We Ignite!

Ciro Muiruri is the Founder of Pendo International Projects. She was born in Kenya’s Kawangware slum, one of the largest slums in the region. Orphaned by AIDS as a child, Ciro experienced firsthand the challenges faced by children from marginalized communities in accessing affordable, high-quality education. As a slum girl-child, Ciro’s tenacity, resilience, and self-motivation helped her triumph over tremendous baked-in societal inequalities. She beat the odds and completed her studies. When it came time for her to choose a career path, Ciro knew she had to protect the right to education for all children in her community. She became an early childhood educator, community developer, and social entrepreneur. At the age of 21, Ciro had her first experience establishing a school in Kenya while working for an international organization. She later started a family and transitioned to social entrepreneurship in 2009 by opening a private Montessori school just outside of Nairobi. 

Her life was now complete, or so she thought. In 2015, Ciro came face to face with death in the hands of someone she trusted. Consequently, her then eight-year-old daughter, Naima, was abducted. Remarkably, Ciro survived the attempted homicide and escaped to Canada as a refugee the same year, where she started a new life from scratch.

Driven by a love for children, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a vision to increase access to affordable early learning opportunities, Ciro established Pendo International Projects' first initiative: Pendo School - Kenya, which opened its doors to learners in 2019. Ciro’s experience escaping poverty is proof that education can help children overcome societal inequalities.

“Pendo school is dedicated to Naima: stolen but not forgotten.” Ciro