Jessica Posner ’09

Jessica Posner ’09

Along with Wesleyan student, Kennedy Odede ’12, I am currently in Kenya building The Kibera School for Girls through the organization that we began together called Shining Hope for Communities.

The Kibera School for Girls is a revolutionary project breaking new ground in Nairobi’s Kibera slum by providing superior education free of charge. The school is the first to be exclusively for girls and the only one completely free of charge in the Kibera slum. It will provide the neediest girls in Kibera with free education, uniforms, school supplies, and daily nourishment.

In Kibera only 8% of girls have the chance to go to school and many are forced into prostitution at early ages. The Kibera School for Girls offers a solution to these problems. It serves talented students, of elementary school age, who are vulnerable to sexual abuse and prostitution. Many students are street children, orphans, and infected with the HIV virus. In addition, The Kibera School for Girls raises awareness throughout the Kibera community about pressing issues such as child abuse, gender violence, and HIV/AIDS. Without our school, these students would face very grim futures.

While I am in Kenya, I will be blogging about our progress, and I would love it if you would read along. The blog can be found at http://kiberaschool.blogspot.com/.

Jessica Posner ’09 and Kennedy Odede ’12

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