Build the Mwelu Foundation Youth Center in Nairobi, Kenya

My name is Lana Wong and I'm a photographer based in Washington, DC.

TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS ago, I founded SHOOTBACK – a youth photography and development project in the Mathare slums of Nairobi, Kenya. With support from the Ford Foundation, UN Environment Programme, MYSA, and many others, we put cameras into the hands of boys and girls so they could tell their stories through their own photos and words. Their powerful pictures and writing were showcased in a book , an international touring exhibition, and a documentary film shot by my students themselves.

Shootback inspired countless other community organizations to center and nurture marginalized youth voices through training in photography, film, and life skills. More than two decades later, I'm still in touch with many of my original students, and at least five are working as professional photographers and filmmakers. One of my star students, Julius Mwelu, has made me incredibly proud: not only is he an award-winning UN photographer, but in 2007, he started the the Mwelu Foundation to teach photography, film, and life skills to a new generation of Kenyan youth who are continuing Shootback's legacy of creative participatory storytelling.

Over the past 16 years, the Mwelu Foundation has trained more than 500 young photographers and videographers, had 20+ exhibitions all over Kenya and the world, and published their own book.

They have a dream to build their OWN youth center in Mathare. Thanks to a GoFundMe effort last year, we raised $10,000 to secure an initial piece of land to help turn this dream into reality.

We’re now trying to raise $60,000 to purchase an adjacent parcel of land and build a 2-story building.

Please donate what you can to help build this new youth center and create hope, opportunities, and a safe learning space for the creative children and youth of Mathare for years to come!

Thank you/asane sana!

Check out this vintage video from Shootback's 10th anniversary exhibition in Paris and meet a younger Julius from 15 years ago!