The Kibera School for Girls and Shining Hope Community Center

why it's important:

In the fall of 2007 I studied abroad in Nairobi and worked with a youth organization called SHOFCO in Kenya’s Kibera slum. I directed twenty members of this group to collaboratively write and perform a play about the realities of extreme poverty. I wanted to show the group that I believed in them and in what we could create together, so I told the director of SHOFCO, a young man named Kennedy Odede, that I wanted to move into the slum. He said no—and that I wouldn’t survive in a tiny room without a toilet or running water. I took his words as a challenge and moved into Kibera that day—becoming the only outsider to live inside the slum. Living in Kibera I gained perspective on life in abject poverty and formed incredibly close friendships.
One of these life-changing friendships was with Cathy Majuma. Cathy was curious. She wanted to learn about the world, and through hard work she got a sponsor to help her pay school fees. However, her mother burned Cathy’s belongings, angry that she was not doing enough housework. Cathy then moved in with her father, but he abused and impregnated her. She became a prostitute and was almost killed by a man who beat her because she asked him to wear a condom. Soon after, Cathy found a lump in her breast, but was unable to afford medical care, as she could not even feed her infant son After our talk, I found a doctor willing to give Cathy medical care, but I never her saw again. She disappeared and I learned one of Kibera’s harsh lessons: there is such a thing as too late.
Three days after I left Kenya the country erupted in terrible election violence. Kennedy, SHOFCO’s Director, was at terrible risk because he was such a well-respected community leader. I knew that if given the opportunity, Kennedy could change the lives of thousands. He had often told me about growing up in Kibera, dreaming that he might one day go to college. I raised funds to help him leave the country, and then facilitated his application to Wesleyan University, where he was accepted to pursue his dream of a college education.
I returned to Kibera in the summer of 2008 following Kenya’s terrible post election violence. I worked with another group of young people, many of whom had committed violence against one another, to create a play about peace and healing. This play sparked widespread community reconciliation.
The close friendships I’ve formed throughout the time I’ve spent in Kibera with Cathy and countless other women made to suffer daily indignities, inspired me to build the Kibera School for Girls (the very first free school in Kibera), the Shining Hope Community Center, and to co-found the non-profit Shining Hope for Communities along with Kennedy. I believe that the success of the Kibera School for Girls and the Shining Hope Community Center are the beginning of a movement that can and will change the lives thousands of women living in some of the world’s most horrific conditions.

the plan of action:

In February 2009 I began to put the foundation for the Kibera School for Girls, the only free school in Kibera targeting girls at risk for rape and prostitution, into place. I applied for and was given a grant for $10,000. Throughout the next year, I raised an additional $93,808. I engaged a world education specialist who designed an innovative curriculum for the school, capitalizing on how children best learn while taking our students’ particular challenges into account. Through hands-on learning, we foster independence and creativity, giving students choices to make the subject inherently more meaningful, which in turn, increases the learners’ intrinsic motivation, developing self-efficacy. Already an external assessment by the Kenyan Association of Independent schools found that after just 5 months, our students are a full year ahead of their peers in government schools. I then traveled to Kenya, secured land, hired an architect and helped to design an eco-friendly building, and engaged community members to build the school, complete with eight classrooms, a large library, and a multipurpose room. I interviewed and visited the homes to assess the need of over 500 applicants for our first 45 spots. Our students are now in pre-school to 1st grade, and the school will expand each year up to eighth grade, eventually serving 370 students. Our school has literally saved the lives of many of our students, protecting them from rape, and prostitution.

In the summer of 2009 I also built the Shining Hope Community Center, which offers desperately needed free services to the entire community. This center includes a bio-latrine facility, which uses innovative green technology to convert waste into methane gas, providing the only sanitary toilets available for public use while offsetting carbon emissions. The community center also has a library with 1,500 books, literacy and computer classes, and the only internet access for miles. I also started a sustainable gardens initiative at this center, teaching families to build vertical gardens, which can be grown anywhere and sold to provide an income. The community center and school have served approximately 5,700 Kibera residents to date.

how you can get involved:

First, people can raise awareness and spread the word! Shining Hope for Communities is always looking for volunteers and financial contributions to support these important efforts. We encourage everyone to learn more about our work at www.hopetoshine.org.

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