Javan Joan Mbugua
I am a young lady who’s born and raised in Kenya. I am from what we call in Kenya, a ‘kawaida’ middle-income family. I have one brother and one sister and two very loving and supportive parents. My pillars in life this far have been my family, determination, dedication and discipline. I am a recent graduate
in Quantity Surveying.
For as long as I can remember, I always knew what I would want to focus on both personally and professionally, that is, volunteering works and construction. In primary school I was a scout which was a stepping stone to helping me realize that community development was something I wanted to do for as long as I could. In high school, I proceeded to join St. John’s Ambulance which continued to mould me and I got to learn more about this path I was choosing. This passion took me further to joining AIESEC in JKUAT while in campus where we took part in a lot of community development and volunteering projects. I have also volunteered for KidsCompCamp and AHI Mentorship programme.
I have always been passionate about volunteering and community development, which explains why I co-founded Volunteers for Kenya (V4K) with amazing ladies I met in AISEC JKUAT. I am the Director of Tunza Project where I research on homes to work with and how V4K can step in to assist these homes. We come up with sustainability projects for these homes, oversee the running of those projects as well as mentor the kids in the homes.
The kids I have met and worked with over the years are my inspiration. Putting a smile across a child’s face through simple acts of kindness is simply touching the child’s heart and I hope to do so for as long as God allows me to.
My message to Kenyans – ‘Change will not come if we wait for some other people or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.’ – Barack Obama.
