UNC nonprofit Carolina for Kibera to double Chapel Hill staff

Only one Carolina for Kibera employee currently works in the United States — but soon that number will double.

Though the expansion might seem minor, the organization’s leaders say it is representative of the nonprofit’s continued growth.

And it has caught the attention of at least one public figure. Nicholas Kristof, a columnist for The New York Times, tweeted about the organization Tuesday.

“Congrats to Rye Barcott’s great #CarolinaForKibera for preparing to add staff member in Chapel Hill,” Kristof tweeted, linking to the job opening.

Carolina for Kibera, which is primarily funded by individual donors, was founded in 2001. Its mission is to develop local leaders, catalyze positive change and alleviate poverty in the Kibera slum in Nairobi.

The organization recently announced it is seeking a new development officer to be stationed in Chapel Hill. The majority of the staff works in Kenya.

Co-founder and UNC alumnus Rye Barcott first visited Kibera as an undergraduate, where he formed friendships with two native Kenyans who would become the group’s co-founders.

From then on, the mission was to spark change, executive director at UNC Leann Bankoski said.
“Our ultimate goal is to create local leadership and to create leaders that can lead their community to rise above,” she said.

“We do this through social programs that make life better in the short term, and we’re teaching them valuable life skills that they will need later in life to be the voices of change.”

Kibera has an estimated population of between 170,000 and 1 million people living in an area of one square mile. The average daily income is $2.

The organization has grown to include a sports association, an education program, and centers for health and hygiene programs.

The programs are run by an all-Kenyan staff, many of whom are from Kibera.

Junior Kevin Diao, who heads the UNC student group Students for Kibera, said the goal of the group is participatory development.

“This means that it’s not about us helping the community of Kibera,” Diao said in an email. “It’s about us working with the community to mutually benefit and work toward a common goal — social justice and human decency.”

The organization’s sports association uses soccer and jump rope programs to create understanding across gender and ethnic lines in a slum that has been marred by ethnic violence.

The sports association’s soccer league and the lives of the players involved with it will be chronicled in a documentary titled “Without a Fight,” which will premier at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham on April 13.

Directed by UNC alumnus Jason Arthurs, the film was initially intended to show the history of Carolina for Kibera.

It wound up telling the story of the organization through the eyes of the people involved with it, Arthurs said.

“It’s all Kiberan voices,” he said. “We tied (ethnic violence) into how it affects the soccer league and affects the league’s goal of breaking down social and ethnic tension.”

Bankoski said the film shows commitment from UNC alumni to telling Kibera’s story within the larger community.

“Our work will always evolve as the community evolves,” she said.

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