Excellent human beings Kennedy Odede ’12 and Jessica Posner ’09 received a $10,000 Projects for Peace grant to build a school for girls in Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya in which Odede grew up, during a 10-week project this summer.
Kennedy’s awe-inspiring life story was featured in a three-part series in the Argus last semester, and it’s no underoverstatement to say that he’s overcome incredible odds. Clearly both he and Posner are headed for great things.
Be sure to donate to the Wesleyan Friends of Africa Walk-a-thon this Saturday – proceeds will go towards funding the school.
Read more about the logistics of the school, and Odede and Posner’s plans, after the jump.
From the Wesleyan Connection:
The school will offer 105 girls in grades K through six a high-quality formal education based on Montessori school teachings, as well as daily nourishment, self-empowerment, and a refuge from the pressures of the slum. By preparing students for higher education and skilled jobs, Posner says the school will keep the girls out of prostitution and offer them a potential path out of the slum.
“Our hope is that after they leave the school, they will be academically qualified for scholarships at prestigious government boarding schools, and can eventually attend college,” Posner says.
“They’re not just going to leave the school. I want to keep a watch on them and make sure they have a good life,” Odede adds.
The Kibera School for Girls will be built through a partnership with a community organization in Kibera called Shining Hope for Community (SHOFCO). Odede founded this organization in 2005 and has since registered it with Kenya’s Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs. SHOFCO will run and manage the school after it is built.
Building the school will be a 10-week affair starting in July. Odede and Posner will spend the first two weeks collecting input from the Kibera community. SHOFCO has already secured a plot of land in the center of Kibera on which to construct the school facilities.
They’ve hired an architect to lead the construction project, and found a school principal to design and implement of the school’s curriculum. The principal, Mrs. Mwangi, has already assembled a staff of certified teachers, who are all women from Kibera. SHOFCO has also enlisted the services of a volunteer counselor who will visit the school twice a week.
With help from community members, Posner and Odede will construct the school. It will contain eight classrooms, a teacher’s lounge, a library open to the community, an outdoor eating space, storage space, two pit latrines, a water tank, and a small farm. The school will sell fresh water, chicken eggs, farm-grown produce and latrine usages to sustain the school and support teacher salaries.
The school’s staff will hold interviews for admission, placing orphaned girls or victims of sexual abuse as those with the greatest need for schooling.
“Kennedy was always talking about building a school for girls in Kibera,” Posner says. “I think it’s been a dream of his for such a long time.”
Odede, the first person from the slum to attend college, hopes he can be an influence on the students’ lives. He grew up in a 10-by-10-foot room shared by his parents and seven siblings and is a self-taught English speaker who always wanted more from life than to live in the slums. His parents consider him to be a “miracle.”
“I just want to show these girls that another way is possible,” he says.
Posner met Odede in 2007 while studying abroad in Kenya and working on a theater production together. She persuaded Odede to apply to Wesleyan, and the university offered him a full scholarship. After Wesleyan, Odede hopes to attend graduate school and work in international relations.
“Education has saved my life,” Odede says. “The Kibera School for Girls is a symbol of gratitude for the peace education has given me, and of my hope that I can do the same for my community. It is my hope that by building the Kibera School for Girls one day in the not so distant future young women from Kibera might find themselves in my shoes: able to speak about the struggles that our community encounters and act upon them.”
The Wesleyan Connection: Odede ’12, Posner ’09 Receive Award to Build School in Kenya
Wesleyan Argus: Kennedy Odede – From Carrying Rocks to Carrying Books
@ #4 – support Wesleyan Friends of Africa events…like the Walk-a-thon event this weekend.
@ #4 – support Wesleyan Friends of Africa events…like the Walk-a-thon event this weekend.
@ #4 – support Wesleyan Friends of Africa events…like the Walk-a-thon event this weekend.
@ #4 – support Wesleyan Friends of Africa events…like the Walk-a-thon event this weekend.
yes there is! raise money from your relatives/friends and join the walkathon this saturday 1-4 pm, starting from usdan.
checks should be made out to the WSA with wfa-walkathon in the memo line. send them to wexbox 90078!
yes there is! raise money from your relatives/friends and join the walkathon this saturday 1-4 pm, starting from usdan.
checks should be made out to the WSA with wfa-walkathon in the memo line. send them to wexbox 90078!
yes there is! raise money from your relatives/friends and join the walkathon this saturday 1-4 pm, starting from usdan.
checks should be made out to the WSA with wfa-walkathon in the memo line. send them to wexbox 90078!
yes there is! raise money from your relatives/friends and join the walkathon this saturday 1-4 pm, starting from usdan.
checks should be made out to the WSA with wfa-walkathon in the memo line. send them to wexbox 90078!
Yes.
any way to help out?
any way to help out?
any way to help out?
any way to help out?
Much respect to Odede and Posner. You guys make me proud to be a part of Wesleyan– amazing people with inspirational goals and gifts to humanity. Best of luck!
Much respect to Odede and Posner. You guys make me proud to be a part of Wesleyan– amazing people with inspirational goals and gifts to humanity. Best of luck!
Much respect to Odede and Posner. You guys make me proud to be a part of Wesleyan– amazing people with inspirational goals and gifts to humanity. Best of luck!
Much respect to Odede and Posner. You guys make me proud to be a part of Wesleyan– amazing people with inspirational goals and gifts to humanity. Best of luck!
This is amazing.
This is amazing.
This is amazing.
This is amazing.
um, maybe you mean “it’s no *overstatement” to say he’s overcome incredible odds”??
great story though, thanks for posting
um, maybe you mean “it’s no *overstatement” to say he’s overcome incredible odds”??
great story though, thanks for posting
um, maybe you mean “it’s no *overstatement” to say he’s overcome incredible odds”??
great story though, thanks for posting
um, maybe you mean “it’s no *overstatement” to say he’s overcome incredible odds”??
great story though, thanks for posting