Modern-day heroes work to transform African slums
by Prufer
It was their first Big Read experience, and it was one they found humbling.
Jessica Posner and Kennedy Odede, authors of “Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum,” recently visited the Coastal Carolina University campus to speak to 2,300 new freshmen at the annual New Student Convocation. The book, selected as the Big Read last spring, is their story of how two people from different cultures met in Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya, fell in love, and worked together to give hope, education and opportunity to the impoverished African community.
“It has been very humbling,” said Odede. “Coming here today, with the students knowing all the details of my life, even down to my dog Cheetah, it touches my heart. It makes me feel I have done something with my life despite my struggles. Everybody has a gift, and that gift can be useful as something positive. The book makes me feel like we are able to share some light with the world.”
Armed with a $10,000 grant to Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), a community organization that Odede founded in 2007, the couple established the Kibera School for Girls to serve the area’s most vulnerable population. A community clinic was built later to provide various services that include health care, entrepreneurial programs and clean water. They have since started a second organization in the African slum of Methare, and together the two operations serve more than 125,000 people.
CCU’s selection of “Find Me Unafraid” marked the first time the 2015 book has been selected by a college or university as a freshman reading project. The University of North Carolina-Charlotte has also selected the book, and the authors will visit that campus on Oct. 20.
In 2007, Posner, a Wesleyan University student at the time, traveled to Africa on a study abroad program to work with the street theater that Odede had started to help his community act out problems and visualize solutions. When she arrived in Kibera, Posner insisted on staying in the slum – with no power, no running water and no sewage disposal – with Odede and his family in their tiny house. She wanted to be completely immersed in the environment in order to better understand what Odede was up against.
“Sometimes we need to cross boundaries,” said Posner. “I learned how resilient people can be and how strong community is.”
The Colorado native exhorted CCU students to “step outside your comfort zone and do a few things to show you what the world looks like. Talk to a person from another country, take a study abroad trip. That one thing could change the trajectory of your life. It’s what happened to me.”
The couple fell in love, and Posner helped Odede get accepted into Wesleyan on a four-year scholarship. The African had no formal education as his mother couldn’t afford the school fees, but he had taught himself to read English from discarded newspapers in the street. As a teen, someone gave him Martin Luther King Jr.’s book of speeches, which resonated with him and gave him confidence. He excelled at Wesleyan and gave the commencement speech in 2012, the same year he married Posner.
“Start small, break down barriers, do something that scares you,” Posner told the students at the convocation. “Think about boundaries that shouldn’t be there. Be unafraid.”
Odede advised the students to “forgive and appreciate one another, as you never know who you’re going to inspire. Jessica’s story and my story is that we are all human beings no matter where we come from. With all this privilege you have, you can do much more. There is no excuse for not doing something good!”
Posner and Odede split their time between New York City and Nairobi, and they are always fundraising. There might be a second book, but “there’s a lot of work to be done before that,” according to Posner.
“We really hope the book will inspire people and get them to see that they can get involved. Even when I’m at Starbucks, that $4 you’re going to spend on your coffee could make a huge difference to the work we are doing. We hope the book shows people you don’t have to do a lot or make a lot to make a huge difference,” said Posner.
