Carolina for Kibera - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Founded in 2001 by Rye Barcott

Rye Barcott

Rye Barcott is author of . He is a former Marine and cofounder of , an acclaimed non-governmental organization that uses a unique model of participatory development to break cycles of violence and develop leaders in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya...

, Salim Mohamed, and the late Tabitha Atieno Festo, Carolina for Kibera is a 501(c)(3) international non-governmental organization based in the Kibera

Kibera

Kibera is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, located from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the second largest urban slum in Africa...

slum of Nairobi, Kenya. CFK has an office and youth center in Kibera, as well as support services based at the Center for Global Initiatives

Center for Global Initiatives

The Center for Global Initiatives is a research center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is part of the National Resource Center program of the U.S. Department of Education. CGI offers grants and scholarships to students and faculty to travel abroad, complete internships, and...

(CGI) at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...

. A pioneer of grassroots participatory development, CFK leads a community based sports program, girls' center, medical clinic, and waste management program.

Purpose

Run by Kenyans and advised by American and Kenyan volunteers, CFK's primary mission is to promote youth leadership and ethnic and gender cooperation in Kibera

Kibera

through sports, young women's empowerment, and community development. Additionally, CFK works to improve basic healthcare, sanitation, and education in Kibera

Kibera

Philosophy

CFK's philosophy is grounded in the concept of participatory development. Solutions to problems involving poverty are possible only if those affected by it drive development. Concerned outsiders can help by mobilizing communities, advising, networking, and providing resources. Ultimately, however, the community possesses the knowledge and motivation that are necessary to solve its own problems.

Awards and impact

Time Magazine named CFK a "Hero of Global Health" in 2005. Time for Kids

Time For Kids

Time for Kids is a division magazine of Time magazine that is produced especially for children. It contains some national news, a "Cartoon of the Week", and other features in its weekly eight pages....

featured CFK on the cover of its March 30, 2007 edition.
In 2004 Canadian Musician Sarah McLachlan

Sarah McLachlan

Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, as of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four...

concluded her award-winning music video “World on Fire” with footage of CFK’s soccer tournaments and medical clinic in Kibera. Two years later CFK published LIGHTBOX: Expressions of Hope from Young Women in the Kibera Slum. This powerful book of narratives and photographs from disposable cameras gives voice to the young and courageous women of CFK's Binti Pamoja (Daughters United) Center. In 2007 then Senator Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

visited CFK’s youth center and gave a landmark speech calling for ethnic unity and education in Kibera. CFK played a crucial role in providing emergency aid during the Kenyan post-election violence in 2008, and for its efforts the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum honored CFK as its recipient of the Reflections of Hope Award in a ceremony with the former ABC World News Anchor Bob Woodruff and his wife Lee.

History

CFK was founded by Rye Barcott

Rye Barcott

(then an undergraduate at UNC) to help prevent ethnic and religious violence in Kibera

Kibera

through a community-based sports program. In the summer of 2001, Barcott teamed up with Salim Mohamed who was managing the Information and Management Department of the Mathare Youth Sports Association in another informal settlement in Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

. Barcott also reunited with the late Tabitha Atieno Festo, a registered nurse and resident of Kibera

Kibera

who had established a small medical clinic from a grant of $26 that Barcott had given her the previous summer to sell vegetables. CFK received its initial funding from hundreds of American citizens in addition to a $30,000 start-up grant from the Ford Foundation

Ford Foundation

The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....

. A year later, two undergraduates from the United States, Karen Austrian and Emily Verellen, volunteered in Kibera

Kibera

with CFK and helped young women in Kibera

Kibera

create CFK’s third program, The Binti Pamoja (Daughters United) Center, establishing a safe space for young girls to address issues unique to them. Youth in Kibera

Kibera

subsequently developed the Taka ni Pato (Trash is Cash) and Base of the Pyramid programs in 2005 in order to address the dearth of employment opportunities in Kibera

Kibera

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