The Search for Home
For the past few months, Global Impact Innovators had been a movement on the move. We’d conducted bootcamps across Kenya—in different cities, different towns, different communities throughout 2025. Each time, we’d arrive, train, inspire, and then pack up and leave. It was impactful work, but something was missing. We’d see the hunger in people’s eyes when we left. We’d hear the question: “Will you come back?”
By mid-2025, our team asked ourselves a harder question: What if we didn’t leave? What if we planted roots?
We began visiting communities, listening, observing. Multiple locations invited us to stay. Multiple opportunities presented themselves. But we were looking for something specific—not just interest, but genuine readiness. Not just demand, but demonstrated commitment. We were looking for a community that didn’t just want another bootcamp. They wanted education to become permanent.
That’s when we came to Kendu Bay.
A Place Called Ready
Kendu Bay sits on the shores of Lake Victoria in Homa Bay County Wikipedia, a town where the economy is largely driven by fishing and agriculture Wisdom Library. It’s a place of stunning natural beauty and tight-knit community—but limited access to technology education.
Our partnership with a local Catholic church gave us more than just a physical space. It gave us legitimacy. It gave us trust. The church understood what we were trying to do: equip young people with skills that could transform their economic futures.
We started small. ICT training. The basics. Computer literacy for young people in the village and surrounding areas.
And then something unexpected happened.
The Sacrifice That Said Everything
Within days of our launch, we started seeing young people arrive—many of them walking from villages miles away. Not just from Kendu Bay proper, but from the surrounding rural areas. In the Kenyan heat, under the equatorial sun, young people were making pilgrimages to learn.
Some walked for two hours. Some for three. Some even longer. They’d trek through dust, through heat that could test anyone’s commitment, just for the chance to sit in front of a computer and learn.
We didn’t ask them to do this. No one forced them. They chose to. They chose to sacrifice comfort, chose to sacrifice time, chose to sacrifice energy—all for access to education.
When you see that level of sacrifice, you know you’re witnessing genuine hunger. Not the polite interest of people who have options. But the fierce determination of people who understand that education is their pathway.
Parents began appearing too—not to pull their children away, but to understand what was happening. To support it. To make sure their kids could attend. The message was clear: this wasn’t just another program passing through. This was something their community had been waiting for.
From Curiosity to Movement
Like any new initiative, we started with the curious ones. People checking us out. Wondering what this was about. Skeptical, perhaps, that this time would be different.
But the numbers didn’t stay small. They grew. Steadily. Then rapidly.
Within weeks, we were seeing 200 young people—and that number kept climbing. Two hundred young people showing up, not because anyone was mandating it, not because of incentives or pressure, but because they wanted to learn.
Think about that. In a town on Lake Victoria, without a tech industry, without obvious tech jobs on the horizon, young people were choosing to spend their time learning computers. Why? Because they understood something fundamental: technology skills are universal. They’re portable. They’re powerful.
Community That Shows Up
What made Kendu Bay truly special wasn’t just the young people. It was the community around them. We had community members stepping forward—volunteering to help, to support the training, to ensure it could continue. Parents became advocates. Local leaders became champions. The church remained steadfast.
This wasn’t us bringing a solution to a passive recipient. This was a community actively participating in their own transformation.
Why We Stayed
Global Impact Innovators has always believed that sustainable change doesn’t come from outsiders parachuting in. It comes from partnership. From listening. From recognizing that communities don’t need saviors—they need opportunity and resources combined with their own determination.
Kendu Bay showed us they had the determination. They showed us they had the hunger. They showed us they understood the value of what we were offering.
So we didn’t leave. We established our first permanent hub. We committed to being there not for a bootcamp, not for a semester, but for the long term.
What Comes Next
That initial cohort of 200+ young people represents something beautiful: untapped potential finally getting access to tools. Some will become developers. Some will become digital entrepreneurs. Some will find jobs in the growing tech sector. Some will use these skills in ways we can’t yet imagine.
But they all got their chance. Because a community showed up. Because young people walked miles in the heat. Because parents and community members believed that their children deserved this opportunity.
Kendu Bay didn’t just become our first permanent Kenya hub because it was strategically located or logistically convenient. It became home because a community chose us as much as we chose them.
And in the work of global development, there’s no greater validation than that.
Read more about how we support youth and women in Africa through our entrepreneurship training programs.
