Wairimu, a female college senior whom I’d interviewed on the morning of my last day in Nairobi, insisted on a visit to the Mathare slums where she lives. Wairimu’s mother is HIV positive. Since learning of her mom’s status almost two years ago, Wairimu started a Mathare Vision Center, a leadership and community development program that educates Mathare’s youths about HIV/AIDS. Her center also seeks out funding to support slum residents who have been accepted to universities but cannot afford it.

“You have to meet Sammy Gitau,” she said. “He also runs his own community program and helps out a lot with the Vision Center. So we went to see Sammy at the Mathare Resource Center.

Mathare is a collection of slums off Thika Road on the way to Kisarani, a blue-collar suburb of Nairobi. Like Wairimu, Sammy was born and raised in the slums. The 32-year old started Mathare Resource Center. The center is an old shipping container fitted with donated old computers, radio, and video equipment. Although litter seemed to be everywhere in Mathare, the outside of the resource center was swept clean and the dusty earth was a clear light brown in front of the container.

Trash changed Sammy’s story definitively. As part of his community development work, Sammy organizes groups of young men to clean the litter around Mathare. One day, he found a discarded prospectus for Manchester University in England. Based on the merit of his work at Mathare and with the recommendations of advocates he’d met at community development conferences, Sammy was accepted into a Master’s program in development without ever having completed any formal education.

When I asked about his dream for Mathare, he answered, “I want this place to become the Hollywood of Kenya.”

Given the feat he’s accomplished, he might very well have his next dream come true.