Find Me Unafraid

Starred review from June 22, 2015
This riveting memoir takes place primarily in Kibera, one of Kenya’s worst slums (which range in population from 170,000 to 1 million), and the authors narrate in alternating chapters. Odede, a community organizer in his early 20s, grew up in Kibera, and tells of his childhood of poverty, abuse, and struggle; Posner, a privileged, 20-year-old Wesleyan University student on a semester abroad project, arrived in 2007 hoping to help out with a theater group that Odede runs. Wanting an authentic experience, Posner moves in with Odede in the slum; there the eyes of the Denver-raised American are opened to another world, and she begins to fall under the spell of the charismatic, courageous young man who founded the nonprofit community organization Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) and is known unofficially throughout Kibera as “Mayor.” Before long, Odede’s dream of building a school for girls (many of whom have been abused and/or raped) is put into motion, and with Posner’s help, grants are secured to bring this dream, and others, to life. Self-taught on the writings and work of Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela, Odede is determined to rise above violence and poverty and help his neighbors in the process; in Posner he finds the perfect partner for his quest. Suspenseful and absorbing, this true story of a man and a woman from two different worlds reveals how dramatically circumstances can change.

Starred review from September 15, 2015
In 2007, Wesleyan theater student Posner traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, to spend a semester abroad. She reached out to young community leader Odede, who founded Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) as a safe haven for the children of Kibera, the perilous slum Kennedy grew up in. Jessica boldly asked Kennedy if she could stay in his small house in Kibera with him while she volunteered with SHOFCO's theater group. Romance blossomed between the two, and when Jessica went back to Wesleyan, she encouraged Kennedy to apply for a scholarship to go to school in America after political and tribal unrest jeopardized his life. Kennedy's studies paved the way for him and Jessica to return to Kibera with a plan to open up a school for the girls of Kibera, who are at high risk for rape and domestic violence. Initially told in alternating chapters in which Kennedy recounts a childhood fraught with danger, hunger, and loss, and Jessica shares her reactions to Kibera and the early days of their romance, their narratives intertwine as their plans for the school take off. It's exciting and inspiring to see how much Kennedy and Jessica are able to accomplish, and how many lives they're changing for the better with SHOFCO, which started with Kennedy's purchase of a twenty-cent soccer ball.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)