Earth Institute News Archive
posted 01/17/03
Columbia
College and The Earth Institute Present a Photo Exhibit Documenting Life
for Young Girls Living in The Slums of Kenya, Africa
Nane Annan, lawyer, artist
and wife of Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, to be the guest
speaker at the January 30 reception.
"The mother of these children is a single parent. In order to get food, she must go out and look for money from men. The kids are not healthy since the mother does not feed them properly. Sometimes they only get supper. No breakfast or lunch. When they get sick, nobody takes care of them. So, they must take care of each other. That is why you see in the picture the young girl caring for the younger child. But, this girl is too young to be so responsible." Photo and text by Judy, Age 18
WHAT: An exhibition of 80 photographs taken by girls attending the Binti Pamoja Center in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. The Center put cameras in the hands of teenage girls living under some of the harshest conditions and asked them to capture the images that tell the stories of their lives. Each photo is accompanied by a description of the image and its meaning written by the photographer. These unvarnished, first-hand depictions confront the uncompromising reality that young women in Kibera face: AIDS, rape, gender-based violence, marginalization and unplanned pregnancy. The exhibit celebrates the perseverance of the human spirit in the most austere of conditions, while giving viewers unprecedented insight into the lives and challenges of young women in one of the world's largest and most volatile slums.
This exhibition 'frames' many of the goals of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, which is mobilizing the sciences and public policy in pursuit of a sustainable future, especially for the world's poor. More than 800 earth, life and social scientists and engineers are working together through the Earth Institute to reduce poverty, hunger, disease and environmental degradation. In all it does, the Earth Institute remains mindful of the staggering disparities between rich and poor nations and the tremendous impact that global-scale problems - from the AIDS pandemic to climate change to extreme poverty in much of the developing world - will have on all nations.
WHEN: Opening reception is January 30, 2003, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
WHERE: Columbia University, Lerner Hall, Room 555
WHO: Founded by Columbia alumna Karen Austrian (Columbia College '02) and Emily Verellen (American University '02) in May 2002, The Binti Pamoja (Daughters United) Center works with teenage girls living in Kibera, a slum of Nairobi, Kenya, to promote women’s rights and reproductive health.
Karen Austrian graduated from Columbia University in New York City with a degree in Women’s and Gender Studies and a minor in Psychology. In NYC, Austrian coordinated an advocacy organization for low income and homeless in the neighborhood and she currently works as a case manager for the Partnership for Homeless’s Family Resource Center, a program for families transitioning out of shelters and into permanent housing. Austrian spent the spring of 2001 as a student at the School for International Training’s Kenya ˆ Culture and Development Semester, where she did research and community outreach with a family planning clinic and interned at FEMNET, an African women’s rights NGO. In the spring of 2002, Austrian was awarded the Henry Evans Traveling Fellowship by Columbia University, and, together with Verellen, returned to Kenya to implement and facilitate Phase One of the Binti Pamoja Center. Austrian speaks both Swahili and Shen’g, the language of Nairobi’s urban youth.
Emily Verellen, graduated from American University in Washington, D.C., with a degree in International Development, Anthropology and Communications. While in D.C., Verellen was involved in various youth development programs and worked at Human Rights Watch Africa Division and the International Center for Journalists. Verellen now lives in NYC where she is the Youth Leadership Fellow at Common Cents, running a fundraiser in New York City schools and organizing the students to use the money they raise to implement community service projects in their neighborhoods. Verellen was also a student at the School for International Training’s Kenya ˆ Culture and Development Semester in the spring of 2001 where she conducted a research project with street children in Nairobi. In the summer of 2002, she returned to Kenya to implement and facilitate Phase One of the Binti Pamoja Center. Verellen speaks both Swahili and Shen’g.
Mrs. Nane Annan, born in Stockholm, Sweden, was trained as a lawyer and worked from 1969 in the Swedish Court System. She became an Assistant Judge at the Administrative Court of Appeal and worked also in legislative projects, such as the Swedish Commission on Ethnic Discrimination. In 1981, she joined UNHCR in Geneva as a legal officer, serving until 1983 when she moved to New York to pursue painting. Although she remains deeply interested in art, her primary focus is now on the concerns of the United Nations. When she travels with her husband, she visits UN projects, particularly those devoted to the alleviation of poverty. She is especially interested in projects where women have a chance to pull themselves out of poverty, knowing that this will not only benefit the women but also their children.
The Earth Institute at Columbia University is among the world’s leading academic centers for the integrated study of Earth, its environment, and society. The Earth Institute builds upon excellence in the core disciplines—earth sciences, biological sciences, engineering sciences, social sciences and health sciences—and stresses cross-disciplinary approaches to complex problems. Through its research, training and global partnerships, it mobilizes science and technology to advance sustainable development, while placing special emphasis on the needs of the world’s poor.