Kenyans in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area have an opportunity to party for a good cause–to raise money to help fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. The event is scheduled to be held on July 3, 2008 at the Gallery Lounge in Silver Spring.
1000 Africans is a movement to make a difference through something we usually do anyway. Let us get together, have some fun, and leave feeling like we have made a difference. To learn more about the event, visit this site.
I normally talk about individuals, but I am compelled to show some love for this group for what they have achieved with their fame. Milele is a gospel group consisting of three guys, Kaima, Christian, and Harry, that is making waves. Based in California, they have parlayed their success into a philanthropic movement that is making a difference in Kenya.
Milele Family Homes is their first project. The aim is to unite orphaned children with adoptive parents. Newly formed families are given residential homes, located in average, safe and pleasant neighborhoods, to live in. This ensures that children who would have normally been living and struggling in the depths of poverty and isolation will be able to lead regular lives, interact with other children, and be valued and invested in as integral assets for the future.
They are garnering a large following in California and are impressive performers. To learn more about them, visit their site.
Now 35, Moses Ole Kinayia says it took him seven years longer than usual to get his master’s degree. He said those years were spent herding cattle in southern Kenya, where he grew up.
“My father did not want me to go to school,” said Kinayia, a member of the Masai tribal community. “Every year my father pulled me out of school during the dry spell just to follow animals.”The fourth of 36 children, Kinayia was the first in his family to attend elementary school. Sunday, Kinayia received a master’s degree in public administration from Seattle University in a ceremony at Qwest Field.
His father was in the hospital and unable to make the commencement but his mother, cousin and neighbor flew in.
“Though he continued to insist I should leave school, he continues to be my best friend,” Kinayia said of his father. The patriarch has since permitted several younger brothers and sisters to go to school.
That’s why Kinayia started a Seattle-based nonprofit organization called ELAND when he moved to Seattle in 2005 to start graduate school. Short for Education for Leadership and Network Development, the nonprofit funds scholarships for other Masai students. An eland is an African antelope with spiral, twisted horns.
“When you are educating one child, you are not just educating one person, you are educating a whole family and you empower a whole community,” he said.
Melissa Denmark, who lived with Kinayia’s family when she studied abroad in college, said if you could only see where he came from, you would understand why his graduation is such a worthy achievement.
Like most Masai people, Kinayia’s parents are nomadic cattle herders, moving from place to place in search of water and grass. His father had five wives. Kinayia grew up in a hut made of cow dung. English is his third language.
“Education isn’t looked upon as a priority” in Masai culture, said Denmark, who now serves on ELAND’s board. “A few people go through, but it’s not the traditional path.”
Denmark was so impressed by Kinayia in college that she and her husband ended up helping him pay college tuition in Nairobi, and then at Seattle University.
While earning his degree, Kinayia worked part time at the school’s reprographics department and started building ELAND. So far, the organization has raised $30,000, which funds tuition for five college students in Kenya, several of them girls. He also built a community-resource center to house a library and museum.
Kinayia hopes to help the Masai community diversify its economy beyond herding with knowledge and practical job skills.
“They have very little land for grass,” Kinayia said. “Now they are much more vulnerable to drought, famine, unpredictable weather conditions because of global warming.”
The Masai ceded most of their land to the British in a 1904 treaty. In recent years, herdsmen have protested for the Kenyan government to return the land.
Kinayia also wants to start a child-rescue program to prevent female genital mutilation and child marriages.
“I want to bridge the gap between here and there,” he said. “We no longer live in a world where a community can live in isolation. The global village affects everyone.”
With his degree focusing on nonprofit management, Kinayia says he understands how to work with donors in the U.S. and how to tailor programs that will make a difference in the Masai community.
He plans to stay in the U.S. for the immediate future. Right now he’s looking for a job with a nonprofit or trying to get ELAND fully funded.
“Eventually I will need to go back and walk among my people.”
Source: Seattle Times
Waridi is a former top model who now is committed to making a difference through her company, I-Magine, a company dedicated to imagining, and fulfilling the impossible. the company is dedicated to promoting awareness of HIV/AIDS among children and teenagers in Germany, and supporting developing projects in Kenya to help AIDS/HIV infected people become self-sufficient.
Waridi worked for UNICEF, and a charity project called “Afrikaherz” in Berlin before founding her company, so philanthropy is a big part of her mission. She recently hosted the Festival for African Fashion and Arts (FAFA) and it was well attended by Paris based designers Alphadi of Niger, Imane Ayissi of Cameroun and Paul Herve Elizabeth of Martinique, as well as Pathe’O of Ivory Coast, Tribe of Ghana, Modela Couture of Nigeria, and Espace Fagueye of Senegal. Local Kenyan design talent included Moo Cow, KooRoo, Sally Karago, John Kaveke, and KikoRomeo.
To learn more about her, visit her website.
Akbar Waljee was born and raised Nairobi, Kenya. He spent many years volunteering with the Kenya Red Cross, and at Kenyatta Hospital where his interest in medicine and gastrointestinal diseases flourished. Akbar graduated from Emory University with Bachelor of Science in Biology and his Doctor of Medicine. He completed his internal medicine residency training at the University of Michigan, and spent a year as faculty. He is now a Gastroenterology fellow at the University of Michigan, with an interest in inflammatory bowel disease. During his fellowship, he was awarded his Masters of Science in Health and Health Services Research, and plans to pursue a career in academic and clinical medicine.
Source: RJW Foundation
Mwende Edozie is originally from Migwani Location, Mwingi District in Kenya. She has resided in the United States for the past 15 years where, though far from home, she has maintained contact with Kenya. After witnessing the HIV/AIDS impact on Kenya, Mwende was moved to begin Twana Twitu. The rest is history. What began as a project would end up, a calling.
In May 2005, Mwende resigned from her corporate job to serve Twana Twitu more effectively. She was most recently an Assistant Vice President at a Wall Street Investment Bank where, as a primary writer for the Marketing Department, she focused on new business development. Mwende wrote and produced the company’s investment proposals as well as created and developed the firm’s sales and marketing brochures.
She serves on the International Council for Orphans International Worldwide. Mwende is also a member of the Kenya National Economic and Social Council (NESC), a Presidential advisory board focused on socioeconomic development. As Twana Twitu’s Founder and Chairperson, Mwende provides leadership, strategy and direction for the organization’s development.
She lives with her husband Emeka, and their sons, Uzoemezie “Mezz” and Nnameka Jaden, in Upstate New York. As a mother of two, her interests in this project are heartfelt and her commitment unparalleled.
