Latest News
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 October, 2010 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.
