorities intervened.
Some remain with her at home or at the abandoned school site. Others, she said, have returned to the place Prince of Peace had tried to help them escape: the Dandora dumpsite.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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