Students
‘We Are in This Together’
Senior class donations helping to support Carolina for Kibera
The violence that broke out in Kenya after president, has led a number of UNC students,
December’s disputed presidential election alumni and faculty to become involved
drew particular notice at UNC. Carolina through volunteer work and donations. The
for Kibera, which for seven years has senior class has designated its contribution
worked against poverty and ethnic violence toward a wing of a medical clinic being built
in the now well-known slum in Kenya’s in memory of Tabitha Festo, one of the two
capital of Nairobi, had been chosen last fall Kenyans who helped Barcott create CFK.
by the class of 2008’s senior marshals to Festo, a certified nurse and resident of
benefit from seniors’ donations in lieu of a Kibera who died in 2004, founded the
traditional class gift. community-based clinic in 2000 that now
The marshals, sponsored by the GAA, treats more than 15,000 patients a year.
endorsed CFK for class support in recogni- “It will be a living monument,” Barcott
tion of the work begun by Rye Barcott ’01 said of the new addition. “This is an oppor-
when he was a student at Carolina. tunity to create a memorial that gives back
Barcott’s efforts have been recognized by every day in a very significant way.”
the GAA, with a Distinguished Young CFK’s support is growing. Musician Sarah
Alumni Award in 2006, and he returned to McLachlan has donated $26,000; UNC and
campus in February to talk about events Duke hospitals have each made donations of
that have claimed more than 1,000 lives, $50,000, leaving $74,000 to reach the needed
grimly underscoring CFK’s mission. $200,000. An anonymous donor has agreed
Barcott expressed a sentiment to his to contribute $25,000 to CFK if 30. 5 per-
campus audience that some might find cent of the senior class participates in the
scarce in the Nairobi slum: hope. campaign. And David Pardue Jr. ’ 69 and his
He told the story of a 14-year-old boy, a wife, Becky, intend to match every dona-member of the Kikuyu tion by the senior
ethnic group, which class up to $25,000.
has been targeted in “This really has
the violence. The boy the opportunity to be
became separated from one of the largest
his parents after his class gifts ever done,”
house had been said Ashley Shores,
burned, and another senior class president.
Kenyan, John, hid and “And I think it’s our
protected him for three weeks.
“ ‘I knew I was risking my life,’ John said
later. ‘But if I let him go and something bad
happened to him, it would haunt me for
the rest of my life, and in some way it
would have killed me.
“ ‘I’m never afraid of doing the right
thing,’” Barcott quoted John as saying. John,
19, is a coach for one of CFK’s soccer teams,
part of the nonprofit’s sports programs that
promote leadership, gender equity, community development and ethnic-religious
cooperation.
“I think John’s responsibility in some ways
was shaped by the organization, as he has
shaped the organization to this day,” Barcott
said. “And he gives me a lot of hope.”
The hope and promise of the organization
that Barcott founded, and of which he is
SARAH MCCART Y ARNESON ’ 96
The 2008 senior marshals, sponsored
by the GAA, have endorsed Carolina
for Kibera as a project for class members
to support with donations. Go to
cfk.unc.edu to learn more. Details about
the class campaign are available at
annualfund/seniorcampaign/ 2008.htm.
charge to do so.”
Barcott talked about Kibera as “a surreal
place. … It’s thriving with energy and
human emotions. It’s at times immensely
depressing, and then you can experience joy
so pure. I’ve never really experienced such a
feeling of ‘this is absolutely desperate.’”
While studying as a Burch Fellow at
UNC, Barcott traveled to Kibera and lived
among young people. “I’d go out and just
ask them what their problems were, and
that can be a powerful thing, just listening
to them,” he said.
By befriending young Kenyans, such as a
15-year-old neighbor who spent his nights
teaching himself French, Barcott discovered
the potential for leadership and growth
within the slum. “He had done it himself,”
Barcott said of his neighbor. “Imagine what
Rye Barcott ’01 founded Carolina for Kibera
while a student at
Carolina. He received
the GAA’s Distinguished
Young Alumni Award in
2006.
he would be able to do not only to
improve his own condition and the condition of his family, but also to improve that
of his community.”
Rooted in the mission of CFK is the
conviction that solutions to poverty and
violence are possible only if those affected
drive development. “As concerned outsiders
... we believe we have a role to play by
helping mobilize communities, raising
awareness and generating resources,” said
Kim Chapman Page ’00, assistant director
of the UNC Institute for Global Health
and Infectious Diseases and chair of CFK’s
board of directors. “But ultimately we operate with the belief that the poor have the
solutions to the problems they face.”
In a slum where virtually no government
services are provided, more than 15 percent
of the population is HIV-positive and half of
the population is under 15, Kenyans advised
by a wide network of Kenyan and American
volunteers engage more than 5,000 youths
in sports programs. CFK also has started a
women’s center, a waste-management program and a medical clinic.
“We are in this together,” Page said.
“Nobody leaves Kibera untouched by them
and feeling like you’re not a part of this
extended family that is doing the most amazing and inspiring work that maybe you’ve
ever seen in your life, taken all together.
“When you look at a community that
they’re working in, when you look at conditions they face on a day-to-day basis, when
you look at the bravery and the creativity
and the humor that they approach these
challenging circumstances with, you realize
that you have a part to play in that.” ■
— Laura Johnson
ONLINE: A profile of Barcott in the
May/June 2004 Review and an article about
his Distinguished Young Alumni Award in the
November/December 2006 issue are available to
GAA members at
alumni.unc.edu.
