Viviane, age 4, proud new student

The inaugural class of little girls

We care about girls, and we believe in the power of education to transform their lives. So let’s take an imaginary trip to Africa — to Nairobi, Kenya — to the Kibera Slum, the largest slum in Africa, second largest in the world, where 1.5 million people live in an area the size of Central Park. There is no sanitation, no reliable access to clean water, no school.

Imagine you are a girl born in Kibera. If you are strong enough to survive past the age of five, odds are before adolescence you will have been raped and/or you will have turned to prostitution to survive, because you have no possessions, and your young female body is the only thing you have to trade for food. Odds are, too, that you will be infected with HIV before adulthood. If you are like most women in Kibera, you will be illiterate. As a girl, what could you possibly hope for, given the givens?

Jessica Posner, a Wesleyan student, teamed up with Kennedy Odede, who is Executive Director of Shining Hope for Communities, and also one of the very, very few who got out of Kibera. Together they started a free school: Kibera School for Girls — for the orphans, the victims,  and the street children of the slum — offering protection, nourishment, and education to these bright, motivated, vulnerable little girls. You can read more about it here, and please, please be sure to see the newest video from Kibera, just posted November 19th on YouTube. If you fan Kibera School for Girls on Facebook, it’s easy to stay informed.

So here’s what they need, right now, that you may have the skills to provide at a cost of nothing but your time and talent — a school website. Who among the readers of this blog, NCGS members and friends, is willing to help? Please leave a comment on the blog with leads or offers, or contact sallyreed@ncgs.org. Thank you.