“Maasai at the crossroads”, determined Tourist returns to Kenya with much more

Pupils at the Esiteti primary school located in the the Kitirua area near the Amboselli National park in Kenya listen keenly in a classromm as they sit on the dusty floor.

By Harrison Maina, Ajabu Africa News

BOSTON, Mass, OCTOBER 27_Dumbfounded by the sight of an African teacher scribbling on dirt as he taught children under an acacia tree near Mt. Kilimanjaro, Teri Gabriselen is now ready to rumble with the deep seated desire to help after coming into contact with the sorry sight she witnessed 10 years ago in the otherwise beautiful Kenya.

After many years of planning and preparation, Teri will be holding a World University Premiere of a 45-minute documentary about enriching the lives of Maasai children through education while respecting their customs, traditions and way of life.

Featuring the producers and founder of Africa Schools of Kenya (ASK) who will answer questions, the “Maasai at the Crossroads” documentary will air at Hall D, Science Center, Harvard University, 1 Oxford Streeton Friday, October 30 starting 6pm.

During the premiere, MIT Media Lab spinoff, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) will do a demo of the XO laptop after the screening of the documentary.

When Gabriselen visited the Amboselli National Park 10 years ago and witnessed the unbelievable spectacle of a teacher teaching under a tree, she made a silent vow to herself that one day, she would return to bring whatever help she can for the furtherance of quality education for the maasai teacher, Joseph ole Kamete and children of the Esiteti school with it’s roots under an acacia tree.

Now, Teri is back, this time with a big plan!

A mother of two, Teri’s burning desire has been brewing in her as she raised her son and daughter, knowing that as soon as they are of age, she will waste no time other than embark on her mission.

As years progressed, Teri founded the ASK (African school for Kenya) in 2007.

In March of 2009, Teri organized a speaker program where about 9 African leaders visited the school and talked to the children as their role models.

Teri Gabriselen, Director of the ASK schools, greets the Maasai people during the filming of the "Maasai at Cross roads" documentary in Kenya

The program was also extended to the Eseteti School in April. The role models met with over 200 school children ages 3-12 and in some sessions, over 200 – 500 adults came to attend the talks.

The ASK School is currently located inside the wild life corridor at the Amboselli National park near the Kitirua area and plans are underway to relocate it to the Esiteti School inside the main village, in order to make it closer for the children.

A second school is already under construction and scheduled for completion in 2010. ASK is also building a health care facility to be run by either a doctor or a nurse practitioner and it’s scheduled to be completed at the end of 2010.

Awareness and passion for this inspiring story has been growing especially after two renowned filmmakers shot a documentary titled “Maasai at the Crossroads” that premiered one month ago at Teri’s house in Santa Barbara, California attended by a large crowd of curious guests.

"Produced by Joe Diesch and Kristin Jordan, “Maasai at the Crossroads” shows the choices that the Maasai are making to bring positive changes to their culture, education and the future."

It took Joe and Kristin three and half weeks to shoot the documentary during which time they interacted extensively with the Maasai.

Joe Dietsch in action during the filming of the "Maasai at Cross roads" documentary in Kenya

“It was a real surprise to me at how well we interacted with the Maasai. The people were incredibly open and willing to discuss issues in their lives with people like us and on camera,” said Joe on a telephone call with AjabuAfrica News.

One of the most surprising issues that Joe noted was the willingness of the Maasai to shed the retrogressive practice of female circumcision.

“The older generation is seriously considering it while the younger generation seems to be ready to move away from it as they are realizing that education is more important,” Joe said.

In the documentary, many women in the Maasai community said that sex was more meaningful and enjoyable before female circumcision; making many people including men want to try a change of culture.

The documentary got an added local dimension when a Kenyan teacher at Harvard University agreed to add to the efforts of Teri and her associates as a narrator in this unique film.

Kristin Jordan in action during the filming of the "Maasai at Cross roads" documentary in Kenya

The teacher, Professor Calestous Juma found the project intriguing since he was embarking on an almost similar project when Teri approached him to do the narration.

Juma is a professor of the Practice of International Development and Director of Science, Technology, and Globalization Project. He also directs the Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has been elected to several scientific academies including the Royal Society of London, the US National Academy of Sciences, the academy of Sciences for the Developing World, and the UK Royal Academy of Engineering. He has won several international awards for his work on sustainable development. He has written widely on science, technology, and environment.

Professor Juma had just spent the summer of 2009 building a school in Kenya called the Victoria Institute of Science and Technology (VIST).

VIST School is located in Kisumu town, and aims at training young people on how to create enterprises and jobs instead of just look for jobs that are not there in the first place. Prof. Juma hopes to attract more donations to continue developing the school to positively impact on many lives of the Kenyan youth.
 
As a result, Prof. Juma felt that the “Maasai at the Crossroads” by the ASK was a very noble idea that needed everyone’s input. He therefore agreed to do the narration.

Professor Juma , who handed a copy of the documentary to  the Kenyan prime minister, Hon. Raila Odinga during a recent visit to Harvard, will be moderating this Friday during the premier.

Juma lauded the efforts by Teri, Joe and Kristin to make the ASK a model project and asked Kenyans in the Diaspora to come and listen about why Teri returned to Amboseli to help a community build a school.

”Most tourists don't return to places they have visited. If you get to know why, we can learn more about how our shared empathy can be a stronger force for the global good than sympathy”.

Juma added that traditional aid programs are based on global sympathy and their impact has been so limited and often negative.

Professor Calestous Juma of Harvard University who is narrating in the “Maasai at the Crossroads” documentary

“Teri's approach is so different in this regard and can teach us a lot about how we can do more with less. I am sure that Kenyans is Diaspora will learn something from the story,” Juma told Ajabu Africa in an email.

The ASK has so far managed to raise about $110,000 and hopes to collect another $500,000 soon.

Serving as the Founder and Director of Africa Schools of Kenya (ASK), Teri currently resides in Santa Barbara, California with her husband and two adult children. Teri received her Multi-Subject Teaching Credential in Elementary Education and taught school for several years.

Later, she specialized in Account Management and worked extensively in the travel industry. She was Media Sales Manager for both Los Angeles Magazine, owned by American Broadcast Corporation (ABC) and Cosmopolitan Magazine, owned by Hearst Corporation. As an educator, Teri has traveled extensively throughout Kenya and was inspired to start an educational organization directly benefiting the children of Kenya http://www.askenya.org

Extra help
Teri’s efforts have been immeasurably complemented by the skills of, Joe Dietsch and Kristin Jordan, the two filmmakers behind the “Maasai at the Crossroads”.
 
Dietsch has been making movies since he was six years old, starting with a Hi8 camera, his friends, and Legos. Throughout high school, he worked with the Life Chronicles organization, filming and editing documentaries about the lives of terminally ill people. He recently graduated from Chapman University's film department and is currently working in Los Angeles as a director/editor on music videos, commercials, and short films. He is currently cutting the ASK documentary after a month long stay. http://www.joedietsch.com

Kristin Jordan grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. She discovered her love of film in the late 1990s as Turner Entertainment’s first high school intern. After receiving her B.S. and B.A. from CU Boulder, Kristin moved to Los Angeles to pursue her Masters in Journalism at USC. She produced, shot & edited several documentaries for USC’s award-winning cable television news magazine, including Joshua tree: A Place of Solitude about Joshua Tree Park being on the Top 10 Endangered National Park list for the three consecutive years.
She also filmed an independent documentary titled Hlabisa: An Unbroken Spirit about the daily struggles of the inhabitants of a remote, poverty stricken village; that’s the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in South Africa.

The ASK project has also attracted the input of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) organization who will stage a demo of the XO laptop after the screening of the documentary. The organization is planning to send these wireless computers to the Maasai children in Amboselli, giving them access to the external world.

”This is the power of the people,” said Terri on a telephone call to AjabuAfrica.com. Kenyans and their friends in the US are blessed with education and a lot of resources.

“It’s our turn to give back to the community and therefore we should come together since it is very difficult to do this work individually,” she added inviting Kenyans from around Boston to the premiere.

She said that ASK has a mission to develop a cross cultural exchange using the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program that will enable pupils in Kenya and those in America  to connect live  through technologies like video and tele-conferencing to share research findings on any given topic that they might get assigned to.

“We will develop a cross cultural curriculum from which students can learn different things from different locations and share it together,” Teri revealed to Ajabu Africa on the phone.

“Many big organizations like Cisco and Habitat for humanity are very much interested,” added the determined mother of two.

Teri said that it was encouraging to see that the Maasai are ready to make changes to their way of life after realizing that they can no longer depend on the animals for survival as it is not sustainable especially when drought strikes like the current one ravaging many parts of Kenya.

She added that the project is approaching big time donors especially the technology companies for more help because she plans to bring the ASK efforts to other parts of Kenya.

The ASK is planning on a trip to their projects in Kenya and is inviting anyone willing to join them to come.

As for the “Maasai at the Crossroads” Teri promised it would be a very exciting 45 minutes for anyone who makes it to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge on time.

If you are interested at experiencing this worthwhile and unique premiere, Ajabu Africa reccomends that you allow yourself ample time to get there because traffic in Cambridge at that hour can be a problem. A subway ride on the red line to Harvard square will also take a while although it will save you from parking hassles.

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