Ten Days in Kenya: A Johnson & Johnson Employee Gives Back

Jan 3, 2013 12:15 PM ET

JNJ BTW - Our People & Perspectives

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Happy New Year to our blog readers!  We’re kicking off 2013 by sharing a story about one of our employees, Melissa Katz, and her journey to Kenya to volunteer with the WISER school for girls.

Here’s what Melissa has to say:

The people who work at Johnson & Johnson are a special breed. We take our responsibilities seriously. “We have a responsibility to the communities in which we live and work and to the world community as well.” These are not just words on a page. We live it. We offer days off for volunteerism for employees to contribute to their community. Where and for what cause we volunteer is up to us.

Dr. Sherryl Broverman from Duke University tells us that if you want to end poverty, prevent disease, end hunger there is a one-size-fits-all solution:  Educate a girl.  I am a well educated woman. It wasn’t even a question that I would go to school past age 13 and then go to college. That is far from the situation in Muhuru Bay, Kenya.

Melissa will be blogging about her journey at www.educateagirl.blogspot.com. We hope you’ll follow along.