Jessica Posner and her husband, Kennedy Odede, are the co-founders of Kibera School for Girls, which is located in Kibera.
The school, which was founded in 2009, provides free tuition, reading materials, uniforms, and food to economically disadvantaged girls who hail from the slums of Kibera and Mathare.
It was the first institution of its kind to offer free educational opportunities in the area, where many households live in abject poverty.
This is their journey as told by WoK:
The idea to start the school came in the mid-2000s, when Jessica, who was living in the US state of Denver, decided to relocate to Kenya for her studies at the School for International Training.
“I wanted to go abroad and do something different, so I found a programme at the School for International Training… I applied and then found myself in Kenya,” said Jessica in a past interview with Nation.
At first, her parents thought that she must have lost her marbles when she told them that she would pursue her studies in Kenya.
Her grandparents also thought that she was making the wrong choice and begged her parents not to let her go.
However, Jessica’s headstrong nature prevailed, and she relocated to Nairobi. Rather than living in posh estates like Runda and Kilimani, like so many Americans who live in Kenya, she decided to settle in the slums of Kibera.
She met Kennedy in Nairobi, and the two quickly became friends and later fell in love.
Kennedy, who grew up in the slums, tried to convince her that she would not survive Kibera’s volatile nature for more than a few nights and begged her to settle somewhere else, but she refused.
She stated that she felt attracted to Kibera’s vibrancy and sense of community.
In 2009, Jessica convinced Kennedy of her idea to help Kibera girls get access to quality education. Seeing the validity of her vision, he supported her in co-founding the Kibera School of Girls.
The institution quickly took shape and went on to become one of the best schools in the area.
In 2022, the school facilitated a class of 21 pupils to sit for their KCPE exams, under the now-phased-out 8-4-4 curriculum. 18 of the students scored between 300 and 399 marks out of the possible 500.
Jessica stated that her mission is to free as many girls as she can from the shackles of poverty by providing them with free educational opportunities.
“Tomorrow, our girls will become the next generation of leaders, disrupting the systems that hold poverty in place,” she said.
Together with Kennedy, she also co-founded a non-governmental organization (NGO) called Shining Hope for Communities (Shofco), which runs various community programs in sectors such as healthcare, education, and sanitation.
The organization is also involved in the provision of economic empowerment schemes, community newspapers, and women’s and youth empowerment projects.
In 2010, Jessica was awarded the prestigious VH1 Do Something Grand Prize for Top World Changer.
The award was in recognition of her efforts to promote free education opportunities for girls in Kibera as well as serving the slum community through Shofco.
Her hope is that the girls she supports will have better futures and opportunities to transform their communities.