SHOFCOberlin has a lot going on this semester! Thus far we've been doing a lot of planning for events that will be happening in late April and May as well as some smaller fundraising events. We had a table selling SWEP jewelry and bags at both a fashion show run by the African Students Organization and an annual community market attended mostly by local artisans from the city of Oberlin. We raised a lot of money at both of those fundraising events and are hoping to work a lot more with those groups in the future.
As for the rest of the semester, we have "Girl Power" themed night at our dance club/discotheque. Students will pay for entry and get to dance to some awesome music including SHOFCOberlin's personal favorite: Beyoncé. All of the proceeds will go towards helping us plan future events as well as to the Shining Hope organization.
In a couple weeks we'll be screening Girl Rising (the documentary by the organization 10x10), and will around the same time have a roundtable discussion about international aid/volunteering, nonprofit work, and girls' education. We've invited several other student organizations with similar interests and goals as well as several teachers whose specialties could add an interesting dynamic to the discussion.
We are also planning on setting up an exhibit in our library of photographs from around SHOFCO as well as several pieces from the Ghetto Mirror, poems by the girls, videos, the Slum Tourism article written by Kennedy, and the annual report. We'll make this as interactive as possible to get the school thinking about the various aspects of SHOFCO, KSG, and Kibera.
Finally, we have two longer-term projects that we have been planning this semester. First we are planning on setting up a video pen-pal program between the after-school girls of KSG and "Girls in Motion," an after-school program for girls to start thinking about physical fitness and self-respect. Second, we are going to have an "article swap" in which Oberlin's school newspaper, the Oberlin Review, will print an article written by the Ghetto Mirror.
That's all we have, and it's keeping us busy!
Kennedy with SHOFCOberlin after speaking at a talk organized by the group.
Are you a college student hoping to bring the SHOFCO movement to your campus? Get in touch with us by emailing Nathan at Nathan@shininghopeforcommunities.org. He’ll help you get the club started and put you in touch with student leaders on other campuses like Oberlin!