It Happened on the Way to War / Captain Rye Barcott’s extraordinary story
30th March 2011
A true story of sacrifice and courage and the powerful melding of military service and social entrepreneurship - It Happened on the Way to War.
In 2000, Rye Barcott spent part of his college summer living the Kibera slum of Nairobi, one of the largest in Africa. Over 200,000 people live in one square mile - the size of Central Park in New York. The average wage is less than a pound a day, and a typical size home for a family of five is ten by ten feet. He was a university student heading into the U.S. Marines, and he travelled to Kibera to understand better pressures between ethnic groups living there and ethnic violence - something he was likely to face later in uniform.
Anxious to help, but unsure what to do, Rye decided that finding leaders from within the Kibera community would be the most effective way to bring about change. He partnered with community organiser Salim Mohamed and nurse Tabitha Festo and cofounded a non-governmental organisation that would spark change from within Kibera and become a model of participatory development and youth empowerment.
Rye Barcott will be in the UK for events and media at the beginning of July.
For more information, email amelia.knight@midaspr.co.uk
Photo credit: Jason Arthurs
Book trailer credit: Beth-Ann Kutchma
