About 30 undergraduate students trudged through a chilling downpour last Friday afternoon and evening to listen to one person's undergraduate experience.
Although Ohio State graduate student Julie Mayeku said 29-year-old Rye Barcott has a "relaxed nature," his accomplishments are anything but laid-back.
In addition to being named ABC Person of the Week and Year in 2006 and serving for the Marine Corps in Bosnia, Africa and Iraq, Barcott founded Carolina for Kibera, an international nongovernmental organization based in the slum of Nairobi, Kenya, during his junior year as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
"I certainly didn't intend to start an organization while being in the ROTC [program] and pursuing an undergraduate degree," Barcott said. "I was interested in ethnic violence and had taken Swahili courses, and received a fellowship [to Africa] … but once I was there and had seen both useful and poor non-profit programs, I wanted to help."
Barcott's first efforts to help in Nairobi resulted in what he called "a failure." After he encountered a family living in fear of being assaulted by thieves, Barcott paid for their move to a nicer neighborhood and larger house. Upon visiting them again, he found no gratitude.
"There was always the expectation to continue to help," Barcott said. "The premise of [Carolina for Kibera] was that some of the poor have solutions to problems that they face so that the most powerful types of interventions can happen when the community itself is behind them."
This lesson became evident to students in attendance.
"Making the locals identify what they need and how to get it, as well as making them run the CFK, does more to people than just provide a way of paying their bills," Mayeku said. "What can be learned from this is that the best help is from inside out: let people identify what they need, figure out how to get it and assist them to get it."
Barcott discussed how he created several programs within CFK, such as a medical clinic and a sports league where youth exchange community service for the opportunity to play in tournaments. The difficulty in fundraising and ensuring that CFK remained intact despite violence in neighboring regions led Barcott to rely on "people who are committed to a cause in spite of everything," he said. Barcott spoke of how these peoples' involvement will continue to sustain CFK after Barcott becomes less involved.
"Such stories are re-energizing and reassuring," Mayeku said. "It makes a difference to hear from someone that he has done it. It is also encouraging to know that there are people out there who need help and [they] are willing to go the extra mile to get it."
Similarly, OSU senior and Global Health Initiative President Adrienne Strong found that Barcott's story inspired a "secret hope that one person really can make a difference."
"He shows that you do not have to be bound by youth or inexperience; if you want to effect change and are dedicated, it is possible."
Olga Borodulin can be reached at borodulin.2@osu.edu
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