Tina Brown’s sixth Women in the World Conference is in full swing at Lincoln Center in New York.

On Friday, Eunice Akoth brought down the house, sharing poetic thoughts about her unbridled determination and confidence to rise above the difficult circumstances for girls in Kibera, one of the world’s biggest slums outside of Nairobi, Kenya.

Eunice is a sixth-grader at The Kibera School For Girls, (see website) one of two charities targeted for support by Anne of Carversville and me personally.

Besides hearing Eunice Akoth’s stirring oratory, the audience also heard from the husband and wife team of Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner Odede who operate the Shining Hope For Communities foundation — which pairs free education with health care, clean water, and other social services in Kibera.

Kennedy founded in 2004, after saving 20 cents to buy a soccer ball as a way of getting people together. His goal was simple: gender equality, making the world better for his mother and sister.

Kibera’s young men love soccer, and Odede decided to take his gender equality message to the game. ‘Everybody loves their mom,’ Kennedy explains. ‘I asked them, ‘Do you like the way your mother and sister are being treated? No? So let’s change it!’

SHOFCO now services a population of 76,000 in Kibera. There is housing for young women who are victims of sexual violence at home. A clinic provides quality healthcare and theatrical/cultural programs attract members of the community to the campus.

Odede, believes that his formula of creating a girls’ school that provides a wide range of social services, has the potential to transform slums beyond Kibera. This initiative was new news at the conference. SHOFCO is supported by the Clinton Global Initiative, insuring a broad range of support services to create a boiler plate model for success.

Odede closed the presentation with important words for the Women in the World conference: