Rye Barcott
Encyclopedia
Rye Barcott is author of It Happened on the Way to War. He is a former Marine
and cofounder of Carolina for Kibera, 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
. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum
in 2011.
(CFK) in Kenya with Salim Mohamed and the Tabitha Atieno Festo, who each shared the conviction that the poor have the solutions to the problems they face. CFK started as a small inter-ethnic soccer program and medical clinic run out of Tabitha Festo’s ten-by-ten foot shack. Today over 5,000 youth participate in its holistic youth programs, and the Tabitha Clinic treats more than 40,000 patients a year in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Because of CFK's innovations in youth programming and participatory development, TIME Magazine and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation named CFK a "Hero of Global Health" at the Global Health Summit in 2005. TIME for Kids
featured CFK on the cover of its March 30, 2007 edition.
In 2004 Canadian Musician Sarah McLachlan
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 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
visited CFK’s youth center and gave a speech calling for ethnic unity and education in Kibera. CFK played an important 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.
, where he attained the rank of captain and deployed to Bosnia, the Horn of Africa
, and Iraq
. In 2006 he provided written testimony to the Iraq Study Group
and authored a controversial article about the Iraqi Military Intelligence Academy in Proceedings
, the professional journal of the U.S. Navy. ABC World News with Charles Gibson covered his work in Kibera and his military service in Iraq and named him a Person of the Week and a 2006 Person of the Year. The ABC World News story quoted him encouraging young Americans to expose themselves "to how the majority of the world lives … and I think it'll make you a lot more appreciative of what you've got … make you a better American and a better global citizen."
cofounders Salim Mohamed and Tabitha Atieno Festo includes a phrase that captures the central theme of the book: "Talent is universal; opportunity is not." In 2001, Barcott co-edited with Dr. Carolyn Pumphrey Armed Conflict in Africa, a book that analyzed the sources of violence in Africa. His post 9-11 letters with Salim Mohamed were published in Andrew Carroll’s Warletters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars (Scribner, 2001). His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, and CNN. In 2007 he delivered the commencement address to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health
. As an inaugural TED
Fellow, he gave a TED
speech on “The Power of Participatory Development." He is represented by the American Program Bureau and International Creative Management
. It Happened on the Way to War was one of four books selected for the TED
2011 Book Club.
. He attended UNC on a four-year U.S. Marine Corps NROTC Scholarship. In 2009 Barcott graduated with an MPA and MBA from Harvard as a Reynolds Social Entrepreneurship Fellow and George Leadership Fellow. Harvard President Drew Faust appointed him to a two-year term on the Harvard Endowment's Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, and he served as a founding member of the movement to create an MBA Oath
.
Marine (ocean)
Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology...
and cofounder of Carolina for Kibera, an acclaimed non-governmental organization that uses a unique model of participatory development to break cycles of violence and develop leaders 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
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...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
in 2011.
Humanitarian Service
While an undergraduate in 2001, Barcott founded Carolina for KiberaCarolina for Kibera
Founded in 2001 by Rye Barcott, Salim Mohamed, and the late Tabitha Atieno Festo, Carolina for Kibera is a 501 international non-governmental organization based in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. CFK has an office and youth center in Kibera, as well as support services based at the Center for...
(CFK) in Kenya with Salim Mohamed and the Tabitha Atieno Festo, who each shared the conviction that the poor have the solutions to the problems they face. CFK started as a small inter-ethnic soccer program and medical clinic run out of Tabitha Festo’s ten-by-ten foot shack. Today over 5,000 youth participate in its holistic youth programs, and the Tabitha Clinic treats more than 40,000 patients a year in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Because of CFK's innovations in youth programming and participatory development, TIME Magazine and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation named CFK a "Hero of Global Health" at the Global Health Summit 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 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 speech calling for ethnic unity and education in Kibera. CFK played an important 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.
Military service
Rye Barcott served five years on active duty in the Marine CorpsUnited States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
, where he attained the rank of captain and deployed to Bosnia, the Horn of Africa
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is a peninsula in East Africa that juts hundreds of kilometers into the Arabian Sea and lies along the southern side of the Gulf of Aden. It is the easternmost projection of the African continent...
, and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. In 2006 he provided written testimony to the Iraq Study Group
Iraq Study Group
The Iraq Study group , was a ten-person bipartisan panel appointed on March 15, 2006, by the United States Congress, that was charged with assessing the situation in Iraq and the US-led Iraq War and making policy recommendations...
and authored a controversial article about the Iraqi Military Intelligence Academy in Proceedings
Proceedings (magazine)
Proceedings is a monthly magazine published by the United States Naval Institute since 1874. The 96-page publication features articles about Naval and Military matters written by active and retired military personnel plus renowned authors and scholars of their subject.-External links:* * ** by...
, the professional journal of the U.S. Navy. ABC World News with Charles Gibson covered his work in Kibera and his military service in Iraq and named him a Person of the Week and a 2006 Person of the Year. The ABC World News story quoted him encouraging young Americans to expose themselves "to how the majority of the world lives … and I think it'll make you a lot more appreciative of what you've got … make you a better American and a better global citizen."
Written Work
Barcott is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir It Happened on the Way to War (Bloomsbury Publishing). The book's dedication to Carolina for KiberaCarolina for Kibera
Founded in 2001 by Rye Barcott, Salim Mohamed, and the late Tabitha Atieno Festo, Carolina for Kibera is a 501 international non-governmental organization based in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. CFK has an office and youth center in Kibera, as well as support services based at the Center for...
cofounders Salim Mohamed and Tabitha Atieno Festo includes a phrase that captures the central theme of the book: "Talent is universal; opportunity is not." In 2001, Barcott co-edited with Dr. Carolyn Pumphrey Armed Conflict in Africa, a book that analyzed the sources of violence in Africa. His post 9-11 letters with Salim Mohamed were published in Andrew Carroll’s Warletters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars (Scribner, 2001). His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, and CNN. In 2007 he delivered the commencement address to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health provides teaching, conducts research, and delivers service to people across North Carolina, the United States and around the world. Ranked the top public school of public health, the School's mission is to...
. As an inaugural TED
TED (conference)
TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....
Fellow, he gave a TED
TED
TED may refer to:* TED , an annual multidisciplinary conference* TED spread, the yield spread between U.S...
speech on “The Power of Participatory Development." He is represented by the American Program Bureau and International Creative Management
International Creative Management
International Creative Management is a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and London. ICM is a full-service agency representing creative and technical talent in the fields of motion pictures, television, fiction and nonfiction publishing, music, live performance,...
. It Happened on the Way to War was one of four books selected for the TED
TED
TED may refer to:* TED , an annual multidisciplinary conference* TED spread, the yield spread between U.S...
2011 Book Club.
Education
Barcott graduated in 2001 with highest honors in Peace, War, and Defense and International Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUniversity 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...
. He attended UNC on a four-year U.S. Marine Corps NROTC Scholarship. In 2009 Barcott graduated with an MPA and MBA from Harvard as a Reynolds Social Entrepreneurship Fellow and George Leadership Fellow. Harvard President Drew Faust appointed him to a two-year term on the Harvard Endowment's Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, and he served as a founding member of the movement to create an MBA Oath
MBA Oath
MBA Oath is a voluntary student-led pledge that asks graduating MBAs to commit towards the creation of value "responsibly and ethically." As of January 2010, the initiative is driven by a coalition of MBA students, graduates and advisors, including nearly 2,000 student and alumni signers from over...
.