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The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum will honor Carolina for Kibera (CFK) as the recipient of the 2008 Reflections of Hope Award. The award, established in 2005 as part of the 10th anniversary commemoration of the Oklahoma City bombing, honors a living person or group whose extraordinary work has significantly impacted a community, state or nation. It also exemplifies that hope not only survives but also thrives in the wake of political violence. This prestigious international award also includes a $25,000 honorarium, which CFK can use to further develop programming and develop young leaders in Kibera and across Kenya.
Carolina for Kibera, its founder U.S. Marine Captain Rye Barcott, Vice President Beth-Ann Kutchma, Executive Director Salim Mohamed and Youth Sports Program Officer Abdul "Cantar" Hussein from Kenya will be honored at a reception and dinner on April 19, 2008, at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in downtown Oklahoma City. The keynote speaker for the event will be ABC anchor Bob Woodruff, who was seriously injured while imbedded with American troops in Iraq.
“Carolina for Kibera focuses on helping the people of Kibera by giving them the tools and the resources to help themselves. The development of sports programs, centers for girls and medical clinics in one of the poorest districts in Kenya gives the citizens of that community great hope for their future,” said Kari Watkins, Oklahoma City National Memorial Executive Director. “The programs train Kenyans to take action to change their own circumstances and make the future of their neighborhoods much brighter for generations to come.
The Reflections of Hope Award was created by the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation to recognize those who find and, by their actions, exemplify hope in the midst of tragedy, respond selflessly and give of themselves to improve the lives of others.
For more information on the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum, call 888.542.HOPE or visit www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org.
No one could have predicted the degree to which chaos, destruction, and fear would sweep across Kenya last month. The Kibera slum of Nairobi has been one of the places most adversely affected by the ethnic violence gripping the country for nearly two months. We at Carolina for Kibera (CFK) received countless messages and phone calls from concerned supporters and friends across the United States, Canada and Europe, asking “What can we do to help?”
The youth in Kibera are now telling us what we can all do to help: demonstrate our solidarity with the Kibera community by spreading their unique message of peace and healing.
This week CFK staff and volunteers in Kibera launched the JAMII YA KIBERA (Community of Kibera) peace campaign throughout the slum. For the next four weeks, campaign organizers will be covering the community in JAMII YA KIBERA logos, posters, billboards, t-shirts, and stickers. Radio spots in Swahili will run on local stations. A team of youth leaders in Kibera has completed a one-week, intensive mediation and counseling training, and is reaching out to residents to bring people together at community forums. The team is facilitating critical discussions about issues of ethnic tension, cooperation, and conflict resolution. The JAMII YA KIBERA campaign will end with a Kibera-wide clean-up project, as well as a CFK sports event, which will bring together residents from all different ethnic groups.
CFK staff and campaign volunteers on the ground in Kibera have been working with local artists and community leaders for the past several weeks to develop a distinctly Kenyan campaign message in Swahili that will resonate with Kibera residents. The artwork was tested in youth focus groups in order to select the most impacting images. The youth are very excited about the JAMII YA KIBERA logo because it gives them ownership of the Kibera community and of the peace campaign. This is a message of peace by Kenyans, for Kenyans.
As friends and supporters CFK, or just as concerned global citizens, we are all part of the Kibera community. Please show your solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Kibera by spreading the JAMII YA KIBERA campaign message through e-mail, Facebook, blogging, and personal websites, as well as inviting your family and friends to do the same, over the next four weeks.
Add the JAMII YA KIBERA FACEBOOK APPLICATION to your Facebook profile.
Download the JAMII YA KIBERA LOGO to use on your blog, personal website, in your e-mail signature line, or as your profile photo on social networking and other websites where you maintain a profile.
CFK's Kicking AIDS Out (KAO) project empowers 32 young Kibera leaders trained as peer educators to help thousands of youth in the community tackle the challenges they face, including poverty, HIV/AIDS, gender, rape, substance abuse, tribalism and conflict through alternative means of education. KAO peer educators use sports-related games, theatre, community forums, and informal school discussions to discuss these difficult topics, as well as the life skills young people need to develop in order to lead healthier lives.
Managed completely by the Kenyan KAO peer educators, this program builds the leadership skills and confidence of youth in Kibera so that they may have a vision for achieving their goals, while also supporting them through secondary and post-secondary scholarships to further their education.
This film is a short overview of the project, including interviews with some of the peer educators, and action shots of how KAO integrates sport and education to spread information throughout the community. The film was produced by CFK Youth Development Officer, Rehana Tejpar.
Rye Barcott, Carolina for Kibera (CFK) president and founder, will address students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) on Fri., Feb. 8 at 5 p.m. in the Global Education Center. In light of the current political situation in Kenya, Rye will talk about how the recent post-election violence in Kibera and Kenya has affected CFK and the Kibera community. The lecture is sponsored by the Senior Class Campaign for Carolina, which has selected CFK as the endorsed fund, as well as the Carolina Annual Fund, Carolina Career Services, and Carolina for Kibera. The lecture will be followed by a networking reception with Carolina alum with international careers. Learn more about the lecture here.
Rye Barcott graduated with a B.A. in Peace, War, and Defense from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Triangle Institutes for Security Studies Millennium Fellow and a Burch Fellow. While an undergraduate at UNC, Rye founded CFK in Kenya with Salim Mohamed and the late Tabitha Atieno Festo, who each shared the conviction that the poor have the solutions to the problems they face.
Rye served on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps for five years and is currently a joint MPA and MBA candidate at Harvard University, where he is a Catherine B Reynolds Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Fellow. He is co-editor of Armed Conflict in Africa (Scarecrow, 2003).
Rye is a member of the Harvard University’s Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility and Committee on Rights and Responsibilities. He also serves as a member of the UNC NROTC Board of Directors.
On Saturday, February 2nd, bring your dancing shoes to the Independent in San Francisco as Sila and the Afrofunk Experience performs a benefit for Carolina for Kibera, Kenya. Nominated for Best World Music at the San Francisco Weekly Music Awards, Sila and the Afrofunk Experience mixes the legendary sounds of Fela Kuti with some tricks gleaned from James Brown and P-Funk. Sila (who sings in Swahili and English) and company create a dancefloor-ready throb guaranteed to move you.
The band not only offers an evening of funk, but a chance to dance for a cause. The band leader, Sila Mutungi, has decided to use this opportunity to raise funds for his homeland of Kenya, which has recently erupted into post-election violence that has claimed the lives of hundreds and the homes of thousands. Proceeds will benefit non-profit Carolina for Kibera, which serves 25,000 people living in Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi. Kibera has been devastated by the recent violence. The organization's program serves the community through a health clinic, a summer youth sports program staffed by volunteers and other programs.
"The political figures need to call for peace and harmony and directly reach out to their supporters to stop the violence. Only Kenyans can resolve this strife by speaking out as a nation against ethnic violence," Sila says
"I am currently working together with Michael Wanguhu, a Kenyan film maker (Hip-Hop Colony), to shoot a music video of a newly written song encouraging peace among Kenyan people and calling on the political leaders to put aside their pride and greed for the sake of the country," Sila adds.
Joining Sila and the Afrofunk Experience will be the Afrobeat sounds of Dj Jeremiah and the Afrobeat Nation (from Liberia), The beat box sounds of Radio Active and the tropical beats of Dj Felina.
What: Sila and the Afrofunk Experience: A Benefit for Carolina for Kibera, Kenya
Where: The Independent, 628 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
Why: Raise funds for Carolina Kibera, Kenya
When: Saturday, February 2nd, 9PM
Who: Sila and the Afrofunk Experience, Dj Jeremiah and the Afrobeat Nation, Radio Active and Dj Felina
Tickets: $16-$35. Available at ticketweb.com. 21+
Contact: Jeremiah Kpoh, Email: Jeremiah@maishaproductions.com,
Phone: 415-377-4879
More Information: afrofunk.net, Carolina for Kibera
Many of you have called or e-mailed asking for information and sending your thoughts and prayers to the Carolina for Kibera (CFK) staff and volunteers who are on the ground in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. Thank you for your solidarity and support.
To our knowledge CFK staff and volunteers have suffered only one relatively minor injury as a result of the recent ethnic violence. However, large numbers of volunteers of all ages have had their houses burned and looted. There are no Americans volunteering with CFK at the moment on the ground in Kibera. CFK has kept its office and clinic closed since the election. However, today we began a short-term feeding program out of our youth center.
The violence stems from the December 27 presidential election in Kenya. At first, the election seemed to be peaceful and well orchestrated. It appeared as though the main opposition candidate, Raila Odinga, had a significant lead in the early polls. The violence began after President Kibaki was prematurely declared the winner in a small, hasty ceremony at his Presidential estate. It is unclear whether or not Kibaki won the election, but elections monitors (including the Kenyan head of the Kenyan Electoral Commission) have publicly called the election results illegitimate.
Although ethnic divisiveness is no stranger to Kenyan politics, no one anticipated the level of violence that has engulfed Kibera and much of Kenya. The situation on the ground is deteriorating rapidly as each day passes. Stores in Nairobi are looted and people, particularly the poor, are running out of food. Food prices are soaring. Large swaths of Kibera are burned to the ground. Criminal opportunists have joined the fray and there are incidents of wanton violence. Yesterday we received reports that a group of community members repelled a gang of thugs from looting and burning our youth center.
It should be noted, however, that those perpetrating the violence in Kibera number perhaps in the hundreds. Over 700,000 people, half of whom are under the age of 15, reside in the slum. Nevertheless, the level of hatred and divisiveness throughout Kenya today is unprecedented. People are afraid, and those with the means are fleeing from Kibera and other multi-ethnic communities racked by violence. Each day of violence besets the next and further solidifies more ethnic enmity.
The violence must stop now. Efforts to unite Odinga and Kibaki and encourage these leaders to lead and bring a halt to the violence have thus far been futile. None of these leaders have been on the ground in Kibera since the violence began.
In the face of this current tragedy, we must take stock of where we are as an organization. Some commentators suggest that these events signify a hopelessness of development and progress in Kenya. We who have labored on the ground with our brothers and sisters in Kibera see it much differently. We initially started CFK as a small soccer program with a hundred youths from every village and every ethnic group in Kibera. A key goal was to help promote ethnic cooperation and support the education of remarkable young leaders living in some of the most austere conditions imaginable. The violence reminds us that development depends on good governance and security. But our charge is still very clear, and even more important in light of the current bloodletting. CFK staff and volunteers are the forces and voices of positive change that will help create and sustain an equitable and peaceful society.
We will post updates about new developments to our website. If you are interested in learning more, below is a powerful UN article that features CFK and Binti Pamoja member Fatuma Roba. Her two-minute radio interview is particularly powerful. Also included is a link to a front-page article about CFK and Kibera from the Raleigh News and Observer, an insightful op-ed in the Financial Times from long-time CFK supporter and dear friend Michael Holman, and a graphic video of the violence in Kibera from CNN.
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/kenya_42314.html
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/higher_education/story/857429.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bdd9159c-b8d4-11dc-893b-0000779fd2ac.html
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2008/01/03/mckenzie.lok.kenya.protestor.standoff.cnn?iref=videosearch
Please keep our brave leaders and volunteers on the ground in your thoughts and prayers in the days ahead. It is likely to get worse before it gets better. If you are so inclined, we could as always use your financial support.
Tumeshukuru (Gratefully),
Rye Barcott Kimberly Chapman Page
President and Founder Chair, Board of Directors
You can make a donation online at: http://cfk.unc.edu/support.php
You can send a check to:
Carolina For Kibera, Inc.
ATTN: Beth-Ann Kutchma
CB#5145, FedEx Global Education Center
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
As many of you had heard, there has been widespread ethnic violence and looting in Kibera in light of the presidential election over the last several days. To the best of our knowledge no one from CFK has been injured, and our clinic and youth center have not been attacked or looted. However, the situation is still very volatile. Please keep our brave leaders and volunteers on the ground in your thoughts and prayers in the days ahead. This first-hand account of the situation from CFK Binti Pamoja alumna, Fatuma Roba (as reported by UNICEF) is helpful in understanding the gravity of the situation.
The BBC in the United Kingdom profiled founding Carolina for Kibera (CFK) Trustee Sammy Gitau and his journey from the streets of Nairobi to graduation at University of Manchester. Despite never graduating from high school, Sammy earned a Master's of Science in Management in Implementation of Development Programs from University of Manchester's Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM).
After nearly dying from a drug cocktail overdose as a teenager, Sammy began a youth center in Mathare, one of Nairobi's other slum districts. The youth center supports more than 20,000 youth and also does clean water policy advocacy. Sammy served as a founding member of Carolina for Kibera's Board of Trustees in Nairobi and is now an advisory member of the Board.
Sammy received financial support for his studies from, among others, donors of Carolina for Kibera, Reuters, The Johnson School at Cornell University, SC Johnson & Co., and University of Manchester. Read more about Sammy here on Carolina for Kibera's website.
Read the BBC's feature article here.
As part of its "Digital Diary" series, UNICEF featured Carolina for Kibera Binti Pamoja Center alumna, Fatuma Roba, in a recent online article. Digital Diaries are written by youth across the globe in order to promote children's issues, activism and leadership through journalism. Ms Roba, 20, was a founding member of Binti Pamoja (Daughters United), a safe space and advocacy platform for adolescent girls in Kibera.
Ms Roba was invited by the United Nations to speak as a panelist in the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York City in March 2007. While in New York, Ms Roba also attending journalism skills-development workshops. She is using those new skills to be an ambassador for girls and young women in Kibera to the world via the internet. Ms Roba's interviews with current members of the Binti Pamoja (Daughters United) will be published by UNICEF's Digital Diaries and aired on UNICEF Radio. Read more here.
Helen Snow (UNC Health Affairs) and Deborah Sams visited CFK on the ground in Kibera this week. Below are their impressions from their time with the CFK staff in Kibera. Please also visit Deborah's blog, where she posted photos of the new clinic construction from Kibera.
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Today we were met by Salim Mohamed, Executive Director of Carolina for Kibera and taken to the CFK Office in the Kibera slum on the outskirts of the centre city of Nairobi. The CFK Office is painted a cheerful Carolina blue and a guard is posted at the gate into the office area. But everyone we met was warm and welcoming. We met the CFK program directors and then set off with Salim and Hillary Omala, the Director of the Tabitha Health Clinics.
As Salim and Hillary led us through the narrow passages of clay, we ducked under many metal roofs which overhung the paths. Homes constructed from clay and straw lined the path and we were told that these fragile structures had to be rebuilt after any hard rain.
The first stop was the new Tabitha Clinic which is under construction in the heart of Kibera and where the two clinics will be consolidated once it is completed in early 2008. The foundation is complete and the framing should start soon. We've posted some photos of the construction. Many workers were carrying bags of cement or wheelbarrows full of gravel through the labyrinth of passageways--not an easy access.
Then it was on to visit the first Tabitha Clinic, which was founded by the late Tabitha Atieno Festo, a widowed registered nurse from Kibera with the $26 initial investment made by Rye Barcott from CFK. We met each of the medical team who were very busy having seen 120 patients the previous day. Mark, Lucy, Julia, Angela and James were conferring about various patients. We also met Fred (one of two pharmacists) who presides over the pharmacy.
Next it was off to the Tabitha 2 Clinic which is newer and located across the railroad tracks in the upper area of Kibera. The two clinics are very active and accessible but need more resources. When they are consolidated into the new clinic building, there will be a still be alot of equipment to meet the communities needs. It is our hope that we at UNC can help CFK find sources for contributed equipment.
Next we met with Caroline Sakwa, CFK Deputy Director, who directs the Binti Pamoja Center for young women. She describes it as a "safe place" program that seeks to empower and teach self-development skills to the women who have so little opportunity in the slum. Through training and education on subjects such as reproductive health, literacy, HIV, teen pregnancy and sexual abuse, the program trains a cadre of 80 young women in the various villages of Kibera about ways to protect themselves and insure their future. The program employs mentoring, photography, and drama as tools to deal with some tough subjects. Caroline said that UNC could help her program by providing mentoring program prototypes for her to use as models. We will ask the UNC Women's Center to set up regular contact with Caroline and act as a resource for her program.
Next we spent time with Cantar Abdul Hussen who directs the Soccer Program that now comprises 210 teams from all of the 12 villages. This was the first program undertaken by CFK and it has grown to over 4,000 participants. Besides the games and tournaments, the teams participate in community awareness events such as "Kicking AIDS Out" and the Clean-up Days organized in each village in Kibera. Carter hopes that the program teaches the discipline and focus that each participant will need to lead a successful life. Among the needs of this flagship CFK program are: scholarships to reward winning teams; uniforms, socks & shoes; balls & equipment. In addition, Carter says that UNC could provide "visiting coaches" from our own teams to mentor and inspire the players, especially the women's teams.
Medina Abakar, directs the Trash is Cash program and is a specialist in waste management. She leads 6 groups of 180 people (90% males) who work in waste management and recycling in all the Kibera villages. This is a sustainable enterprise to put people to work and meet a huge community need. Medina's motto is "Waste isn't Waste until its Wasted." The business has grown so big and fast that hauling off the collected trash has become the challenge. She hopes that they will be able to have a lorry or truck provided in the near future, and eventually be able to employ residents of Kibera in a community waste/recycling processing facility.
Directing the HIV-AIDS Prevention Program for CFK is Mary Waithera who grew up in Kibera (as did Medina). Mary works hard to do community education forums and get info into the homes about using ways to prevent HIV infection. Like several of the directors, Mary is a "hometown girl" who is effective because she works with her friends and neighbors who trust her.
What struck us as we met with each of these CFK leaders was how dedicated, strategic, and caring each of them are in pursuit of their program goals. They each spoke with one voice and a strong unity of purpose. They were all careful to build a solid, sustainable plan for their respective program objectives, always being mindful that the communities of Kibera is the primary stakeholders.
The CFK organization is a model for many NGO's hoping to have sustained impact.
We were touched by their commitment and humbled by their ability to leverage so much action with so few resources. We hope that everyone will investigate further how they can help these inspiring young adults achieve what few others have done.
http://cfk.unc.edu/support.php
Helen Snow and Deborah Sams
