Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum

by Kennedy Odede, Jessica Posner

Overview

The New York Times–bestselling, inspiring true story of how one couple’s love changed a community.

Growing up homeless in Kibera, a slum in Kenya, Kennedy Odede received a book of Martin Luther King’s speeches that changed his life and inspired him to start Shining Hope for Communities, a local youth group. Several years later, irrepressible Wesleyan student Jessica Posner traveled to Kenya to work with SHOFCO. Soon, she and Kennedy fell in love. After returning to Wesleyan, Jessica discovered that Kennedy was threatened by political violence. She helped him escape by convincing Wesleyan’s admissions committee to offer him a full scholarship.

Once they’d finished college, Kennedy and Jessica returned to Kibera to found a school for hundreds of its most vulnerable residents: girls. They later opened a sister school in another slum, Mathare. With help from the community and donors around the world, they also provide water, health care, and entrepreneurial programs to tens of thousands in both places, and are determined to improve the lives of countless more.

Tender and inspiring, Find Me Unafraid vividly illustrates the power we all have to impact the world, and stands as a testament to the transformations made possible by true love.

Praise for Find Me Unafraid

“This book offers the greatest of all gifts—hope.” —Gloria Steinem

“An extraordinary book.” —Chelsea Clinton

“Suspenseful and absorbing, this true story of a man and woman from two different worlds reveals how dramatically circumstances can change.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062292872
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/11/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	338
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Kennedy Odede is one of Africa's best-known community organizers and social entrepreneurs. Kennedy is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, and a trustee of Wesleyan University.

Editorial Reviews

Suspenseful and absorbing, this true story of a man and a woman from two different worlds reveals how dramatically circumstances can change.” — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“A well-wrought, inspiring tale of ‘change and justice’ in a part of the world where they are often sorely lacking.” — Kirkus Reviews

“The past is not predictive, not when there are dreamers and doers, leaders and builders like Kennedy and Jess. Find Me Unafraid is an extraordinary book, courageously honest about their challenges, their victories, their losses and their achingly beautiful love.” — Chelsea Clinton

“Find Me Unafraid tells the story of hundreds of girls flourishing-and by example, bringing their communities along with them—all because Jessica and Kennedy, two people from different lives, believed that every girl matters. This book offers the greatest of all gifts—hope.” — Gloria Steinem

“Find Me Unafraid is a bright beacon, an important tale of perseverance, calling for the female leadership Africa needs and must have. Kennedy and Jessica’s vision is creating this next generation of women who will lead Kenya, our continent and the world.” — Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, President of Liberia

“Find Me Unafraid is an astounding story of love, hope, inspiration and triumph. It is a mesmerizing love story; two young people from very different cultures join forces to build a life together—and a new life filled with promise for others. I don’t think either of them understand the word ‘impossible.’ ” — Mia Farrow

“Find Me Unafraid is a powerful reminder of an individual’s capacity to make a meaningful difference in the world around them. Kennedy and Jessica’s inspiring words are a soaring call to action for anyone who has confronted seemingly insurmountable odds — and found hope.” — Senator Cory Booker

“Kennedy and Jessica’s life and love story is humbling. It shows the power and beauty of transforming yourself in the course of transforming other people’s lives, even in the most challenging circumstances. Their experiences demonstrate the value of working collectively, and prove that meaningful change must begin from the community.” — Graça Machel, child rights and social justice advocate, co-founder of The Elders

“Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner are true modern day heroes. They’ve built a beacon of hope that penetrates the deepest recesses of poverty’s darkest alleyways.” — Lonnie and Muhammad Ali

“Kennedy Odede’s remarkable story of survival, from a glue-huffing street kid to a humble hero to the poor, is sure to inspire the next generation of activists and leaders. Remember his name.” — Bryan Mealer, co-author of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

“Kennedy and Jessica and the work of Shining Hope for Communities bear testimony to the legacy of my mother, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai. Jessica and Kennedy are creating a community of hummingbirds that will create the Kenya, and world, my mother envisioned.” — Wanjira Mathai, Chair Greenbelt Movement

“Find Me Unafraid is a resounding tale calling for hope in a world that needs it desperately. With guts and determination, [Kennedy and Jessica] have forged a path that the world must follow. This is a rare story, filled with passion and the pursuit of justice and peace.” — Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Prize Winner

From the Publisher

Find Me Unafraid is a bright beacon, an important tale of perseverance, calling for the female leadership Africa needs and must have. Kennedy and Jessica’s vision is creating this next generation of women who will lead Kenya, our continent and the world.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Kennedy Odede’s remarkable story of survival, from a glue-huffing street kid to a humble hero to the poor, is sure to inspire the next generation of activists and leaders. Remember his name.

Bryan Mealer

Find Me Unafraid is an astounding story of love, hope, inspiration and triumph. It is a mesmerizing love story; two young people from very different cultures join forces to build a life together—and a new life filled with promise for others. I don’t think either of them understand the word ‘impossible.’

Mia Farrow

Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner are true modern day heroes. They’ve built a beacon of hope that penetrates the deepest recesses of poverty’s darkest alleyways.

Lonnie and Muhammad Ali

Find Me Unafraid is a powerful reminder of an individual’s capacity to make a meaningful difference in the world around them. Kennedy and Jessica’s inspiring words are a soaring call to action for anyone who has confronted seemingly insurmountable odds — and found hope.

Senator Cory Booker

Kennedy and Jessica’s life and love story is humbling. It shows the power and beauty of transforming yourself in the course of transforming other people’s lives, even in the most challenging circumstances. Their experiences demonstrate the value of working collectively, and prove that meaningful change must begin from the community.

Graça Machel

Find Me Unafraid tells the story of hundreds of girls flourishing-and by example, bringing their communities along with them—all because Jessica and Kennedy, two people from different lives, believed that every girl matters. This book offers the greatest of all gifts—hope.

Gloria Steinem

The past is not predictive, not when there are dreamers and doers, leaders and builders like Kennedy and Jess. Find Me Unafraid is an extraordinary book, courageously honest about their challenges, their victories, their losses and their achingly beautiful love.

Chelsea Clinton

Kennedy and Jessica and the work of Shining Hope for Communities bear testimony to the legacy of my mother, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai. Jessica and Kennedy are creating a community of hummingbirds that will create the Kenya, and world, my mother envisioned.

Wanjira Mathai

Find Me Unafraid is a resounding tale calling for hope in a world that needs it desperately. With guts and determination, [Kennedy and Jessica] have forged a path that the world must follow. This is a rare story, filled with passion and the pursuit of justice and peace.

Leymah Gbowee

Kennedy and Jessica’s life and love story is humbling. It shows the power and beauty of transforming yourself in the course of transforming other people’s lives, even in the most challenging circumstances. Their experiences demonstrate the value of working collectively, and prove that meaningful change must begin from the community.

Graça Machel

This inspiring story of two young people's efforts to meaningfully help the underprivileged is fittingly narrated with elegance and respect. The stark difference between Korey Jackson's voicing of Kennedy Odede and Mandy Siegfried's reading of Jessica Posner underscores the drastically disparate worlds from which the authors originate. Jackson's strong, confident tone for the scenes in Kenya authentically portrays a young Odede, who is established as a beloved leader in his slum of Kibera. Jackson then switches to a tone of childlike wonder and amazement when Odede travels to the United States for the first time. His convincing portrayal is funny and heartwarming as well as startling when listeners hear how America appears to an outsider. A wonderful production worthy of listening to multiple times. J.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2015 - AudioFile

2015-06-16
An impassioned tale of how an unusual Kenyan NGO became globally galvanized by the romance between its embattled Nairobi director and a resolute young Wesleyan University student. Hailing from the Kibera slums and facing enormous obstacles, Odede managed to start the Shining Hope for Communities program, offering support to a community in crisis. Posner, an American student from a well-off Denver family, in turn became the COO of the program. The two alternate telling this uplifting and courageous story of how they met and fell in love. Odede is truly a survivor of the worst kind of marginalization of the invisible poor in the Kibera slum ("survival was improbable"). Born to an unmarried teenage woman (a breech birth, no less, one of the many miracles in his life), Odede eventually ran away from home at age 10 after being unable to stand any more abuse at the hands of his stepfather. Years of street life, theft, and drugs drove him to seek help from the white missionaries, and he eventually received the funds for an education. Posner arrived at the SHOFCO office for a Wesleyan internship in 2007, determined to brave the appalling living conditions of the slum (open sewers, rats and other vermin, scant water, complete lack of privacy) and cohabitate with Odede in disarming chastity. The authors tell a moving love story that crosses a chasm of different cultural beliefs and expectations, culminating in Odede's refuge at Wesleyan with a full scholarship. He had to flee his country after nearly being murdered by ethnic-driven gang violence following the rigged election of President Mwai Kibaki. Aside from the authors' developing romance, what is so impressive is Odede's commitment to the empowerment of young women after seeing so many rapes, violence, and indignities inflicted on the women in his own family. A well-wrought, inspiring tale of "change and justice" in a part of the world where they are often sorely lacking.

Kirkus Reviews