KSG student named ‘Person of the Year’ by ABC News

Rye Barcott, a student at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and founder of a nonprofit that works to improve the quality of life in one of Africa’s largest slums, has been named a 2006 “Person of the Year” by ABC News.

Barcott, who founded Carolina for Kibera Inc., also known as CfK, was named a “Person of the Week” by ABC News in October 2006 for his work establishing and growing Carolina for Kibera since he first visited the slum in 2000.

Home to as many as a million people, the slum is on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. Carolina for Kibera started as a youth athletic league but has grown to offer health services, an AIDS and reproductive health awareness center for teenage girls, and a garbage recycling program. A nursery school, started through CfK’s efforts, has since become independent.

CfK serves roughly 25,000 people, according to Barcott, and was recognized by Time Magazine in 2005 as a “Hero of Global Health.”

– Alvin Powell