According to Mugumo Munene and Jeff Otieno in “Report Reveals Shocking Statistics on Child Prostitution”, in Kenya, 33% of young women are engaged in prostitution or human trafficking by the age of 16. Further, according to Jane Mercy Karanja and Ng’ang’a Elizabeth, in Nairobi’s Kibera slum, the largest slum in Africa, this percentage is almost doubled due to conditions of extreme poverty and the denial of education to women.
The mission of the Kibera School for Girls is to be the first free school in Kibera, and the only school dedicated to empowering and educating young women with the greatest need. I recently had the opportunity to interview Jessica Posner, a 2009 graduate of Wesleyan University and the Co-Founder of the Kibera School for Girls.
Jessica Posner: Co-Founder of Kibera School for Girls
What inspired you to transform the lives of these children?
I studied abroad in Kenya for six months and lived inside of Kibera itself. During this time I worked with a grassroots organization called Shining Hope for Community, founded by Kennedy Odede, also my partner in founding the Kibera School for Girls. During my time in Kibera I was continually struck by how few girls went to school. Once, I stopped a five-year-old girl running through a pile of trash and human waste and asked her why she wasn’t in school. She told me that “school is only a dream and dreams don’t come true.” That stayed with me. During this time I also helped Kennedy apply to Wesleyan where he was accepted and became the first person from Kibera to go to a four year college. At Wesleyan we often talked about how lucky we are to have access to education. Born and raised in Kibera, Kennedy would tell me about seeing young women lose their hopes of ever attaining an education and leaving the slum, as they were forced into commercial sex work at early ages. He knew young girls who were raped, and saw frequent domestic violence - acts that are more likely to occur when girls are denied education. Given these dire circumstances, we began to think about how we have a responsibility to use our privilege to help others. We both feel passionately that education is the key to transformation, and through the Kibera School for Girls, I hope to watch the dreams of many young women become realities.
All photos courtesy of Jessica Posner
How did travel contribute to you founding the Kibera School for Girls?
Before I traveled to Kenya I don’t think I ever really realized how lucky I am. I knew in a peripheral way that much of the world does not enjoy the privileges that I have, but the gravity of the disparity in the world never sunk in until I lived in Kibera. Travel enables people to connect their realities with those of others. It is my hope that travel will lead to a world that will be a more connected and thereby more equal place.
How can people traveling to Kenya give back to the school and the children you help?
There are so many ways to help the Kibera School for Girls. We are always in need of school supplies, books, educational games, educational toys, used furniture, seeds, sports equipment, medical supplies and medications, and farming equipment. Travelers can also make a significant impact by sponsoring a student for a year, which provides that student with three nutritious meals a day, school supplies, and high level medical attention (specifically for students that are HIV positive). We also have a need for financial contributions to establish book funds, help offset operating costs, and eventually help us to set up a health clinic focused on women’s health. Perhaps one of the most important contributions travelers can make is by donating skills and knowledge…we are always in need of both short and long term volunteers.
Awakening the Responsive Traveler Within: Have you ever visited a place and known that the people and evironment were in desperate need of transformation? Would a child in any environment saying “school is only a dream and dreams don’t come true” move you to make a difference? If you have been to Kenya before, did you visit this part and experience what Jessica did?
Girls schools offer career and Guidance Programs which support the development of knowledge and skills of the girls need to make effective preparations for each stage of their education. The main motive of the girls learning centers is to provide learners with the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills needed to make appropriate choices and successful transitions throughout their time at school. Programs offered by girls institutes give girls a individual foundation of forceful self-expression, and conflict-management skills for success in leadership and life
http://www.girlschools.net/
Comment by Girls Schools — September 1, 2009 @ 11:58 pm