1/6 Image: far -fetched/broadcaster Brabant
You can see him a bit as the male variant of Floortje Dessing, the program maker who makes jealous trips around the world for her travel program on TV. Martijn (38) from Helmond visits as filmmaker Brabantse Globetrotters with the heart in the right place. This time he travels to Kenya, for a meeting with Kim. She helps children from one of the largest slums in the African country.
Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, has three million inhabitants. Some enjoy a prosperous life, but the inequality in the country is great. Good education and health care are for the residents of the slums, The Slums, unreachable.
The 47-year-old Kim wants to change that. But her mission is thwarted twice, so she had to start all over again.
About ten years ago, Kim came into contact with children from Mathare, a poverty -stricken neighborhood in Nairobi. They had come to Brabant through an exchange program to play football here. Some players stayed with her in the Helenaveen area, just like the team’s coach. “That coach is now my husband,” she smiles.
The children told her about the circumstances at home. That they were often in the pitch dark in the evening, because they were regularly without kerosene to let the only lamp burn in the house. She decided to collect special flashlights that work on solar energy to bring light into the darkness. “I thought I would step on the plane with about seventeen copies, but there were more than two hundred,” she says.
“From that moment on, Africa was in my head. I wanted to do more for the children in the slum.” More flights followed to Kenya, where she traveled up and down in 24 hours.
Together with her husband Leaky and other stakeholders she focused the . What started with lights has grown into a foundation that provides school uniforms, supports and provides information, offers menstrual cups and organizes sports activities. Six years ago she decided to live in Kenya.
The foundation was able to buy a piece of land in Mathare with houses and recovered the site. It also became the home base for the Move Up Foundation. “It was a very cozy, nice place, where having fun was central,” says Kim. “Unfortunately we could only enjoy it for a month and a half.” After a drunk woman fired a fire at night, a big fire arose and all forty houses went up in flames.
Kim and Leaky did not give up and decided to build a new home for the foundation, this time Van Steen. But the weather conditions were not tamed. Recently the slum was hit by severe floods, when a dam went it. Forty people died. And also for Kim and her foundation, the events had disastrous consequences.
What exactly happened and whether it will be fine with Kim, Leaky and their hard work, you will see tonight on TV at Omroep Brabant and via Brabant+.
Martijn, the maker of the series ‘far -fetched’
A camera, his backpack and an enthusiastic dose of travel. The 38-year-old Martijn van der Sanden from Helmond traveled the world, in the wake of inspiring Brabanders who emigrated to the most beautiful places on the globe. They all took the decision to commit themselves to a better world. The series can be seen every Tuesday on TV at Omroep Brabant and on Brabant+.
Waiting for privacy settings …