“We don’t think life can be more bad than here in Kenya right now…. we wish this to end soon,” says Joyce a 19-year-old Congolese refugee and single mother of two. In 2009, at the age of 15, Joyce and her family fled the war in Umoja, Democratic Republic of Congo in search of safe land. One day they heard on the radio that there was safety in Kenya. After two months of traveling, they arrived in Nairobi, with only enough money for some food, transport and the clothes on their back. After registering with the United Nation’s High Commission for Refugees and the government’s... Continue Reading >>
Shikha, a native of India, has called the Bay Area home since age 12, but considers herself a Global Citizen at heart. Having traveled to 40+ countries, she has a mild obsession with travel, exploration and adventure. Through her journeys in the developed and developing world, Shikha has always come away with the same conclusion: we are all more similar than different, and what really differentiates us is opportunity, access, and infrastructure. If there was a way to change this, would we really be that different? Shikha graduated from U.C. Berkeley, with a B.A. in Psychology. She has worked both in the public and private sector, always with a connection to the underserved. Recently her passion to give back, coupled with her curiosity to find cross-cultural equalizers, led her to join Cisco’s Global Education Philanthropy group. Here, she experienced first-hand how access to quality education helps individuals from disadvantaged communities change their future and participate on a global stage. She sees a huge parallel between education and microfinance – both are empowering and sustainable change agents in breaking the cycle of poverty. Shikha is thrilled to serve as a Kiva Fellow in Kenya. She speaks Hindi and French and looks forward to learning Swahili.
Fellows Blog Posts by Shikha Dubey
Aug 8, 2014
Kenya
“We don’t think life can be more bad than here in Kenya right now…. we wish this to end soon,” says Joyce a 19-year-old Congolese refugee and single mother of two. In 2009, at the age of 15, Joyce and her family fled the war in Umoja, Democratic Republic of Congo in search of safe land. One day they heard on the radio that there was safety in Kenya. After two months of traveling, they arrived in Nairobi, with only enough money for some food, transport and the clothes on their back. After registering with the United Nation’s High Commission for Refugees and the government’s... Continue Reading >>
“We don’t think life can be more bad than here in Kenya right now…. we wish this to end soon,” says Joyce a 19-year-old Congolese refugee and single mother of two. In 2009, at the age of 15, Joyce and her family fled the war in Umoja, Democratic Republic of Congo in search of safe land. One day they heard on the radio that there was safety in Kenya. After two months of traveling, they arrived in Nairobi, with only enough money for some food, transport and the clothes on their back. After registering with the United Nation’s High Commission for Refugees and the government’s... Continue Reading >>
Jun 11, 2014
Kenya
Nowhere is the spirit of Entrepreneurship more rampant than in Gikomba market. Gikomba is the largest second-hand clothes market in East Africa. This open-air market located near the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi is home to hundreds of traders. The traders are small retailers that sell second-hand clothing they purchase from larger distributers for a small profit. This is a bustling market and on any day, you can hear retailers shouting over each other trying to attract customers to their stall. Recently the market has been plagued with multiple disasters. In mid-March... Continue Reading >>
Nowhere is the spirit of Entrepreneurship more rampant than in Gikomba market. Gikomba is the largest second-hand clothes market in East Africa. This open-air market located near the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi is home to hundreds of traders. The traders are small retailers that sell second-hand clothing they purchase from larger distributers for a small profit. This is a bustling market and on any day, you can hear retailers shouting over each other trying to attract customers to their stall. Recently the market has been plagued with multiple disasters. In mid-March... Continue Reading >>