Derreck Kayongo, a global health leader, social entrepreneur, and the co-founder of Global Soap Project, will present Carleton College’s weekly convocation address on Friday, April 18 from 10:50 to 11:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel. Entitled “Recycle Soap, Save a Village,” Kayongo’s talk is free and open to the public. Convocations are also streamed live and can be viewed online at go.carleton.edu/convo/.
A former Ugandan refugee, Kayongo created a global business vision out of his won challenging life experience. In 1979, when he was ten, his family fled the civil war in Uganda for a better life in America. He never forgot the experience of homelessness and living in a refugee camp, and today he has made it his mission to help save the lives of millions of children in developing countries, one bar of soap at a time. Each year, an estimated 3.5 million children die from illnesses like diarrhea and pneumonia, which can be prevented through improved hygiene and sanitation.
In 2009, Kayongo and his wife founded the Global Soap Project, which donates melted, purified, and reprocessed hotel soap to vulnerable populations, an astonishingly simple yet highly effective and sustainable approach to global health. Since establishing his non-profit, Kayongo has become known as a widely respected global health leader and social entrepreneur, and in 2011 he was among CNN’s “Top Ten Heroes” of the year. Prior to Global Soap, he served in leadership roles in some of the world’s top NGOs, including the American Friends Service Committee and Amnesty International. He currently serves as Senior Advocacy Coordinator with CARE International and is a regular columnist with The Huffington Post.
For more information about this event, including disability accommodations, contact the Carleton College Office of College Relations at (507) 222-4308. The Skinner Memorial Chapel is located on First Street between College and Winona Streets in Northfield.
