Humanitarian Mungai, 22, to Give Talk as Part of ‘Africa Awareness Week’ at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Michael Mungai, who overcame poverty and heads a non-profit organization that provides shelter and education services to children in Dagoretti, Kenya, will give a talk on March 24 at 4:30 p.m. in the Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The talk, free and open to the public, is part of a student-initiated weeklong series of events titled "Holy Cross on Fire: Africa Awareness Week" intended to educate the campus community about AIDS, poverty and hunger in Africa from March 19 to 24.

Mungai, 22, is a freshman at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He was born in the impoverished province of Dagoretti. At 14, financial strife forced him to quit school and fight for survival on the streets of Dagoretti. During that time, Mungai was featured in Left Behind, a documentary about Kenyan HIV orphans and street children of Dagoretti. The documentary tells the story of African children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic. Mungai’s talk will follow a screening of the documentary.

As a result of the exposure he earned through the documentary, Mungai, then 19, established contacts with volunteers who aided him in founding Dagoretti 4 Kids. The organization aims to rescue the destitute and less fortunate by offering them shelter, rehabilitation and education. Since the organization’s inception in 2003, Dagoretti 4 Kids has provided residential and education services to more than 40 street children.

Students involved in Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD), a community service organization sponsored by the Chaplains’ Office, decided to start the series after visiting Kenya and reading a speech that Bono, frontman of the popular rock group U2, delivered on Feb. 2 against world poverty as part of SPUD’s weekly reflection activity.

"After reading Bono’s talk that he gave at the National Prayer Breakfast we were inspired to educate the campus on the issues that go on in Africa and why there has been such pull to get countries to provide debt relief for the nations of Africa as well as give a small percent of their budget to help the countries move forward," said Christine Higham ’06, who went on the Kenya Arrupe Immersion trip along with a fellow intern, Kerry Glynn ’06, in January.

The trip presented them a chance to encounter the poor and marginalized of East Africa and allowed them to take a brief look at prevalent issues facing these people, including HIV/AIDS, poverty, gender issues and hunger.

"Bono’s talk and our trip to Kenya helped spark the conversation and the desire to tell our stories and experiences further. In collaboration with SPUD, the Kenya group, Amnesty, Black Student Union and the Student Coalition on Homelessness and Housing are working together to ‘set the campus on fire,’ " she explained. "If we can tell the stories of those suffering as well as educate the campus that issues beyond AIDS/HIV affect the African people, we can make a difference. We hope that this will take hold and people will want to do more for this cause."