As a teacher, woman, athlete, writer, and traveler—all kinds
of corners of my heart woke up. I truly, passionately believe that getting more
girls access to excellent education is one of the jobs of our generation if we
dare to dream of a healthier world. We know it is the right thing to do, and it
is the strategic thing to do. Educated girls become transformative women who
invest in their families and communities. At KGSA, Abdul was doing the
important work of education, and he was doing it well to the benefit of the
girls, their families, and all of Kibera.
I fell in love with the story first, and then I fell in love
with the actual school and the girls. In the summer of 2012, Ryan and Abdul
invited me to KGSA as a writer to help them tell their story. The campus feels
like a haven in the middle of Kibera, abuzz with learning and laughter. I got
straight to work. My work was asking questions and then sitting and listening
to the story of the school unfold before me.
I learned through and through that these girls are vibrant,
sharp, powerful, funny, talented, resilient, patient, strategic, driven,
focused, silly, supportive and kind. They know what opportunities they need to
build a fulfilling life. That is the magic of KGSA. Abdul is not a trained
educator. He is a Kiberan man, wanting to honor the memory of his mother and
grandmother who worked to get him an education. He listens to the students and
uses his charisma, vision, instinct, cultural capital and work ethic to grow
KGSA into what the girls need the school to be.
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| Abdul and Ellie hanging out at the school |
I returned to KGSA in the summer of 2013 and was welcomed in
like a long lost family member. And since then, I have been working on the
story of KGSA one sentence at a time. The book is called Slowly by Slowly, and it will be available soon.
I struggled over whether I was the right person to write the
story. I still struggle. Abdul has read it and likes it and is appreciative
that I have the time to whittle the details together. He assures me that he is
simply too busy growing the school, which is exactly where he should be putting
his time and energy. Abdul poked his head in one day during an interview and
said, “Ellie, I think you know more about our story now than we do.” It has
been some of the most rewarding work of my career.
KGSA has a great story. I am lucky to know and care about
the people behind the story who have created a family, a transformational
school that honors the whole girl and dares to hope for a better Kibera and
thus a better world.
