In Nairobi, Kenya, twenty-one years ago, Mwangi Mukami, a high school student, shared his aspirations of becoming an attorney or a policymaker with his academic counselors. Their reaction was far from supportive, and their response—a burst of collective laughter and sneer.
Today, Mwangi holds a Master of Public Affairs from the University of California Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, a dual bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude in International Relations and Political Science from San Francisco State University, and an Associate of Arts in Behavioral Science and an Associate of Arts in Arts and Humanities, with honors from the City College of San Francisco. “I knew I was more intelligent than other kids at age fourteen, and my ambition since then was to do something extraordinary to challenge the norm,” says Mwangi.
Born in a single-parent home of eight children, Mwangi’s family lived in a 10ft by 12ft house in Kawangware, an inner-city neighborhood about 6 miles west of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Financial difficulties negatively impacted Mwangi’s school attendance leading to low educational performance. His high school academic score of D+ made him ineligible to attend even Kenya’s Polytechnics, the equivalent of a community college in the US.
Discouraged by his grim intellectual reality, Mwangi founded the National Youth Parliament of Kenya in 2004 to support youth participation in democratic decision-making processes and later Martin Luther King, Jr. Africa Foundation, where he served as an Executive Director from 2005-2009.
His charisma, speech-making gift, and commitment to non-violence, especially during the 2007/8 Kenya post-poll violence, endeared him to many Kenyans and peace advocates in the United States. He was named the Goodwill Ambassador to Kenya of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, awarded the Morris Brown Medal of Peace by Morris Brown College, and recognized by the Georgia General Assembly with a Senate Recognition Resolution.
In January 2009, as President Obama took his oath as the first-African American president, Mwangi was among the more than a million people attending the inaugural ceremony as a dignitary from Kenya. Mwangi learned during his US visit about the murder of his two colleagues in the Kenya civil society space. His friends warned him not to return, but Mwangi was determined to survive the political turmoil beginning to take shape in Kenya. Blackmailed, ostracized, and fearful for his life because of his sexuality, Mwangi left his high-profile role to seek political asylum in the US in December and started over. He relied on his US citizen friends: Joe Beasley, Southern Regional Director of the Rainbow/Push Coalition; Jim Foti, Regional Director at the US Department of Labor; Paul Miller, Executive Director of the Africa Kids in Need, and Robert C Kerr, Former Public Affairs Officer at the US Embassy in Kenya for financial, emotional, and spiritual support. “Fortunately, my mom raised me in an impoverished inner-city neighborhood. I lost no dignity in losing,” says Mwangi.
In 2011 while on the brink of homelessness, Mwangi promised to give 10 percent of his income to support D+ students like him. He established the MLIFE Foundation to support children experiencing learning poverty, defined by the World Bank as the inability to read and write by age 10, to read and write. World Bank data shows that learning poverty impacts nearly 53% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa. Through MLIFE’s LEAP (Learning Enrichment and Acceleration Program), Mwangi helps Kenya’s children to read critically, think creatively, write clearly, and speak confidently.
Mwangi terms MLIFE’s LEAP approach as the 4Cs to empowerment. Today, more than 90% of LEAP beneficiaries receive scholarships to attend high school. “The [LEAP] program not only helped me in KCPE (High school entrance examinations) but also built my courage and ability to speak to a congregation or a group of people,” says Arnold Matiba, a beneficiary of the LEAP program.
During the COVID-19 crisis, MLIFE’s LEAP Program almost closed its doors after the Kenya government shut all schools impacting over 500 LEAP beneficiaries—however, Mwangi’s cohort at Berkeley, led by his classmate, J. Elizabeth Smith, raised $10,000+ to pilot a technology center for the kids. MLIFE received an additional grant from social entrepreneurs and philanthropists Jennifer Carolyn King and Timothy Charles Fredel through their Rugged Elegance Foundation.
Mwangi plans to replicate the LEAP Program’s success in the Bay Area and foster exchange programs between Kenya’s under-resourced students and Bay Area underserved youths. MLIFE intends to take 15 historically excluded California youngsters to Kenya for a cultural exchange this June. Rugged Elegance Foundation has already committed $15,000 of the $75,000 needed for the exchange program.
Mwangi believes the LEAP program can positively impact low-progress learners to realize their full potential. “Since I considered it a great privilege to attend Berkeley, I wanted my work and research to support those communities who might not have the honor of attending Berkeley as I did whether those communities are in Nairobi or here in San Francisco,” Mwangi says.
Mwangi’s story is one of resilience, determination, and hope. His commitment to LEAP shows that he fights for what he believes in. Despite facing countless challenges, Mwangi’s story inspires others to follow their dreams and never give up.
To learn more or support the MLIFE Foundation, please visit their website at mlifefoundation.org or follow their social media handle @mlifefoundation
