Find Me Unafraid; Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum

In an effort to continue the enthusiasm for the Women’s Empowerment books that were shared at the Fall Seminar, I read the book, Find Me Unafraid; Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum, by Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner.

“A modern love story, in which the lives of two young people from opposite sides of the globe get tangled in the course of their work with marginalized children:  Hopelessness displaced by hope, neglect replaced by love.”

This is a biography that takes place mainly in Kibera, an African slum in Kenya.  They lack a sewage system, roads, running water and no access to things like health care and education.  It is a poverty that is so difficult to even imagine.  At 10, Kennedy (named after John F. Kennedy) was alone on the streets. His struggles to just survive are incomprehensible.  He somehow clings to a couple of books that he was given; one was a book of Martin Luther King’s speeches and Nelson Mandel’s Long Walk to Freedom. When things become unbearable or hopeless to Kennedy he returns to these books and to the hope that they give him. Even in his desperation, he has a special aspiration to help young girls and women in general.  He has lived with the despair of seeing the mistreatment of females in his village.

Through his encounter with Jessica, from Wesleyan University, as well as his determination and hopefulness he manages to do some amazing things in his village.  He began with a 20-cent soccer ball and a dogged determination and he organizes his community and opens what he calls “Shining Hope for Communities”.

Kennedy, also known in his community as “Mayor” is especially sensitive to the plight of young girls and women…and for these reasons, I think it is an especially powerful book on the empowerment of women in this part of the world and beyond.

Continue to be motivated and think about female empowerment, you may wish to read this book.   HAPPY READING! 

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