WISER takes Duke to Kenya, U.N.
By: Kristen Davis
Issue date: 9/10/07 Section: News
Last update: 9/10/07 at 7:04 AM EST
Last update: 9/10/07 at 7:04 AM EST
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Senior Andy Cunningham not only spoke at the United Nations headquarters over the summer, he also persuaded the entire assembly to dance along with a video of Kenyan school children performing a traditional Luo dance.
Cunningham, who is also the co-founder of the Women's Institute of Secondary Education and Research, spoke at the United Nations' fourth Annual Youth Assembly, a program designed to encourage young adults to champion humanitarian causes around the world.
"WISER was the only organization that got a standing ovation," he said. "I spoke on the same panel as Dr. Cream Wright, the chief education officer of UNICEF. It was amazing for me that in one year WISER is at the same level as [the other] organizations. WISER was invited to speak at the conference every year from now on."
Although Cunningham spoke on behalf of WISER at the U.N. headquarters, he was only one of 12 Duke students to travel to Muhuru Bay, a small fishing village in Kenya, to continue progress on WISER's mission-opening an all-girl secondary school to promote women's education in the community.
"In the last 18 years, no girl has qualified for college entrance while boys go every year, [so] we are committed to working with the community on development," Cunningham wrote in an e-mail.
Sherryl Broverman, associate professor of the practice of biology and co-founder of WISER, said the school will probably open as a community center before the start of the Kenyan academic year in January 2009.
"[The idea for WISER] came from relationships in the community and realizing a simple intervention might have profound consequences," she said.
Broverman added that WISER evolved out of a personal relationship she had with Rose Odhiambo, the first female from Muhuru Bay to attend college.
So far, WISER has raised $520,000 for the construction of the school, which should be completed in November 2008, Cunningham said.
"We also led two community-wide town meetings where over 400 people came by foot and expressed what they wanted in the school," Cunningham said. "They committed to raising enough funds to sponsor one girl every year from Muhuru Bay to attend WISER."
Cunningham, who is also the co-founder of the Women's Institute of Secondary Education and Research, spoke at the United Nations' fourth Annual Youth Assembly, a program designed to encourage young adults to champion humanitarian causes around the world.
"WISER was the only organization that got a standing ovation," he said. "I spoke on the same panel as Dr. Cream Wright, the chief education officer of UNICEF. It was amazing for me that in one year WISER is at the same level as [the other] organizations. WISER was invited to speak at the conference every year from now on."
Although Cunningham spoke on behalf of WISER at the U.N. headquarters, he was only one of 12 Duke students to travel to Muhuru Bay, a small fishing village in Kenya, to continue progress on WISER's mission-opening an all-girl secondary school to promote women's education in the community.
"In the last 18 years, no girl has qualified for college entrance while boys go every year, [so] we are committed to working with the community on development," Cunningham wrote in an e-mail.
Sherryl Broverman, associate professor of the practice of biology and co-founder of WISER, said the school will probably open as a community center before the start of the Kenyan academic year in January 2009.
"[The idea for WISER] came from relationships in the community and realizing a simple intervention might have profound consequences," she said.
Broverman added that WISER evolved out of a personal relationship she had with Rose Odhiambo, the first female from Muhuru Bay to attend college.
So far, WISER has raised $520,000 for the construction of the school, which should be completed in November 2008, Cunningham said.
"We also led two community-wide town meetings where over 400 people came by foot and expressed what they wanted in the school," Cunningham said. "They committed to raising enough funds to sponsor one girl every year from Muhuru Bay to attend WISER."
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