In Dandora, Kenya, a sprawling neighborhood in Nairobi, housing for 250,000 people is built around the city’s largest dumpsite. Life near a large trash heap exposes the population to problems ranging from illness to unemployment to extreme poverty.Many of the town’s residents spend their days wading in the trash, looking for bits of aluminum and plastic that they can exchange for a few dollars to support their family. Others, typically women, run roadside stands selling goods like fruit or medications. For many families, the profits from these microenterprises are the only way to put food on the table or to send children to school.Notre Dame and its Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity have been invested in Dandora for several years. Research projects and a Holy Cross parish have taken root. In speaking with the local population about their needs, the Ford Program asked a trio of Notre Dame economists — Wyatt Brooks, Kevin Donovan and Terry Johnson — to come to Dandora to explore problems surrounding unemployment.For more information: http://ntrda.me/FFEndPoverty
More from What Would You Fight For?
- 2:01Fighting for Shakespeare for AllWhen Christy Burgess started the Robinson Shakespeare Company at Notre Dame's Robinson Community Learning Center in 2008, skeptics told her the local kids - the children of professors, of police officers, of felons - would never willingly study or perform Shakespeare.Fast forward several years and the Robinson Shakespeare Company just returned from a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, the home of the famous bard, and led a workshop at the Globe Theatre in London. Needless to say, their enthusiasm for Shakespeare is unparalleled.But perhaps even more success has come from how it has changed the performers. They've learned skills in communication, confidence, working as an ensemble, and stepping out of their comfort zones. As Notre Dame's international Shakespeare scholar Prof. Peter Holland believes, they've proven the lessons of Shakespeare transcend all barriers and that Shakespeare's messages of love, hate and division still ring true today.Learn more: https://fightingfor.nd.edu/2017/fighting-for-shakespeare-for-all/
- 1:31What Would You Fight For?: 10 Year AnniversaryFor ten years we've partnered with NBC to show you the people of Notre Dame who remind us what we stand for, what we strive for and what we fight for.Here's a look back at some of the causes we've fought for and people who have led the charge. See more at: http://ntrda.me/FightingForAnniversary
