UK Registered Charity 1102126

Commonwealth Housing Trust

Building better homes for the people of Korogocho

Support a family Read their stories
An invitation

Join us in our Korogocho Project

We are working to help a community of 25 families living in great need in one of Nairobi’s worst slums, providing financial support to help them build new homes in a safe environment on the outskirts of the city.

The families formed a self-help group, MWAMKO, and contribute their own efforts, abilities and resources to the project. It has now been registered as the MWAMKO Residents Association, clarifying tenant and landlord rights and obligations.

The project has been managed by the well-qualified Board of a local Community-Based Organisation, the Commonwealth Housing Group, set up for that purpose. This has been converted into a Charitable Trust, which means the purposes of the project are now protected in perpetuity. The Board includes two members of MWAMKO.

The current main aim of the Commonwealth Housing Trust, a registered charity in the UK, is to raise funds for this project.

Donate today What we do
A completed MWAMKO family home at Kamulu: a stone-built house with a red pitched roof and a covered porch.

One of the new family homes at the Kamulu site on the outskirts of Nairobi.

What has been achieved so far

  • Two acres of land purchased and ownership registered
  • Planning permission granted for 25 houses
  • 25 young unemployed MWAMKO family members were given training and work experience in various building skills
  • They and other family members are working on the site, with appropriate professional support

Excellent progress

Thanks to the generosity of strangers, families are now resident at the new site in the first complete rows of houses.

  • They pay very low rents, less than in the slum. Having new homes does not immediately lead to higher incomes, and their expenses are higher
  • Their self-help group, MWAMKO, is now reconstituted as a Housing Association, clarifying their rights and obligations

The next phase has begun

  • Four further houses are built to gable level, half another row
  • Developing and extending infrastructure across the site
  • Incorporating green, sustainable solutions wherever possible
  • Constructing the other thirteen homes, as funding permits

If you would like to join us in supporting the families as they build their new homes and new lives you can bring their dream closer. Even small donations help to build a house, just as bricks do. If you can, please donate today, or use our donation form to set up a standing order.

Impact so far

The project in numbers

25
MWAMKO families in the project
180
People, including 131 children
16
Homes built and occupied
25
Young people trained in building trades
Our journey

From a shared vision to front doors

Scroll through the story of the Commonwealth Housing Trust, from our founding to the families now living at Kamulu.

  1. Portrait of Clifford Dann MBE, founder of the Commonwealth Housing Trust. 2002

    A charity is founded

    CHT is established by the late Clifford Dann to provide material assistance and funding for self-build projects for people in any of the Commonwealth countries. It has been registered with the Charity Commission since 2002.

  2. One of the nine houses built in Sri Lanka: a small single-storey home with a pink painted porch. After 2004

    Nine new homes in Sri Lanka

    Following the Boxing Day tsunami, CHT sponsors nine new homes for some of the poorest people affected, working with the Surveyors’ Institute of Sri Lanka. 100% of funds raised go directly into construction.

  3. Children seated on the grass in front of the Gilgil Township hostel building. Gilgil, Kenya

    A hostel for 32 children

    A boarding hostel is built in the grounds of Gilgil Township primary school, so that disabled children can attend and board safely, with room to extend in future.

    Completed projects
  4. An elevated view over the packed iron-sheet roofs of the Korogocho slum. 2006

    MWAMKO comes together

    A group of 25 families in Nairobi’s Korogocho slum first meet to consider how they might help themselves to secure decent homes, away from the slum.

  5. Clifford Dann and Valerie Kent smiling as they practise for the ground-breaking ceremony on the new site. July 2012

    Land bought, ground broken

    Two acres are funded and purchased at Kamulu, 27 km from Korogocho. Clifford Dann arranges an informal ground-breaking ceremony with members of MWAMKO and CHG, a happy and hopeful occasion for all.

  6. 2016 – 2017

    Permission granted, a founder lost

    Land registration is completed and planning permission is granted in 2016. Clifford Dann dies the following year, aged 90. CHT and CHG are determined to fulfil his vision and complete his legacy.

  7. Workers on top of the newly erected steel water tower at the Kamulu site. 2019

    Water and sanitation first

    Grants won by CHG from Kenya Lotto and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fund the water tower, storage tanks, borehole connection and septic tank, together worth around £15,000.

  8. Builders raising block walls at Kamulu with the water tower rising behind them. July 2020

    Construction begins

    Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, building starts in July 2020. The foundations of the first five houses are completed on 3 September, rewarding the great patience of the MWAMKO families.

  9. The first five completed houses at Kamulu in a row, with the sixth house beginning on the right. March – April 2022

    Five families get their keys

    A ballot allocates the first houses fairly. The first families move in, and soon the first eight families are resident in their new homes, with children walking to nearby schools.

    Read the full update
  10. A worker fitting a solar panel on a red roof at the Kamulu project. August 2026

    Sixteen homes, powered by the sun

    Generous support from Prefect Controls funds solar panels for all sixteen occupied houses, with enough in hand for the nine houses still to be built.

    Read the full update

My future is bright now.

Mary Wanjiku, resident at the Mwamko Housing Project

Connected to a shared solar micro-grid, Mary’s five children can now study safely long after sunset.

Their stories

Behind every door, a family

The MWAMKO families are hard-working people with fluctuating incomes and a shared determination. Meet some of them.

Joseph and his wife standing in front of their corrugated-iron home in Korogocho.

Joseph’s story

A secretary with a dream

Born and raised in Korogocho, Joseph is secretary of MWAMKO and runs a mobile greengrocery, working hard for a dignified future for his six children.

Read more
Portrait of Martha, a MWAMKO member, in a dark headscarf standing in front of a corrugated-iron wall.

Martha’s story

Defying all the odds

A widow who left school for lack of fees, Martha cares for her children on a small hospital wage and looks forward to escaping the slum.

Read more
Mary, a member of MWAMKO, smiling in a white top in front of her home.

Mary’s story

Optimistic and loyal

Mary has lived in Korogocho since she was two. She and her family share a 3 m × 3 m iron-sheet room, yet she remains hopeful for a decent house.

Read more
Watch and read all their stories
Clifford Dann discussing the project on site with MWAMKO and CHG members, with the Project Manager on his right.
About us

A vision that outlived its founder

CHT is a UK charity, established by the late Clifford Dann in 2002 to provide material assistance and funding for self-build projects for people in any of the Commonwealth countries.

We seek to assist marginalised communities who are striving to provide themselves with stable, healthy living environments, supporting community-led initiatives in areas with acute housing need. We have minimal overheads and depend entirely on donations, grants and sponsorship.

Read more about us Meet our team
News

Latest from the site at Kamulu

The site looks very different now from the empty scrub and grassland we saw when we first went there. Follow the progress.

24 August 2026

Brilliant news - literally!

We have received very generous support to install solar panels on all sixteen houses currently occupied, with enough funds in hand for solar for all of the last phase of building - 9 houses more. Thank you…

1 September 2022

Homes, hopes and happiness

The families who moved in in April are enjoying their new homes. They continue to help the project in practical ways, providing security for the site, help with curing the slab on the latest houses and other…

All news & updates
Gallery

Select any photograph to view it larger.

One of the first houses at Kamulu: a stone-built home with a red pitched roof. Builders mixing cement on site with houses of the neighbouring estate behind. Two MWAMKO residents in red tops standing outside their new front door. Aerial view of rows of grey stone houses with red roofs at the project site. A trainee in a yellow hard hat setting form work for a concrete pour. The steel water tower with workers on its top platform. The first completed houses with the next house beginning beside them. A view over part of the Korogocho slum showing iron-sheet roofs packed together.
Explore the full gallery
Questions

Frequently asked questions

Can’t find what you’re looking for? We’re always glad to hear from you.

Contact us

We provide financial and material assistance for housing projects for people in any of the Commonwealth independent states whose membership is confirmed by the Commonwealth Secretariat. We particularly support community-led initiatives that help marginalised communities build stable, healthy living environments, and that could become valuable models for future projects.

We carefully monitor all of our operations to make sure that the highest proportion possible of every donation goes straight to our projects and their beneficiaries. We have minimal overheads and administration costs, depend entirely on donations, grants and sponsorship, and we do not spend your money on merchandising.

The overall cost of building each house has been around £10,000, although Kenya, like the rest of the world, faces growing inflation. Even small donations help to build a house, just as bricks do: funds buy hard core, cement, stone building blocks and much more.

Yes, if you are a UK taxpayer. By providing your name and address CHT is able to reclaim Gift Aid if you pay income or capital gains tax at least equal to your charitable donation during the tax year. Complete the Gift Aid section of our donation form to let us claim it.

You can give online through PayPal, make a bank transfer, set up a monthly, quarterly or annual standing order, or download, print and post our donation form. Full details, including our bank details, are on the Donations page.

The project is managed by the Commonwealth Housing Group Kenya (CHG), a registered Community-Based Organisation with a volunteer Board of highly qualified professionals, which includes two members of MWAMKO. MWAMKO is the self-help group of the 25 families who are building their new homes.

Yes. The Commonwealth Housing Trust is a UK Registered Charity, number 1102126, registered with the Charity Commission since 2002.

Help build the next home

The project can move as fast as funds become available. Any donation you feel able to make has a direct and immediate impact on the building programme.

Donate now