About Us

History of Langata Islamic Welfare Organisation (LIWO)

How it all started :

Prior to 1984, there was no Madrasa in all the Estates in the whole neighborhood of Langata comprising Southlands, Ngei 1 and Ngei 2, Akiba, Onyonka, Otiende, Jambo, Rubia, Customs, Masai, Civil Servants, Uhuru Gardens, etc. Of course there was no mosque either. At the time there were close to 20 churches in the vicinity.

To attend a Madrasa, children had to go to Kibra or South C. The parents had a difficult duty of transporting them to and from such distant places. This led to some parents engaging private Ustadhs/Ustadhas to teach their children at home. In some cases some children did not attend Madrasas at all.

Establishing a Madrasa :

It is this inconvenience which eventually brought a few Muslims together sometime in 1984, with a view to start a Madrasa within the neighborhood. As a quick solution, one of the pioneer members, Marhum Said Omar Nadhir, volunteered to surrender his official car garage at the Customs Estate to be converted into a Madrasa. He also sourced the very first Ustadh for the Madrasa, Ustadh Hassan Komesha. Once the Madrasa was up and running in 1985, the initiators went door to door to all houses in the neighborhood occupied by Muslims on a campaign to advertise the same.

The number of students grew so fast that within no time the one garage was not adequate to accommodate all of them. Luckily, the occupier of the garage adjacent to the Madrasa, and who was not even a Muslim, offered the use of his garage to host the students. Thus the Madrasa expanded.

During this period, the Madrasa was very vibrant and lively, and a number of prize-giving ceremonies were hosted within the Costoms Estate grounds...