Muhimpundu checking the oil level in a car under repair at the Jua Kali Garage in Nairobi as her mentor, Brian Kariuki (in a cap) looks on. She got a placement in a vocation school and later an apprenticeship at the garage under the Re:Build program. 

Born in Kenya to Rwandan refugee parents, Muhimpundu Marie Patience, 20, has her eyes set on being a leading mechanic in Nairobi. But after she was forced to stop her studies because her father could not afford to pay the tuition, she worried that was the end of the road for her ambition. 

‘‘Many people told me ‘You can’t be a mechanic’’’, she recounted from the sprawling Jua Kali Garage where she is sharpening her car repair skills.  

Still, she was determined.  

The road to Jua Kali Garage, in the Nairobi suburb of Kawangware, was not easy for Muhimpundu. It started when her father came across information about the Refugees in East Africa: Boosting Urban Innovations for Livelihoods Development (Re:Build) project run by the International Rescue Committee and its partner organizations supporting urban refugees in Nairobi. Her father passed on the information to Muhimpundu, prompting her to visit the Re:Build Livelihood Centre in Kawangware.

Muhimpundu, who lives in the Kawangware neighborhood, was naturally immediately interested in mechanic training and apprenticeship, and with support from Re:Build, decided to enroll at the Don Bosco Boys Town technical school in Nairobi to learn motor vehicle repair. She spent three months at the school learning theoretical and practical aspects of car repair which included technical drawing, the braking, fuel, cooling, and lubricating systems, among others.

‘‘My parents can’t believe I am on the way to becoming a mechanic,’’ she says with a big smile in between quick movements in and out of a car that she and her mentor Brian Kariuki are repairing.

Mr. Kariuki, 22, thinks highly of his apprentice: ‘‘She is hardworking and eager to learn which makes working with her easy.’’

At full capacity, the garage, according to Kariuki, has 900 mechanics, mostly men. Decked in the characteristic greased overalls of mechanics, Muhimpundu is the only woman in sight at the garage. How does she feel being a woman working in a predominantly male environment? ‘‘I believe that what they [men] can do, I can do, if not better,’’ she says, smiling.

Many people are drawn to cities like Nairobi for the work and job opportunities they offer. Unfortunately, these opportunities are often out of reach for refugees and vulnerable communities in low-income areas in the cities. Through Re:Build, which is funded by the IKEA Foundation, the IRC and its partners are seeking to address this challenge by offering employment opportunities to 20,000 urban refugees and vulnerable hosts in the two East African cities of Kampala and Nairobi. The project is doing this by offering vocational skills training, apprenticeships, mentorship and business grants and other services to young people like Muhimpundu.  In 2021, Re:Build supported over 70 people – including refugees – with vocational skills training in Kenya.  

‘‘I am improving more on the skills I learnt from my training at the Don Bosco technical school. I can now repair the break and suspension system of cars,” Muhimpundu says. ‘‘I am grateful to Re:Build and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) for supporting me to acquire skills that support my ambition.’’

Her bosses have told Muhimpundu that after three months at the garage, she will begin to earn a commission on every car she contributes to repairing, an income that will be vital for her wellbeing and future.

‘‘I will save the money and enroll in school to further my education in car repair because my ambition is to be a top mechanic in Nairobi.’’