My name is Kennedy Odhiambo Oulu. Friends and family call me Ken. I have been living and working in Tanzania for the past 5 years, after a stint as VSO volunteer in Malawi. I am no stranger to The Foundation for Tomorrow—I have known the organization since 2010. I remember taking care of my one-year old son North as his mum was being interviewed by Fratern Tarimo (then the Managing Director for TFFT) for the teacher training program. In fact, the TFFT truck and its logo is a regular feature in my son’s drawings since he was 2 ½ years old.

My professional experience spans more than a decade. I count organizational development, management, research and monitoring and evaluation as my special skills and had worked for nonprofits in Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania. Prior to joining TFFT, I have been working as a Managing Consultant for In-Depth Consulting—a firm I started with 4 of my friends. As a young man weighing his career options after university, I worked as a barber, as a laborer in a plastic manufacturing firm, as a matatu conductor (a mini-bus for you), and a route marketer for a bus company. The break came when I was offered an internship by the International Labor Organization (ILO) Jobs for Africa Programme.  I then tried my skills as an agricultural officer in Kenya and volunteered in Malawi.

I hold the life lessons I learned as a blue-collar worker as important as the ones I picked up from my tenure in the private companies and international non-profit organizations that I worked for through the years. My most important lesson is this: “No matter their circumstance, people need a voice. This is a right, and appreciating this leads to empowerment. However, the agenda of life is greater than empowerment. Life calls for actions and transformations and demonstrating individual and public good.” I pray that through my actions and my dealings with people— the TFFT kids and staff would appreciate this lesson too, and the dignity of work. Here I am with with my family and Helena, Mathayo, and Yusufu, TFFT scholars who stay at my home during school holiday:

On my downtime, I love to read, shoot pool (billiards) and have fun especially on Fridays. I have to admit I am not good at being idle and so when I have free time, I take online courses—I believe that learning shouldn’t end when you leave school. I always look for opportunities to enrich my knowledge. I am a hard worker and I pride myself on my ability to focus and apply myself 100% to things I commit to. I join TFFT because I believe that disadvantage can be turned into advantage and opportunity, and that growth and motion is synonymous and transformational. I believe that the change we all envision for vulnerable children in Tanzania and world over is possible and can happen in our lifetime if we care enough and work hard enough to make it happen. Nothing is impossible.