Second Chances was not built by people looking in. Its story begins with a boy in a Nairobi children's home, waiting for a family that never came.
After the loss of his parents, Peter and his five siblings were separated and placed in an orphanage in Nairobi. He remained in a children's home until he was twenty, one of thirty children under the care of two house mothers working in shifts.
No one came.
He spent years hoping, as so many children in care do, that one day someone would arrive to take him home to a family.
I watched a friend leave for a foster family. I told myself, I will be next. I was not next.
Peter, on growing up in care
That pain never left him. Instead of letting it harden him, it directed him. Peter returned to the very same children's home, first as a social worker, then as a social programmes manager.
For a decade he worked from inside the system he had survived, becoming a globally recognised champion of care reform rooted in local realities. He went on to co-found Child in Family Focus Kenya, one of the country's most reputable organisations championing family-based care for orphaned and vulnerable children.
Even from within strong care-reform work, a gap remained. Young people kept arriving: discontinued from sponsorship, aged out, or abandoned by orphanages, having lost everything from shelter to schooling, with nowhere left to turn.
He wasn't offering charity. He was offering what he once needed himself.
And so Second Chances was born, not as an institution, but as a promise: that no young person leaving care would have to do it alone.
It requires presence. Someone looking a young person in the eye and saying I am not going anywhere.
Peter Kamau Muthui, Founder
I have seen what happens when someone simply refuses to give up on a young person. I have watched lives turn quietly, completely, toward something better.
That transformation is not complicated. It does not require perfection. It requires presence: someone who stays.
There are no chances in a family; family will always be there. We are giving second chances at life. To every young person reading this: you were never meant to do this alone. And now, you don't have to.
Peter Kamau Muthui
Founder, Second Chances · Executive Director, Child in Family Focus Kenya
To walk alongside young people leaving institutional care across Kenya with healing, education, justice, and a community that will not disappear.
A Kenya where every care leaver has a bridge to their full potential, and a second chance whenever they need one.
A team that leads from the inside, and a board that holds us accountable.
Founder & Director
Care leaver, social worker, and care-reform leader. Co-founder of Child in Family Focus Kenya.
Programme Lead
Trauma-informed practitioner guiding our confidential support for young persons.
Finance
Supports the financial management of our programs and ensures compliance with financial regulations.
Programme Coordinator
Manages the implementation of our programs and ensures that they are delivered effectively and efficiently.
