Recent Events
Santa Clara University Students Fundraise for Girls Education
Santa Clara University students held a fundraising event at a local pizza parlor, Stuft Pizza on November 2, 2009. Fifteen percent of proceeds were given back to the student group Tuition for Tanzania, which works to support AfricAid.
Tuition for Tanzania is a student run organization committed to supporting education in developing countries, specifically Tanzania. They took on this project because its members were personally inspired by the statistic that only 5% of girls are able to receive a high school education in Tanzania.
In addition, Tuition for Tanzania sold handmade bracelets to fund primary school lunches. Attendees were excited that, for a purchase of $25, they could provide lunch for 750 students at a rural Tanzanian school. Raffle tickets were also sold during the event for prizes donated by Santa Clara University.
AfricAid thanks the leaders of Tuition for Tanzania for their commitment to supporting girls’ education in Africa!
Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro - Not Just Because It’s There
An AfricAid presentation on how families have combined the adventure of climbing Africa’s highest peak with service projects and fund-raising for schools and hospitals in Africa. Over the last 20 years, board members, family and friends of the Golden-based non-profit organization, AfricAid, have used the climb of Mount Kilimanjaro as an opportunity to raise over one million dollars in support of medical and educational needs in Tanzania. Several of them will describe how they have combined their passion for adventure with service.
When: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 7:00 PM-8:30 PM
Where: REI Denver Flagship Store (East), 1416 Platte Street, Denver, CO 80202
Giving Gifts while Giving Back
In November, AfricAid will have a booth at two local alternative Christmas fairs. What sets these fairs apart is that all the proceeds go directly to the charitable organizations at the fair. AfricAid will be selling handcrafted Tanzanian jewelry, Uhuru bracelets, Kisa project t-shirts, the children’s book On My Way to School, as well as other African items. When you buy gifts for your loved ones, you’ll also be supporting girls’ education in Africa.
Pax Christi Whole World Market
When: Nov. 7th, 9 AM to 7 PM and Nov. 8th , 9 AM to 1 PM
Where: Pax Christi Catholic Church, 5761 McArthur Ranch Road, Littleton, Colorado 80124
Alternative Christmas Fair
When: November 14-15th, 9 AM to 3 PM
Where: Evergreen Lutheran Church, 5980 Highway 73, Evergreen, CO 80439
2009 Kisa Film Festival
On October 25th, AfricAid held its first annual Kisa Film Festival at the Starz Film Center at the Tivoli in Denver. The festival featured the short, digital stories made by Coloradans who have a deep connection to Africa, along with the academy-award nominated African film, Binta and the Great Idea. The films introduced attendees to the highly personal medium of digital storytelling, which AfricAid will use as part of its new girls’ scholarship and leadership initiative, the Kisa Project, in order to create more meaningful and immediate communication between student and sponsor.
“Eat So They Can” for Africaid’s Losinoni School Lunch Program Oct. 17th or 18th !
Poverty is unkind and brutal, particularly when it affects children. Right now there are more than 400 million hungry children in the world. But together, through Eat So They Can , we can help make the eradication of poverty a reality in the 21st century and beyond. Eat So They Can is a global fundraising initiative that was started in 2007 by members of the Global Volunteer Network. Every year, Eat So They Can invites citizens of the world to share a meal with their friends and family to raise money to fight global hunger. This year, AfricAid was honored to be chosen as a host for the initiative. A portion of the proceeds from this worldwide event will be used to support our very own Losinoni School Lunch Program .
“Three Cups of Tanzanian Tea” with Greg Mortenson!
On September 20th, Greg Mortenson, New York Times #1 best-selling author of Three Cups of Tea and Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, helped AfricAid launch its exciting new Kisa Project. During the event, Greg gave a resounding and heartfelt endorsement of the new AfricAid program, speaking about his deep commitment to girls’ education in both Central Asia and East Africa.
“Once you educate the boys, they tend to leave the villages and go search for work in cities,” he said. “But the girls stay home, become leaders in the community and pass on what they’ve learned. If you really want to change a culture, to empower women, improve basic hygiene and health care, and fight high rates of infant mortality, the answer is to educate girls.”
In an inspiring show of support, Greg announced that he had already secured a $10,000 donation to help launch the Kisa Project, which AfricAid will initiate in January 2010. AfricAid is excited to launch this new initiative with Greg Mortenson’s enthusiastic endorsement and support, and we are grateful to our incredible supporters for all that they do to create hope and opportunities for young women in Africa.
Bluegrass Music to “Light Up Losinoni”!
On June 18th, AfricAid, the Evergreen Rotary Club and Evergreen’s Center/Stage joined together to present an exciting evening of bluegrass music. Featuring the original and compelling lyrics and melodies of John Erlandson, the foot-stomping gusto of the Hoofin’ High Country Cloggers, and the artistry and high-altitude energy of The O’Brien Family Band, the musical event served to help provide electricity, through solar power lighting, for the very first time to 750 children in their primary school in the remote Maasai village of Losinoni in Tanzania.
AfricAid thanks all those who helped make it such an enjoyable and successful evening: the Evergreen Rotary Club, and its steering committee of Bob and Brenda Hagerman, Hanna Holt and Marcia Walsh; Rib Crib Restaurant; and Gary Muse and Center/Stage. And a special thanks to all of those supporters of AfricAid and fans of wonderful bluegrass music who turned out for the event!
Colorado Academy’s AfricAid Club Pangaea Event
Colorado Academy’s AfricAid Club held its annual family-themed fundraising event on behalf of AfricAid on April 5th on the Colorado Academy campus. Teaming up with the Peruvian Hearts Club, this year’s event - “Pangaea: A Global Extravaganza” - was a wonderful evening of children and family activities celebrating Tanzanian and Peruvian art and music, with proceeds from the event going to support the educational needs of young women in Tanzania and orphans and other children living in poverty in Peru. Our thanks to Colorado Academy and all those who joined with the AfricAid and Peruvian Hearts Clubs to make this such a successful and fun evening!
“Somebody Like Me” Screened at Starz Film Center at the Tivoli
Ashley Shuyler’s film “Somebody Like Me” was shown in multiple screenings at the Starz Film Center at the Tivoli in Denver, Colorado on October 26th. “Somebody Like Me” follows a young Maasai woman who was the first in her remote village in Tanzania to go to secondary school, after she returns home to her village. The film, which was also selected for screening at Russia’s recently-held Moscow International Visual Anthropology Film Festival, documents the three weeks that Ms. Shuyler spent in this Maasai village last summer, recording their traditional ways of life, herding goats, fetching water and gathering firewood each day, and their rich cultural heritage. If you would like more information on how you can host a showing of “Somebody Like Me”, please contact us.
Ashley Shuyler Speaks at Fairleigh Dickenson University
On September 29th, AfricAid founder Ashley Shuyler had the opportunity to speak at Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU), a school that has been so supportive of AfricAid’s work on behalf of young women in Tanzania. While there, Professor Joan Desilets, a long-time supporter of AfricAid, arranged for Ashley to speak to speak to the FDU faculty about her research in Tanzania, and invited students to watch a screening of the film “Somebody Like Me.” During these presentations, Ashley was able to thank the students and faculty for all of their hard work in support of girls’ education in Tanzania.
Ashley Shuyler Presents at the Emma Willard School
On September 27th, AfricAid’s founder, Ashley Shuyler, joined a distinguished panel of speakers at Emma Willard School’s “Women, Power and Possibility” symposium. Located in Troy, New York, Emma Willard School is the oldest existing school in the U.S. to offer an academic curriculum exclusively to girls. The symposium, the second in a series, consisted of a panel of young women already making their mark around the globe. They examined the issues and challenges that women face when they translate their beliefs into action with commitment and conviction, and discussed their own experiences in that regard.
Ashley Shuyler Co-Hosts the 7th Annual Young Entrepreneurs Celebration Event
On September 25th, AfricAid founder Ashley Shuyler had the opportunity to co-host with KUSA 9News’ Greg Moss the 7th Annual Celebration for Young Entrepreneurs held in Denver, Colorado. An event to benefit the programs of Young Americans Center for Financial Education, the Celebration for Young Entrepreneurs is a business competition open to all youth ages 6-21 who have their own business in Colorado. One winner and two finalists are selected by a panel of independent judges in four age categories, and Ashley and Greg presented the awards to the finalists and the winners, along with introducing the Presenting Mentors, distinguished entrepreneurs dedicated to furthering the success of tomorrow’s business leaders who are paired with the winners in each age category. Ashley was a previous winner in 2002 of the Young Entrepreneurs Award.
Ashley Shuyler’s Film “Somebody Like Me” Screened
“Somebody Like Me”, the documentary film produced by AfricAid’s founder, Ashley Shuyler, was screened at the Rialto Theater in Loveland, CO on August 23rd. The film was shown in collaboration with an artist group from northern Colorado that came together to support a primary school in Tanzania that they visited in 2007. The group displayed a number of their works during the evening, with 50% of the sale proceeds of their art going to AfricAid. Our thanks go out to the wonderful members of this group and to all the AfricAid supporters who attended the screening and made it such an inspiring and successful event.
Colorado Academy’s AfricAid Club Annual AfricAid Benefit on 1/27/08
On Sunday, January 27th, Colorado Academy’s AfricAid Club hosted “Jamaa”: A Celebration of African Art and Culture”. Featuring an ethnographic film of Tanzanian Maasai village life created by AfricAid’s founder, Ashley Shuyler, along with African music, special children’s activities and exciting silent auction items from Africa, the “Jamaa” event (”jamaa” is the Swahili word for “family”) was the Club’s 7th annual benefit evening on behalf of AfricAid. Our thanks to Colorado Academy and to all of those who joined with the AfricAid Club to make this a wonderfully successful event!
3rd Annual AfricAid Holiday Bazaar on 11/29
AfricAid and the AfricAid Kids Team (AKT) hosted a festive holiday evening on November 29th supporting AKT and their vision for helping to provide educational opportunities in East Africa.
The event was held at Express Yourself in Evergreen, CO, and featured beautiful and unique African-inspired jewelry and crafts, lovingly made by the AKT kids, along with original Maasai jewelry, including keychains, bracelets and other Tanzanian items such as woven baskets, batiks and Christmas ornaments. All proceeds from the event will go to support education in Tanzania and the Losinoni School Lunch program. Thanks to all those who joined us in helping to support the work of these wonderful AKT team members!
Art Auction Fundraiser on 9/7/2007
AfricAid hosted a very successful Art Auction fundraising event ? Worlds Apart, United by Art ? on September 7th. Bringing together original African art and crafts and exciting works from several local Denver artists, the evening featured a special appearance by Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. Our thanks to all of the wonderful supporters who joined us for this wonderful and inspiring evening!
Special thanks go to the members of the Steering Committee for their generosity and hard-work in making this event a success: Elbra Wedgeworth, President of the DNC Host Committee, Alton Dillard of The Dillard Group, Christine Genovese of the Ink Media Group and Darby Donahue of Gourmet Fine Catering
