Mission
Africa Schools of Kenya (ASK) is an educational organization designed to increase awareness for Kenyan children on critical global issues such as healthy living, environmental sustainability, animal & wildlife conservation, and cultural diversity.
ASK is dedicated to enriching the lives of Maasai students at Esiteti Primary School, and its surrounding community, through education, economic initiatives, and cross-cultural exchange programs combining traditional Maasai values with 21st century technology. ASK believes education is a key component in eradicating poverty, and creating hope, dignity, and opportunity for these children. ASK’s goal is to create a sustainable education “model” that can be replicated throughout Maasailand.*
*Maasailand covers an area of approximately 100,000 square miles (160,000 kilometers) in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania with a population of over 400,000 Maasai people.
James
Ole Kamete, Founder of Esiteti School
James Ole Kamete is an elder Maasai living in the Kitirua, in South Kenya, outside Amboseli National Park. For over ten years, he has been instrumental in promoting education for children ages 4-15 in his community of 15,000 Kenyan Maasai. As people in Maasailand heard about children being educated, neighboring village children started to show up. Esiteti Primary School began with six children writing in the dirt under an Acacia tree. Today, Esiteti has 300 students and a state-of-the-art school is being completed with eight classrooms Kindergarten through 8th grade. James' goal is to instill the need for education among the youngest of the Maasai people.
Teri Gabrielsen, Founder and Director of Africa Schools of Kenya (ASK)
Teri received a BA in Psychology and a Multi-Subject Teaching Credential (K-6) in the late 70s. After teaching elementary school for several years, she switched careers and went into Advertising & Marketing. Teri was in account management, concentrating primarily on businesses in the travel industry. Teri moved into media sales, and became West Coast Sales Manager for ABC at Los Angeles Magazine and Cosmopolitan Magazine, owned by Hearst Corp. Teri travels to Kenya at least two times a year. While on safari in 1998, she was inspired by the Maasai and their interest in education. Since 2007, Africa Schools of Kenya (ASK), a non-profit founded and directed by Teri, has had a strong presence in East Kenya, working in conjunction with over 8,000 Massai and 300 children at Esiteti Primary School.
The Maasai Culture
Occupying the fertile grassland of the Rift Valley and surrounding uplands, the
pastoral and nomadic Maasai are probably the most renowned Kenyan tribe. For
centuries the Maasai have moved cattle in a constant search for water and fresh
grazing. Tall and lean with brilliant red cloths tied at the shoulder, the morani
(warriors) can usually be seen armed with a spear, sword or club. The enkang
is the basic economic and social unit of the Maasai, where a semi-permanent grouping
of several families live together in 10 to 20 huts encircled by an impenetrable
thorn fence. The low, circular huts (constructed by women in the group) consist
of interwoven branches plastered together with a combination of mud and cow dung.
Although the women are often seemingly in the background of the cultural context,
they are the backbone of the culture; they build houses and look after schoolchildren.
They also have influential roles in enabling girls to attend school.
ASK Board of Directors
Mary Ellen Kanoff
Mary Ellen Kanoff is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Latham & Watkins
and is a member of the Corporate Department, specializing in public and private
mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. Ms. Kanoff's merger and acquisitions
practice includes the representation of targets, bidders, private equity firms
and investors in strategic acquisitions and joint ventures in a variety of industries
including food and beverage, film, equipment, hospitality, technology and consumer
products. In the corporate finance area, Ms. Kanoff handles public and private
securities offerings and other financing transactions, representing issuers,
institutional investors and major investment banks. Ms. Kanoff regularly represents
companies and boards on, and is a frequent speaker on, corporate governance and
securities regulation issues. Representative clients include Nestle USA, Caterpillar
Inc., Jefferies & Co., Foster Poultry Farms and New Regency Pictures.
Nancy Walker Koppelman
Nancy sits on committees and advisory boards for several International
organizations including Direct Relief International, Women for Women International
and Human Rights Watch. She is an Ambassador for Arts and Lectures at the University
of California at Santa Barbara. Nancy served on the National Finance committee
for President Obama and continues to be active in political causes in the US
and worldwide.
Tim Melesi
Tim is the Director/Partner of Ker & Downey
Safaris, the oldest safari company in Africa. Tim was born in Mombasa,
Kenya, a remote coastal town on the Kenya/Tanzania border. He was educated
at boarding school in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania and later in England.
Tim traveled extensively throughout Africa and led many varied safaris such
as camel walks, fishing safaris, and tracking gorillas and chimpanzees in Rwanda
and Tanzania. Tim began his career with Ker & Downey Safaris over 20 years
ago when he first managed the on-location camp for the film, Gorillas in the
Mist.
Elizabeth Toro, M.D., M.P.H.
Elizabeth is a Board certified Obstetrician/ Gynecologist
who has volunteered her expertise in Maternal and Child Health in Latin America,
Southeast Asia and East Africa. She spent her last rotation in medical school
at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi and returned as an OB/GYN resident
to Kenya, volunteering at Tumu Tumu Hospital in 1986. Her humanitarian interest
has taken her to work in maternity wards in war zones, cervical cancer screening
programs in Central America and educational training programs in other developing
countries. She has done projects for her master thesis in female circumcision
and symphysiotomy practices in areas that lack surgical capabilities.
Sherry Villanueva
Sherry is a co-founder and principal of Twist Worldwide, a consumer
trend and intellectual property management agency. Passionate about
social justice, Sherry is actively involved in her community and in addition
to ASKenya, she sits on several non-profit boards including Direct Relief International,
Community Action Fund for Women in Africa, 1 in 6, and Santa Barbara High School
Education Foundation.