GEF Kenya Friendship with Carolina for Kibera
By gef on Apr 4 2011
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Over the past several years, Global Education Fund (GEF) Kenya has developed a friendship with the staff at Carolina for Kibera (CFK). In fact, the amazing co-founder and former Executive Director of CFK, Salim Mohamed, is one of the members of the GEF Kenya Board of Advisors. We are very happy to be growing our relationship with CFK this year by supporting the development of a learning center for primary and secondary students in Kibera who participate in CFK programs. The center will consist of a library of children’s reading books as well as secondary school exam prep and required reading books. Funded by the Safaricom Foundation, the learning center will also house a space for students to study, read, gather and learn.
The young women of the GEF Kenya Leadership Program were invited to Kibera this past Saturday to meet with the young women of the CFK Binti Pamoja (Daughters United) center, a reproductive health and women’s rights center for 11 to 18 year-old girls in Kibera. The Center helps girls explore the issues that are prevalent in their daily lives; violence against women, rape, prostitution, HIV/AIDS, female genital mutilation, poverty, sexual abuse, unequal access to education, lack of reproductive health care and information, and demanding domestic responsibilities. Check out more about Binti Pamoja here.
Around ten girls from GEF Kenya spent the afternoon with the Binti Pamoja team that included the incredible Caroline Sakwa, Binti Pamoja Program Director, women leaders who have graduated from the program and current participants. When we first arrived, the 
girls were given an introduction to Binti and then taken to an event taking place in Kibera called Amani Lazima (keeping peace). Here we watched musicians and dancers perform to promote a peaceful Kibera when the election comes next year. Girls from the Binti Pamoja program participated in the event with dances and speeches. After the event, the GEF Kenya girls spent time with the leaders of the CFK program asking questions about their experiences as women and as students. Later the GEF team visited younger groups of Binti girls. At the end of the visit the GEF Kenya girls spent time at a computer training where Binti girls were learning how to navigate their way through computers and also how to utilize “citizen journalism” programs (facebook, twitter, blogs, etc).
On the way back to Embakasi, the girls were reflecting on the afternoon with CFK. “They are all so confident,” one of the students said. “even the really small ones.” This student was keen on organizing for GEF Kenya girls to get together more often to become as strong and confident as the Binti women. Another found the computer training really interesting and wanted to
see how she could learn more. One girl expressed that she wished she could talk to “these kinds of girls” again because they had gone through so many experiences as women living in Kibera, went through the Binti Pamoja program, were then trained on how to be Binti leaders themselves and could offer so much advice and guidance to other girls. And finally, just being exposed to Kibera was a new and powerful experience for the girls. On our way to Kibera earlier that day, the girls told me that they, of course, had heard about Kibera but had never actually been there before. It was a really important afternoon for the GEF Kenya girls and we are looking forward to seeing how we can build upon this experience.
And finally, for all of you in the US, CFK co-founder Rye Barcott and the CFK US team are currently on tour promoting Rye’s book It Happened on the Way to War. Learn more here. Global Education Fund will be joining the team in Denver on Thursday, April 14th starting at 11:30 am at the Joseph Korbel School of International Studies to hear Rye speak. Alternatively, Rye will be speaking at the Tattered Cover later that day. If you are in the Denver/Boulder area we hope you will join us.
Thanks to Salim, Rye, Caroline, George, Darius, Leann and everyone else at Carolina for Kibera! We look forward to continuing to grow and support this relationship.
PS. The beautiful “peace keeper” picture was taken by one of the fantastic Binti Pamoja leaders.
