Photographer Documents the Struggle to Provide Girls with an Education in Kibera

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Kibera is a division of Nairobi, Kenya, and as a rule, girls there don’t have much of a shot at an education. Kenya is still very patriarchal, and if a family has both boys and girls, it’s the boys who will be granted the opportunity to attend secondary school.

The Kibera Girls Soccer Academy (KGSA) is trying to fix that by providing girls in the area with a free secondary education, and photographer Jake Naughton has been fortunate enough to spend time there helping with the school and documenting its impact on the students who attend it.

The school is important to Naughton, who had visited it during a study-abroad program and was invited back as a volunteer. The resulting photo series is called Educating Girls in Kibera and its purpose is to give the rest of the world a glimpse at the KGSA — the first school of its kind in the area:

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He has fostered a closeness with the community at the school, and he’s very proud of what the KGSA has managed to achieve:

Since its founding, the school now educates some 120 students annually; some students have been able to go on to the University or vocational training, beginning to break the cycle of poverty that has trapped them and their families.

You can find out more about the KGSA by heading over to the schools website. And if you want to see more photos from this or any of Naughton’s other projects, you can visit his website by clicking here.

(via Feature Shoot)


Image credits: Photographs by Jake Naughton and used with permission.

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