When our patients and their parents heard that we were going to Kenya and would visit a school in Kibera—one of the largest slums in the world—many of them asked if we could take some supplies for the children there. One mother had her children use their allowance to buy books, others brought colored pencils, and another patient brought in child-sized Home Depot aprons. My wife and I were bringing toothpaste, toothbrushes and floss for 250—every student in the Red Rose School.
Our plane landed in Nairobi around midnight but the tour group didn’t need to meet until 1PM. That gave us time to interpose our trip to Kibera with a local contact, Ken Okuth, who was coming to pick us up at 9AM. A former patient, employee, and friend of ours named Kate had met Ken when he was an undergraduate student at St. Lawrence University. Kate also spoke fondly of spending a semester in Kenya, so when we asked what we could do to help people in Kenya, she referred us to Ken. Ken was raised in Kibera, but earned a scholarship for his undergraduate studies. He went on to earn a graduate degree at Georgetown University and started an educational non-profit, the Children of Kibera Foundation.
After picking us up at the hotel, Ken took us for a tour of the city of Nairobi. He showed us the former US embassy building that was bombed in 1998 and brought Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to America’s attention. We passed the ultramodern Kenyatta International Conference Center and a small airport on our two-mile journey to the Red Rose School within the Kibera slum.
When we arrived at the Red Rose School, all 250 students treated us to dancing and singing. Since the government does not provide hardly any services to the inhabitants of Kibera, some of these kids walk 4 miles one way to get to the Red Rose School. Because schooling is provided by various religious and nonsectarian schools that rely on donations, I asked a few students why they chose this particular school. The unanimous response was, “Because of the results.” Ken and the school administrator strongly believe that education is a bridge to better life, and they do everything in their power to make it possible for these kids to go as far as their work, intellect, and luck will take them. Since the government doesn’t provide adequate services for the people of Kibera, “luck” often takes the form of donations funneled through various charitable organizations, like The School Fund, which is a crowd-sourced non-profit that was developed after an American teenager met one of Ken’s protégés.
Ken Okuth has since gone on to be elected a Member of Parliament (MP) at the Kenya National Assembly, where he represents the Kibera constituency. He continues to use his influence to improve the lives of those in Kibera by representing them and giving them a voice. Hopefully, when others learn of the need, they will share some of their power to help make the world a better place.
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