0062292862 (N) by Kennedy Odede

0062292862 (N) by Kennedy Odede

Author:Kennedy Odede [Odede, Kennedy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-09-02T00:00:00+00:00


We’d been working this way for nearly two years when an American organization that recognized the value of local partnership decided they wanted to support our work. At first we were hesitant, but the group, American Friends of Kenya (AFK), said that they wanted to champion local leaders and give us a small amount of money to help build our first office. We built it on a garbage heap that we cleaned up. George, “Government,” let us live there rent-free. From then on we had an office.

The word had begun to spread about what we were doing in Kibera. In 2007, SHOFCO was invited to perform at the World Social Forum. We didn’t know what the forum was, but we heard it was a place to meet other people and share ideas. We also heard you could sell stuff, so we made T-shirts and ornaments to sell to help fund our movement—anything helped. We had written a play about our struggle in Kibera, called Another World Is Possible. I played the drunken father, and Anne played a hardworking woman trying to help her family survive, a role based on my mother. The room was packed with people from all over the world; I had never seen so many white faces in one place before.

I felt adrenaline coursing through my body; I knew what a big opportunity this was to show the larger world both the problems and resilience of Kibera. As soon as the play ended, I could see how people were moved by the struggle of Kibera’s women. I was surrounded by foreigners who all wanted me to answer a burning question: What was this SHOFCO?

I was invited to give another speech at the World Social Forum about the challenges in Kibera. For the first time I spoke in front of a huge crowd without a stammer. People were really impressed by what we had been able to accomplish at SHOFCO with so few resources. We sold a lot of T-shirts and were able to raise some money. I also met several Americans who were part of a theater group. They wanted to stay in touch with me and follow SHOFCO; they even came to see our work in Kibera.

The movement was almost four years old. We had thousands of members, mostly young people and women of all ages. Many small businesses were getting started. The women’s empowerment group was up and running, making jewelry and ornaments to support themselves. I had made a name for myself in the community: the people of Kibera started calling me Mayor.

And then one day, I received an e-mail from a young American woman named Jessica. She’d heard about me from some people in the theater group I’d met at the World Social Forum, and she told me she wanted to volunteer.

We weren’t open to just any white person who wanted to come and volunteer. We were only interested in qualified people who had something substantial to offer the movement. I asked Jessica to send me her résumé.



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