Kibera Girls Soccer Academy (KGSA)

The Kibera Girls Soccer Academy (KGSA) works to ensure every girl in Kibera has an education. Since an estimated 44% of girls in Kenya don’t finish high school, KGSA is working to close this gap by providing free secondary education to 150 girls each year. 

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Kibera is the largest informal settlement in Africa with loving people but also faces a high unemployment rate, poverty, overcrowding, and unreliable access to water and electricity. In the school system, there is overcrowding, undereducated teachers, and lack the resources to provide necessities such as school lunch. For the few families that can afford to send their children to school, boys and men are a priority over girls and women. 

 

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When I first signed up for this experience, I was not quite sure what to expect. However, the opportunity to meet students from KGSA introduced me to an entirely new perspective. They were actively fighting against societal norms that believed that they should not be educated. The girls from KGSA saw the important role their education will play and reminded me to not take any opportunities for granted. Hearing about the challenges that the girls face just to receive their education such as gender-based violence, hunger, and poverty to name a few shed a new light on the significance to address systemic barriers when looking at large issues. There were also more light-hearted conversations that focused on what we do in our free time and on weekends. As it may come as no surprise, soccer is a large part of their free time!