Latest News
Africa Schools of Kenya is accepted as a new member to the Fair Trade Federation. The Fair Trade Federation is the trade association that strengthens and promotes North American organizations fully committed to fair trade. The Federation is part of the global fair trade movement, building equitable and sustainable trading partnerships and creating opportunities to alleviate poverty.
Africa Schools of Kenya is featured on Socially Conscious Investing Radio. Socially Conscious Investing educates people on the growth of ethical business investments and governance. This show was born from Social Impact Marketing in order to share and inspire social responsibility in business.
Listen to the interview.
Article about ASK and the power of the bead sales has been published in Hand/Eye Magazine. “Beads don’t need grass, beads don’t need water, beads will sustain us”- these are the words that come from Lindi, an elder Maasai woman living at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. Lindi has walked for miles through the dusty and often dangerous landscape of Southern Kenya to meet with us; her feet tell a story in itself, revealing the bravery and strength necessary to endure the often-harsh reality of everyday life as a Maasai.
Read full article.
Africa Schools of Kenya launches BeadMarkets™ nationally. The women of Esiteti community now have a way to sell their traditional one-of-a-kind beaded jewelry giving this indigenous tribe a sustainable income so their children can attend school. You have the ability to change a child's life when you host a bead party. Please help make a dream come true.
Fed up with a rape epidemic and forced marriages, Rebecca Lolosoli created a village just for women in Kenya. When Rebecca Lolosoli won her right to a divorce this past December, 300 women gathered to celebrate. They roasted a goat in her village, Umoja, which the women founded 21 years ago for women only. No men are allowed to live here. Read full article.
Maasai at the Crossroads screened at Stanford University
On Thursday Feb. 24 Maasai At the Crossroads was featured in the Stanford African Students' Association 2011 Film Expo.
View the flyer (pdf)
Marc Bekoff's new book Kids & Animals: Drawings From the Hands and Hearts of Children & Youth showcases youth engaged in Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots programs in countries around the world. This inspirational book features drawings, writing, and activities and is the result of a happy collaboration between Bekoff and the Children, Youth and Environments Center at the University of Colorado and youth involved in the Roots & Shoots program.
Learn more about the book.
Maasai at the Crossroads awarded OFFICIAL BEST OF FEST AWARD. This distinction is awarded to the top 5% of independent films made around the world every year as defined by audiences, festival awards, reviewers/bloggers, and OFFICIAL BEST OF FEST international curators. Its mission is to identify the best of the best from all of the world’s film festivals and bring these deserving films to the public’s attention. www.officialbestoffest.com
Female Circumcision Still Eludes the Law
Consolata Nyansu, 11, is a girl in distress following pressure from her family to face the circumciser’s knife. Her uncle has vowed to make real his threats to have her forced to face circumcision despite undergoing an alternative rite of passage. Read full article (pdf).
BeadMarket™ Event with UCLA Sororities
On January 12, 2011 Kappa Alpha Theta will host the first ASK-sponsored BeadMarket™ at UCLA. Look for information on our website in early 2011 to learn how you can host a BeadMarket™.
Masaai at the Crossroads accepted into the Artivist Film Festival. Join us for the screening on December 4th at 2:45pm at the historic Egyptian Theater in Hollywood.
African Collaboration Group’s Quarterly Meeting Pools Resources and Discusses Programs. The African Collaboration Group (ACG), an organization that brings together the 30-plus Africa-oriented philanthropic groups based in the Santa Barbara area, is working on ways to bring African culture and awareness to the city. Read full article.
The next Service Trip to Kenya is scheduled for October, 2010
People representing ASK travel at least twice a year to work with the students of Esiteti School and its community members. If there is interest in joining us, please email us at
.
Join us on a two-week visit to Amboseli National Park and the surrounding Maasailand. Guests have the opportunity to participate in lesson plans with the students, go on safari in the National Park and stay in a lovely beach house on the Kenyan coast. Accommodations in Amboseli are at Tortilis Camp, which was voted one of the top Kenyan hotels in Travel & Leisure magazine. Total cost is approximately $3000, which is inclusive of all accommodations, food and transportation while in Kenya, excluding roundtrip fare to and from the States.
First teacher to be awarded a full scholarship for a Multi-Subject Teacher Certification. When Benard Musain Parmari completes Secondary School (High School) in 2012, he will be awarded a full scholarship to attend Deans Teacher Training College in East Kenya. Benard will be the third teacher at Esiteti School to receive their Multi-Subject Teaching Certification. Both Peter Smasaa and Luka Niibbaba of Esiteti School are currently on track to receive their certification by 2011 and 2012.
ASK featured in African Artists' Faire at Santa Barbara Museum of Art. ASK joined the Africa Collaboration Gathering members at 1st Thursday, May 6 at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in an event supporting local non-profits working in Africa! The Faire was covered in local media outlets, including the Santa Barbara Independent.
Maasai at the Crossroads submitted to Hollywood, Santa Monica, Boston, Los Angeles, New York City International Film Festivals and the Activist Film Festival in LA. Maasai at the Crossroads, narrated by Dr. Calestous Juma, is an intimate, insightful and heartwarming documentary about one of the last remaining traditional people in Africa, the Maasai. The documentary follows an experimental Speaker Program developed by an American woman, Teri Gabrielsen, founder of Africa Schools of Kenya (ASK), to better the education of the boys and girls at Esiteti School. ASK and numerous Kenyan educators and leaders immerse themselves into the everyday lives of the Maasai.
Teri Gabrielsen will be the featured speaker as part of UCSB's College of Engineering, 2010 Lecture Series, called, "The Tomorrow Makers," Change and Challenge for Entrepreneurs & Innovators on April 22 at Broida Hall. View video from the event.
ASK's founder Teri Gabrielsen will be part of a panel discussion titled "Catalytic Philanthropy" arranged by the Santa Barbara Foundation. The discussion will focus on those who have used their passions to mobilize for positive action. The panel took place March 25th at the Foundation's headquarters in downtown Santa Barbara.
ASK's
film Maasai at the Crossroads was a huge success at the SB Int'l Film Festival. Our two screenings packed full houses and a third screening was added. At all three events we sold Maasai jewery and raised over $1000 for the students of Esiteti School and their families. Read the press release.
Maasai people willing to stop Female circumcision, Documentary reveals
The revelation that the Maasai would be willing to shed off the decades’
old practice of female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation
(FGM) received a mixture of shock and praise during a question and answer
session soon after the screening of the Maasai at the Crossroads documentary
last week at Harvard University. Read
the full article.
Santa Barbara woman brings more education to Kenyan tribe. Across the world in Kenya, kids are eager to learn. Their future depends on it. So said Teri Gabrielsen, a Santa Barbara resident who visited the African nation more than 10 years ago. That was when she came across a teacher writing in the dirt under an acacia tree as he taught the children in his Maasai community near Mount Kilimanjaro. Ms. Gabrielsen said she decided that as soon as her son and daughter were grown that she would return there and help Maasai elder James Ole Kamete, who founded the Esiteti School.
Annual
ASK Ambassador Trip. The first Annual ASK Ambassador trip is scheduled for March 9-23, 2010. ASK
Donors are invited to join us on a two-week visit to East Kenya, including
one week at Esiteti School and a visit to the coast. We will celebrate the
first graduating class of Esiteti School by hiking to the top of Soit Naado
Hill. Accommodations in Amboseli National Park will be provided by Tortilis
Camp, voted one of the best Kenyan hotels in Travel & Leisure magazine.
All transportation within Kenya will be with KenyaAir. Itinerary is available
upon request. Total trip cost is $3000, not including airfare to and from
Nairobi.
Nairobi
Field Trip. Thirty students, accompanied by three teachers, traveled to Nairobi on their first field trip. They were guests at the home/retreat center of Njenga Mungai, founder of the Center for African Adventure
(CAA). They visited the University of Nairobi, the National Museum of Nairobi , Wilson Airport, Kenyatta Hospital, Sheldrick
Wildlife Trust, and more. Esiteti School adopted "Kibo," a three-week old orphaned elephant rescued near Amboseli National Reserve. Read about Kibo's rescue.
Official Roots & Shoots Club. Esiteti officially became the first Roots & Shoots Club started by Maasai
youth. Erasto Njavike, The JGI/Roots & Shoots Manager
for East Africa, was the opening speaker for the ASK
Speaker Program. He
kicked off the program by having the students and their parents plant 90
Acacia tree seedlings at their new school location. View
photos.
New state-of-the-art primary school scheduled to be completed May, 2011 in Boringoi. New school will have eight classrooms overlooking Mt. Kilimenjaro.See architectural plans.
Tentative Health Facility to be built in surrounding area of new school. See architectural plans.
