Hats off to you all!

You did it!  You all raised $3,260 for the KGSA Foundation and our StartSomeGood campaign that will bring Ellie Roscher to Kenya this summer to document the KGSA story.  Everyone at the Foundation cannot thank you enough for your generosity and support.  Without your efforts, this couldn't have been possible.  Thank you again.  We will be sure to keep you all posted on the developments throughout the summer and will follow up with each and everyone of you in regards to your specific gifts for donating.  Asante Sana!

Below is a list of the 38 donors (in no particular order) that made this possible: 

Jaclyn Carey, Jessica Hartnett, Dorothy Renstrom, Robert Fohr, Claire Bischoff, Shelly Talcott, Hannah Bernhardt, Jennifer Beilfuss, Debbie Wilson, Alison Brazel, Marc Ostlie-Olson, Maureen McGee, Adam Copeland, Janice Ramboldt, Brea Ellsworth, Daniel Ruth, Jacob Meyer, Michael Sarafolean, Gary Dickson, Tom Dawkins, Katie Rolnick, Jolene Goerend, Danielle Uliano, Mark McNairy, Erin Plachko, Anne Satterstrom, Joseph Riehm, Paul Ruth, Michael & Margie Roscher, Angie Keske, Robert Oxnard Bent, Emily Feig, Kyle Rolnick, Andrew Barron, Alex Grace, Bernadette Dodge, Mary Sarafolean, Alex Budak.

Today is a great day - International Women's Day

In honor of  International Women's Day, we at KGSA Foundation are launching our first ever on-line fundraising campaign through StartSomeGood (SSG) to ensure that we can bring Ellie Roscher, a published author, to Kenya this summer to document the KGSA story.   Check out our campaign HERE and please post the link to your Facebook and Twitter accounts.   We are launching a 40 day campaign to raise $4,000 and we need your help.  You are only charged if we make our fundraising goal.   With Ellie's commitment to tell the inspirational story of Abdul Kassim and the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy it will dramatically increase the exposure around KGSA leading to more prospective volunteers, donors, & partnerships. That's why we need to make this happen!  Finally, the voices of the Kibera community will be heard, please support this initiative.  Do what you can to spread the word, thank you.  StartSomeGood Campaign

A Field Trip to the Nairobi National Museum

Just last week, 68 students from the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy went on a field trip to the Nairobi National Museum. 

Here's what Richard Teka, the Programs Director had to say about the day.  "It was a good session, apart from the two classes (form one and form two) being able to interact, they were able to learn more about their own history, geography, and science subjects.  Later on they played soccer in a nearby park as they waited for the bus to come. The students really had a great time and we were able to organize for them a snack of chips and soda.  Thank you for letting our younger classes have this experience this early."

If I were a Tree (Ningelikuwa Mti) - by Jeremy Levinger

If I were a tree, I would grow in the depths of Kibera; down there, like Lindi, or in the holes, like Mashimoni. I would grow where people respect my roots, because they know the beauty of what's hidden. My branches would gota (fist pound) every passerby and my bark would be stapled with flyers of Ohangla (traditional Luo music) and Reggae concerts. Mothers would carry unga (maize flour) under me and my leaves would protect them from the rain. I'd bear fruits for the local crazies, who need food for thought to reveal how clever they really are. I'd build seats where my ways split, so students could climb me to study and reach even greater heights. I'd have loose limbs that children could hang on to cross sewage water and my leaves would blow away smoke from burning trash. I would be a monument, so people could say "I live near the big tree". People would know where I come from and  would understand my roots, because underground is just a concept. If you look close enough, you would see my roots, drinking tears of abandoned mothers and drunkards, inspiring me to stand tall. You'd see green, deep in the heart of the chocolate city, and you'd hear the same birds that wake you up every morning. You'd see pain, gripping to the same beaten soil as usual, but I'm still smiling, still focusing on what I'm carrying; the nature of the community. If I were a tree, only the poor would hug me.

- dedicated to Kibera, Africa's largest slum

Jeremy Levinger is a poet, educator, activist and a student at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.  He recently volunteered at the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy for a semester through the MSID program and made an immediate impact at the Academy.  Thank you Jeremy for your hard work and who you are in the world.

2nd Annual 5K Walk/Race-athon - Denver, CO

To register for the race, click HERE


For the second year in a row, Denver University and graduate students in the School of Social Work have organized a 5K race to raise awareness and funding for the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy.  Just last December a group of students and faculty visited with the students and staff in Kibera, exchanged stories and perspectives, and continued to foster a relationship between two educational institutions.

This May, the KGSA Foundation and Denver University will host another successful 5K race at Sloan's Park on Sunday, May 13th - Mother's Day!   For all of those important women in our lives, including our mothers, invite them all to join us and help a community of young women in Kenya continue to have access to an education.


                                                 CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

The first of many grant applications

After weeks of skype conversations, gchats, and lots of writing, KGSA Foundation has submitted an application for the Echoing Green Fellowship which would award Jamie Clearfield and Ryan Sarafolean $90,000 to work full-time for the KGSA Foundation.  As Echoing Green puts it, they invest in and support outstanding emerging social entrepreneurs to launch new organizations that deliver bold, high-impact solutions.  These social entrepreneurs and their organizations work to solve deeply-rooted social, environmental, economic, and political inequities to ensure equal access and to help all individuals reach their potential.

We're extremely proud of the way the grant turned out and deeply appreciate all of the assistance that our supporters provided in terms of editing and other suggestions.  Through this grant experience alone, we were forced to dig deeper into our work and identify more clearly why do we do what we do, why this work is necessary, what are the impacts, and how do we plan to strengthen our efforts.  It was a great challenge, and we will keep you posted throughout the process.  We should hear back from Echoing Green in late January or early February.  Thanks again to everyone that assisted in the process!

  Echoing Green Website:   http://www.echoinggreen.org

Top 10 Highlights of 2011

In 2011, the KGSA Foundation had quite an amazing year!  Take a moment and read about our accomplishments during this last year and share this link with a friend!

In no particular order of importance...

10)  A shipment of 2,000 books from Books for Africa arrives and completely fills our library for the first time.  This was made possible through the help and support of Dr. Robert Jones and the University of Minnesota's Study Abroad Learning Center that came to Kenya and visited the Academy the previous year.   


9)  KGSA Foundation partners with Jamie McAlpine and the Umbrella Tree who provide the financial support to hire Christine Wanjiru Gakiu, our first female principal at KGSA!  When asked to write about her thoughts on education and women she said,   
“I strongly believe in education as the key to success for girls who have in the past suffered under the African chauvinistic society.  It is my dream that one day everyone will have education within their reach and be liberated from poverty.”

8)  Ryan Sarafolean receives the Forward under 40 Award from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.  This award honors UW grads under the age of 40 who are making an impact in the state, nation and beyond.  To read more, visit www.forwardunder40.com 

7) Jake Naughton, the Foundation's Director of Technology & Media Production travels to Kenya to report on water issues in Kibera for World Water Day (March 22nd).  Click HERE to view the film.

Facts on Water:
* In just one day, more than 200 million hours of women’s time is consumed collecting water for domestic use.
* In the developing world, 24,000 children under the age of five die every day from preventable causes like diarrhea contracted from unclean water.
* 827 million people live in slums around the world, most lacking safe access to clean water.
* According to the UN, someone living in a Nairobi slum pays 5 to 7 times more for 1 liter of water than the average North American citizen.


 6)  KGSA Foundation's 501c3 status is approved from the IRS!  Financial contributions to the KGSA Foundation can now be a tax deductible donation.

5)  Chelsea Geraghty and Julia Jones, two graduates from the University of Denver's Master of Social Work program, organize an annual 5K walk/race-a-thon to raise money for the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy.  Together, they raised just under $10,000!



4)  The Street Team is formed!  KGSA Foundation partners with Cretin- Derham Hall and establishes an internship with ten seniors that focuses on becoming a responsible, more effective grassroots organizer.  The Street Team played a crucial role in this year's annual benefit and helped raise over $13,000 for the Foundation.

3)  Thanks to Margery and Ian Punnett, Abdul Kassim and Ryan Sarafolean were featured on Channel 5 MN News through an episode of 'On the Road with Jason Davis.'  The episode connected with thousands of viewers across Minnesota and passed along the inspiring story of Abdul and the work of KGSA. 



2)  Ellie Roscher, author of 'How Coffee Saved My Life,' has committed to writing her next book on the story of Abdul Kassim and the work of the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy.  Ellie will travel to Kenya next June to begin interviews with Abdul, the students, and staff at KGSA.

1)  Two of KGSA's very own students and soccer players, Commando and Achieng, qualified for the Kenyan national team for the Homeless World Cup tournament.  They traveled to Paris this August competed against the Netherlands, Brazil, Uruguay, and Mexico and ended up winning the entire championship 4-3 against Mexico!  The Homeless World Cup Foundation works with 70+ national grassroots organizations to promote their unique “homeless-to-work” model to policy makers, key influencers, the media and the public to shift the attitudes and policies towards individuals experiencing degrees of homelessness around the globe.


**If you would like to make a Holiday contribution to the KGSA Foundation, please visit our donation page HERE.  All donations are tax-deductible.  Thank you, we appreciate your support and generosity.