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SIT Study Abroad
Unlocking Potential:
Women and Education
"It is my hope that the Kibera School for Girls becomes a model of how to use existing social networks to engage a community on many levels"
--Jessica Posner
SIT Study Abroad
- A pioneer in experiential, field-based study abroad providing academically engaging semester and summer programs with a focus on critical global issues.
- More than 2,000 undergraduates from 200-plus colleges and universities study in over 40 countries each year.
Jessica Posner
While walking through the streets of Kibera, Kenya's largest slum, SIT Study Abroad student Jessica Posner spotted a young girl rummaging through a pile of refuse and human waste. When Posner asked the girl why she wasn't in school, she replied, "School is only a dream and dreams don't come true."
Confronted with such harrowing stories of children in the slums, Posner vowed to take action. A Wesleyan University student and 2007 participant of the Kenya: Health and Development program, Posner began to explore potential means of educating Kibera's poorest youth.
It was during her semester with SIT that Posner befriended Kennedy Odede, a community organizer who founded the Shining Hope for Community Foundation. Odede was born in Kibera and aspired to go to college, but did not have the means to do so. Posner encouraged Kennedy to apply to Wesleyan, which offered him a full scholarship. From the US, Posner and Odede developed an idea to start a school in Kibera for girls.
"Kennedy and I never stopped talking about the need for a free school in Kibera," said Posner. "Specifically, the need for a school targeting girls who have no other way to go to school and are at risk of becoming another statistic."
Together, Posner and Odede applied for and received a $10,000 grant to use as seed money for their project. After years of planning and additional fundraising, Posner and Odede returned to Kenya in 2009 to build the Kibera School for Girls.
"It is my hope that the Kibera School for Girls becomes a model of how to use existing social networks to engage a community on many levels," said Posner, who plans to use the school’s curriculum to address issues such as education, gender violence, and health. Drawn by free tuition and encouragement from the community, more than 500 youth applied to become one of the 45 students in the school’s inaugural class.
Posner recognizes that the road ahead will not be easy for Kibera's youth, thousands of whom continue to lack access to basic education and services. However, for at least some youth in Kibera, Posner and her partners are turning dreams into reality.
By Michael Snyder