The importance of the Leadership Living Center (LLC)

When we asked KGSA students why building the Leadership Living Center was necessary, this is one of the many responses we got. We thought you should hear it straight from the source. 

8pm. The time I leave school, oblivious of the treats of walking at night in Kibera. 11 pm, the time I go to sleep after doing all the necessary chores at home. Leaving school late in the evening is the only option I have, doing chores at home till late at night is the only way I can avoid a reprimand from my parents; at the end of the day I am just a girl who wants to get an education and later join college. Sometimes, it looks like I am fighting a battle, the battle to being in school.

I do not have electricity at home. I have to always create time to study things I have learnt in school or else my dream of joining university will just be dream and I am not ready to disappoint myself. Education is more important to me than being unsafe because of walking home at night. I want to get the right grade to go to university and to utilize the available studying resources at KGSA in order to get to where I want in life. I only have school and my teachers as the only people who believe in me. I need to prove to my parents and myself that education is important and every girl has the right to go to college and decide for herself in life.  

Choosing between doing chores and studying is a thing that I really would want to get out of. Girls having a safe place to live in can only be achieved if we have a boarding school at KGSA. The boarding will not only shield us from a lot but also it will also improve our chances of joining college and getting good education and I know for sure that my time in high school will be devoted to studying and not doing chores or stressing about how I will walk from KGSA to home at night when I get to be in a boarding school. The minute I will see a bed for me to sleep in and a room for me to sturdy in at night at KGSA is the day I can fully tell myself- I am going to make it.

The dormitory is going to be a safe place for all of us at KGSA and our community at large. First, the time spent doing chores at home and the number of girls dropping out school or the number of girls being attacked because of walking at night will depreciate. I am saying this because I know, I know that if I have a safe place to live in, I will never have to worry about leaving school late, about my safety or health. I will never worry if I do not have food at night, I will never worry if I get demoralized at home by people who think education is a waste of time. I am going to have my fellow sisters and the KGSA family inspiring me every day. Education is a right like any other and we are going to fight for it. We, the KGSA girls need a boarding school. We will be safe and if we are safe, then our dreams and ambitions will be safe. It will be like a cycle and by the end of all of this we will not only have 100 girls to protect but the whole community; because people learn by seeing and if they see KGSA girls staying in school and getting good grades then the younger girls and women will want to emulate and that is how we are going to change Kibera-Just by building a dormitory.

Girls at KGSA with me included have the potential to get good grades, they have the ability to be influential people in the society. The only thing that needs to be done is to make sure that all obstacles aforementioned are removed from their way and that can only be achieved through a boarding school or rather a safe home for us. 

-Sally, Form 2

The KGSA Foundation has entered in an online challenge awarding $500,000 to different ideas that can make space safer and more empowering for women and girls. If you would like to help us advance to the next round, please click below and vote for our idea.  It takes 2 minutes but will have a lasting benefit.

http://openideo.com/challenge/womens-safety/ideas/leadership-living-center-llc-investing-in-safe-spaces-to-transform-communities