This month has been challenging. Defending why international aid matters; worrying about being attacked for using words like gender equality and girls’ empowerment; attending a conference with colleagues who had recently lost their jobs due to USAID cuts.
This month has also been inspiring. Many of you reached out to check on us or responded to our eblasts with “keep up the good work”. Your encouragement means the world to us.
On this last day of women’s history month, I’m sharing a heart-warming post that KGSA alumna Rachael Wanjohi wrote on Linked-In (see below). Feel free to like, comment and share Rachael’s inspiring words.
This work is going to get harder, but we are not backing down. Thank you for standing with us.
Transcript of Rachael’s post from LinkedIn:
“This building was constructed by supporters across the United States of America and was dedicated to all the future girls who will learn and dream under its walls.”
That sentence alone makes my heart pause. Because I am one of those girls.
And standing in that new building last month at my former school, Kibera Girls Soccer Academy (KGSA),I couldn’t help but think:
“Wow. This is what happens when people believe.”
Come with me.
I was once a girl in this school. A girl who studied in classrooms where walls were made of mud and iron sheets. When the sun burned hot, we felt it like fire. When the rains came, it was super cold. It was just uncomfortable studying under them. Yet somehow, we kept going.
But let me tell you something, the real challenge wasn’t the classroom.
The real challenge was outside those gates.
I had to fight for my education. Fight against the noise, the distractions, the temptations. I had to convince my neighborhood that 5 AM wasn’t time for loud music, it was my time to study. I had to prove that education mattered. That I mattered.
I had to say no to the boys who thought a girl like me could be bought with chips, chicken, and sanitary towels. Because in their minds, every girl from Kibera lacked something.
They were wrong.
I wasn’t lacking. I was becoming.
Andthe KGSA Foundation made sure of that.
KGSA didn’t just educate me. They empowered me. They even handed me over to my destiny.
They placed me in one of the best universities, Strathmore University. A place that didn’t just give me an education but unfolded my purpose. It was there that my dreams stopped being distant wishes and became tangible, achievable, real.
And now? I am standing inside the very dream I once prayed for.
I didn’t do this alone.
There were people—powerful, kind, and generous people, who believed in this dream even before I could see it.
To the incredible friends of KGSA from the United States and beyond, thank you.
You didn’t just build classrooms; you built futures.You didn’t just send support; you sent hope.You didn’t just donate; you made dreams possible.
Standing inside those new walls, I felt your kindness, your generosity, and your belief in us. You didn’t just invest in a school, you invested in generations.
To Abdul,Katy, Claris, and every individual who invested in making KGSA a home for dreamers, thank you for fighting for the girls of KGSA. Thank you for ensuring that no girl walks through those gates feeling like she is alone. Thank you for making KGSA feel like home.
And to every KGSA girl! Past, present and future—your dreams are valid. Your story is not over.
One day, you’ll stand where I am, look back, and whisper:
“Wow. This is what happens when people believe.”
Happy International Women’s Day.
With love,Rachael