Four and a half years ago, I studied abroad in Nairobi, Kenya and met a young man named Kennedy Odede. Growing up in Kibera, Africa’s largest slum, Kennedy saw his family and community suffocated by devastating poverty and he was determined to change this reality. With 20 cents and a belief in people’s abilities to change their own lives, he bought a soccer ball and started a grassroots movement called Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO).

Driven by Kennedy’s vision to catalyze change from within, we partnered together and created SHOFCO’s innovative model to combat cycles of gender inequality and extreme poverty. SHOFCO’s tuition-free school for girls is linked to essential social services available to all including a health clinic, community empowerment programs, sanitation facilities, community gardens, and Kibera’s largest clean water point. By investing in health and economic success through a school for girls we demonstrate that benefiting women benefits the entire community—improving gender equality while providing services that are transforming the lives of all Kiberans. 

Through the support of friends, family and the community of professors, students, and staff at Wesleyan University, we were able to build momentum and financial support for our vision. Our first grant– $10k from Davis Project for Peace– allowed us to establish the Kibera School for Girls in the summer of 2009. The Kibera School for Girls is the first tuition-free school for girls in Kibera, but we realized we needed to develop our model further to have the greatest impact. With generous ongoing support from Newman’s Own Foundation, as well as Echoing Green and many other foundations and partners, we’ve been able to provide desperately-needed social services accessible for all including a health clinic, community empowerment programs, sanitation facilities, community gardens, and Kibera’s largest clean water point. By investing in health and economic success through a school for girls we demonstrate that benefiting women benefits the entire community—improving gender equality while providing services that are transforming the lives of all Kiberans.

Building our grassroots movement and developing holistic programs that truly empower local leadership is demanding work. As college students many people looked at Kennedy with I with incredulity when we talked about building the school. But with Kennedy’s local leadership in Kenya, and with the participation and support of many dedicated people who were willing to take a chance on our dream–together, we’ve made it possible.

Working in Kibera for the past three years I’ve learned to take nothing for granted: education, health, or the belief that dreams can come true.