Brueggeman Fellowship Proposal: Ending Child Marriage

I got involved with the Brueggeman fellowship because I wanted to have an opportunity to investigate on ending child marriage, a subject that has impacted many young girls and women all over the world. Being accepted to the Brueggeman fellowship program is very competitive, so much so that during my year (2015-2016), there were only six students accepted into the program. Therefore, getting involved in the Brueggeman fellowship was a way for me to challenge myself and prove that a young girl from the slums of Kariobangi South could get a rare opportunity that would enable her to bring change to the world and her community.
As a Brueggeman fellow, each student chooses a topic of his/her choice and they are responsible for independently researching on their selected topic and networking with various organizations, which they would potentially work with to complete their independent study. After completing their research, the fellows then plan an international trip (funded by the fellowship program), travel and immerse themselves in the very communities where their research is based.

I chose to travel to Kenya because I believe that "charity begins at home" in that, in order to come up with strategies for ending child marriage, I needed to first start with my home country. I was especially drawn to Kenya because I knew that under different circumstances, I could have been the young girls who were married off to older men. Also, I have some relatives in the village areas who might be subjected to this social evil as a way to escape