WISER

1 week. 10 girls empowered.

The WISER Duke Student Group presents its third annual WISER Week, September 29-October 3. Come enjoy t-shirts, snacks and tickets on the Plaza every day from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and help WISER Duke raise 10 girls’ scholarships in one week!

Schedule of Events:

Monday 9/29
10:00 am - 4:00 pm: Tabling on the Plaza
4:30 pm: An Introductory meeting to WISER for interested and already involved students. In Social Sciences 139.

Tuesday 9/30
7:00 pm: liveWISER: A benefit concert featuring Duke student groups and the voices of women from Muhuru Bay and Duke in Unison, calling for equality and women’s empowerment. Tickets available on the plaza or online; students $5 on the plaza, $7 at the door, adults $7. In Page Auditorium.

Wednesday 10/1
11:00 am-2:00 pm: Kenyan lunch catered by Palace International. On the Plaza.

Thursday 10/2
6:30 - 8:00 pm: Stephen Lewis of AIDS Free World presents “The Burden of HIV/AIDS on Girls and Women in Africa.” Refreshments following. In Fleishman Commons, Sanford Institute of Public Policy.

Friday 10/3
All day: Cupcakes and baked goods available on the Plaza.
4:00 pm: A Conversation with Dr. Rose Odhiambo, Co-Founder of WISER. In the Multicultural Center.

Johnson & Johnson hosted the 2nd Annual WISER Gala and Auction on August 20, 2008 at the India Community Center in Milpitas, California. Co-Founder Dr. Sherryl Broverman spoke and shared updates about the WISER Program.

Over $70,000 was raised for Girls’ Education in Kenya!

Many thanks to Johnson & Johnson and LifeScan Employees who set up and ran this event as volunteers for WISER. Johnson & Johnson and LifeScan generously made matching contributions for funds raised during this event.

The WISER Team with Dr. Sherryl Broverman, Ms. Courtney Crosson, Andy Cunningham, and Hannah Adams visited Kenya, May 16 through May 30, 2008, with numerous goals and objectives. This visit included the completion of the land purchase with receipt of title and participation in a Land Purchase Ceremony with the Muhuru Bay community. An Engineering / Architectural firm was selected, potential construction contractors were interviewed, and relations with a representative of Johnson & Johnson’s Sub-Saharan Programs were enhanced. To further accomplish the goals of WISER , the WISER Team met with the NGO Board in Nairobi, opened a Kenyan bank account for business transactions, discussed with representatives of the Tagache clinic the potential for Duke student placement there, and distributed 40 cases of sanitary pads donated by Johnson & Johnson to the Muhuru Bay Primary and Secondary Schools.

A meeting was held with the Kenyan Ministry of Education with WISER receiving the Ministry’s endorsement. Stronger ties were developed with WISER’s NGO Board, the Muhuru Bay Advisory Board, several of the Muhuru Bay Primary Schools, and the Muhuru Bay community. While for the most part the families of Muhuru Bay suffer from severe poverty, lack many basic needs, and have no resources to pay for healthcare, they have not given up hope for achieving better lives for their families and children and their hope was demonstrated by their welcome and the graciousness they afforded the WISER team.

Emily Matthews, current co-president of the WISER Duke Student Group, presented at the MIT Global Poverty Initiative Millennium Campus Conference on April 18-20 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The conference focused on student efforts to alleviate poverty and hosted other speakers such as Senator John Edwards, Administrator Henrietta Fore and Dr. Paul Farmer. Emily represented WISER in a panel discussion titled “Stories from the Field: Student Action in Alleviating Poverty.” She also presented at a poster session and led a workshop on “Starting Projects for Global Change.”

The Duke Global Health Institute co-sponsored with the Duke University School of Nursing the 1st Annual Lecture on Global Health by Paul Farmer, MD, PhD.

Dr. Paul Farmer, a Duke alumnus, co-founder of Partners in Health, and member of the WISER advisory board spoke on Monday, April 21st to the community in Page Auditorium.  

As a demonstration of its continued dedication to Kenya in the face of recent conflict, WISER led fundraising efforts to support those suffering from political violence in the country. WISER at Duke members sold water bottles reading “Duke loves Kenya” to raise money for the Makina Clinic in Nairobi.

Founded by Andrew Otieno and located in Kibera, East Africa’s largest slum, the clinic serves all members of the Kibera community, particularly those affected by violence following the December elections.

WISER also collected donations for the Young Women’s Leadership Institute through Violet Barasa, who is working to bring essential supplies to displaced people in refugee camps throughout Kenya.

Members of the Duke and Durham communities gathered last week to remember victims of the post-election violence in Kenya and pray for resolution.

Peter Nyangweso, a University of North Carolina graduate student from Kisii, Kenya was among those in attendance. He offered his thanks to the Duke WISER student group for organizing the vigil:

“…[W]ords alone cannot say enough how so very touched we are that you were able to put the Kenyan people in your prayers.

We try so hard to smile outwardly but inwardly we are so sad–all Kenyans are, many Ugandans, many Tanzanians, Rwandans, Burundians, Congolese, Southern Sudanese, Ethiopians and Somalis are so sad, worried and feel homeless and helpless because the only place they run to or could run to is threatened.

Your prayers and support mean so much, especially now. Please, if there is anything I can do to help with any of your events–let me know.” — Peter Nyangweso

The Duke WISER student group will hold a candlelight vigil in solidarity with Kenyans who have lost their lives and livelihoods during the recent ethnic conflict, and those who are striving toward peaceful resolution.

The vigil will be held at the Duke Chapel steps Feb. 7 from 7 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. Services will include prayer by the Dean of Duke Chapel, original poems from Kenyan schoolchildren, time for silent reflection and the voices of the Duke Pitchforks. All are welcome.

For more details about the vigil or information on current and upcoming fundraising efforts to support Kenyans displaced by recent events, please contact Emily Matthews at ejm14@duke.edu.