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In May 2000, Rye Barcott stepped off a plane in Nairobi, Kenya. He knew no one,
but he would go on to become a researcher, an investigator, a friend, and --
literally -- a member of the gang to the people of an African slum.
Barcott, a senior Peace, War and Defense and International Studies major from
Rhode Island, came to Chapel Hill knowing he wanted to focus on African
studies. He had traveled to Kenya in 1993 but was not exposed to the urban
areas he would eventually come to know through a Burch Fellowship.
The fellowship, established by Carolina alumnus Lucius E. Burch III, is awarded
to students who want to conduct a self-designed study in a field of interest
that they would otherwise not be able to pursue. With the fellowship, Barcott
set out for Kibera, a Nairobi slum, where the streets are made of mud, adequate
sewage facilities are nonexistant and electricity is a luxury.
"I went (to Kibera) to basically look at the causes of conflict: how young men
were living, what the nature of the conflict was and what were the
non-governmental organizations doing to help people," Barcott said. "I was
particularly concerned with the incidence of large ethnic conflicts that have
arisen in Kibera over the last 10 years."
But Barcott soon discovered his focus on ethnic conflict among males excluded
ethnic conflict among women. He then decided to focus on youth as a social,
cultural and political category. In addition to lacking basic needs such as
sewer facilities, health care, safe drinking water and healthy foods, Kiberan
youth lack employment, athletic and educational opportunities -- they are not
recognized politically and are often stereotyped as "thugs" or "prostitutes,"
Barcott said. Youth also deal with an increased susceptibility to AIDS.
Strained relations
Kibera is a collective of 10 villages, about the size of Rhode Island,
inhabited by 1.3 million people. But the Kenyan government does not recognize
Kibera on its planning maps.
"If the government recognizes the people, then they have to deal with the issue
of land tenure, and they have to provide them service," Barcott said. "It's
expensive; it will empower (the residents of Kibera)."
The government does not provide services to Kibera; about 200 non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) do, and they often are not respected or welcomed by the
people, Barcott said.
NGOs are resented and often fail because the people in charge of their
operations are not from the slum and don't understand how to structure their
services to best serve Kibera. Some NGOs are not located in the slum, and they
often work to sustain their own existence instead of that of the residents of
Kibera.
As part of his research, Barcott went to the NGOs' headquarters to learn how
they operate and why Kiberans resent their presence. What he found were NGOs
exploiting residents of Kibera, some intentionally, others through lack of
adequate leadership.
For example, one Irish NGO provided food and shelter to kids before it started
questioning the effects of its services. The NGO decided it was literally
feeding the problem and making it worse, because residents weren't learning
self-sufficiency. Leadership also kept changing within the NGO, and the new
leader would usurp 50 percent of the annual budget as his own salary, Barcott
said.
A German NGO offered to relocate Kiberan residents and build them new housing.
Many residents, often uneducated, signed contracts they could not read or
understand. Once the new housing was established, the residents were informed
of a 300 percent rent increase they could not afford and were evicted. But the
new housing was built on the outskirts of the slum and soon became a low-income
community.
Enlisting Carolina
While in Kibera, Barcott gave some of his fellowship allowance to an NGO
he thought was adequately serving the people, but he wanted to give more. When
he returned to Chapel Hill in the fall, Barcott founded Carolina for Kibera
(CFK), a non-profit organization.
"The idea of CFK now is to generate money here in the United States and fund an
organization that exists in Kibera," Barcott said, "not going to create your
own."
CFK is incorporated by Patton Boggs, the nation's leading international law
firm located in Washington, D.C. The IRS does not recognize charitable
organizations overseas, such as CKF, but Patton Boggs -- free of charge -- has
helped recognize CFK as a tax-exempt organization and legitimize the CFK
mission to donate its funds directly to Kibera.
Carolina faculty and staff have also pitched in to get CFK off the ground. CFK
Board of Trustees include James Peacock, professor of anthropology; Nicholas
Didow, professor of business; and Professor Julius Nyang'oro, chair of African
and Afro-American Studies curriculum. The staff side includes Caroline Okun,
global immersion elective co-ordinator for international programs in the
Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Okun, creative director for CFK, said the idea behind CFK is not to tell
Kiberans what to do with the money, but to support them in what they already
know and give them a little help in doing it.
"You're not trying to instill guilt in people, like `These people are suffering
in Africa, give them money,'" Okun said. "You're trying to say these people
have already taken the first step and look at how happy they are." Okun creates
promotional materials for the organization and maintains a CFK web site on a
volunteer basis.
CFK is considering three programs that could benefit from its donation. One
program is the Kibera Youth Sports and Environment Association (KIYESA), which
is based on the Mathare Youth Sports Organization, a soccer league of about
1,200 teenagers started in 1987. But KIYESA lacks resources to benefit a wide
range of youth like the Mathare group.
"(Mathare Youth Sports) is an organization that essentializes the way an NGO
should be run," Barcott said. "And that is, it's run by the folks themselves,
and all the ideas are generated by the youth who live in Mathare." In fact, a
15-year-old runs the program, and the leadership rotates each year.
The common love for the sport brings the kids together where they can develop a
respect of communal values. Donations from CFK will help provide resources for
KIYESA to serve more youth in Kibera and will also implement an AIDS awareness
program.
Other organizations that could benefit from the CFK donation are the Junior
Ghetto Credit Scheme, a small micro-credit program that will lend money to
young men to start their own businesses and a nursery school program that will
teach basic skills to children who cannot afford to attend school.
More money needed
CFK currently has one-fifth of the $20,000 it hopes to raise by the end
of this summer. A grant awarded by the provost and the University Center for
International Studies will mean that donated funds won't be needed for
administrative tasks, such as airfare and immunizations. Barcott will return to
Kibera in May to present the donations.
"There are a lot of people out there who have a lot of money to give away,"
said Alan Cross, a Carolina social medicine and pediatrics professor and CFK
adviser. "We just need to make a good case for why this is one area where they
should be giving it."
Cross met Barcott by chance and learned the young man would be conducting a
Burch fellowship in Kibera, where Cross had completed sabbatical work 11 years
earlier. Cross now advises Barcott on ideas that could extend CFK's survival as
a campus organization.
"Inclusion of faculty as key members of CFK helps illustrate what a phenomenal
University we have," Barcott said. "It is indicative of the opportunities
available to undergraduates and the willingness of faculty to help support
undergraduates who take initiative to ask for advice and guidance."
Faculty, staff and students can do more for CFK than donate money -- they can
learn about other cultures and ways of life. "It is very important for American
youth to visit other countries and see how other people live," Cross said.
"It's even more important as American culture dominates the world, for better
or worse. We need to see that other cultures have learned how to do things that
we have never imagined."
How to donate to CFK
People can make tax-deductible donations to CFK by mailing them to:
Carolina for Kibera
CB# 3263, 134 E. Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3263
Phone: 914-6707; fax: 919-962-8485
For more information on Carolina for Kibera, including mission statement,
background, board members and NGOs that will receive donations, see the CFK web
site at http://www.unc.edu/depts/cfk
Also, Rye Barcott will be the guest on David Crabtree's WRAL Channel 5 feature
show on April 28. The show will air at 7:30 p.m.
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