Study space crisis pushes Nairobi slum learners to community libraries

AMG Foundation Director Andrew Muthee and other officials cut the ribbon at the newly opened Mukuru Kwa Njenga community library on Saturday

For many children growing up in Nairobi's informal settlements, home is a single room shared by an entire family, a space where cooking, sleeping and daily life compete for every square metre, leaving little room for a textbook.

That reality has pushed growing numbers of learners in areas like Mukuru Kwa Njenga and Kibera to seek study spaces elsewhere.

In Mukuru Kwa Njenga alone, very few homes have electricity, and up to twenty families may share a single communal water tap and toilet.

It is one of the most densely settled areas in the city.

Mukuru residents also pay significantly more for basic services than those in nearby middle-class neighbourhoods, with water costs running 173 per cent higher, delivered through informal pipe networks rather than a reliable municipal supply.

Unreliable electricity, which many access through informal and costly connections, makes sustained evening study at home difficult for most learners.

AMG Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of property firm AMG Realtors, opened a new community library in Mukuru Kwa Njenga on Saturday, its fifth facility across the country.

The others are in Murang'a's Kangunduini and Githumu areas, Nanyuki and Kibera.

The Mukuru library accommodates 120 students per sitting and includes a computer lab with 15 internet-enabled machines, resources that remain scarce in low-income neighbourhoods where most residents cannot afford personal devices or reliable connectivity.

The foundation says demand for such spaces is growing. In 2025, its libraries recorded over 50,000 attendances, an 82 per cent increase from the previous year.

Beyond books and computers, the foundation says its libraries offer mentorship to students who use them.

Foundation’s Director Andrew Muthee described education as "the greatest equaliser," a principle he says continues to guide the foundation's work in underserved communities.