Media Center
Visit this page often to see the latest AfricAid and AfricAid-related media!
We have a wide range of content to provide our supporters an interactive look into the mission of AfricAid. Check out our communications with our supporters, coverage from the media, and testimonials from Tanzanians who have been affected by AfricAid’s work.
Latest Media Coverage
AfricAid Founder Speaks at United Nations
In early August, AfricAid Founder, Ashley Shuyler, had the opportunity to present at the United Nations Youth Assembly. While there, she spoke to over 600 attendees from around the world about her work with AfricAid, focusing on the importance of educating women as part of the Millennium Development Goals and encouraging other young people to take action in their communities. During the question and answer session that followed, one high school student asked Ashley how she could support girls’ education in her Chinese home town; another young man asked if AfricAid would consider starting a branch in Mali. Ashley reported that “the afternoon was thoroughly inspiring, with so many young people gathered at the UN who are committed to building a better future for their home communities around the world.”
AfricAid Presents at the 2010 eLearning Africa International Conference
AfricAid’s IT Manager, Louis Gutierrez, was honored to be a featured speaker at the recent 5th Annual eLearning Africa 2010 International Conference held in Lusaka, Zambia. eLearning Africa is the largest pan-African conference on Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for education and training, and is a key networking event for investors, experts in education and providers of education and training in Africa. International organizations such as the African Virtual University, the World Bank Institute and the United Nations Environment Programme were on hand to make presentations to the more than 1800 education professionals who attended the Conference from 78 countries all over the world.
Louis’ presentation discussed how AfricAid has used the NComputing virtual desktop computer solution to overcome the obstacles that most schools in Africa face in trying to bring information technology into the classroom. He also demonstrated how AfricAid has used ICT, in conjunction with its innovative Kisa Project website (www.kisaproject.org), to give students in Tanzania the ability to connect with sponsors and others here in the U.S. and take part in a meaningful cross-cultural dialogue.
A video was played at the Opening Plenary Session of the Conference that featured AfricAid, Louis, and students and faculty at AfricAid’s first two Kisa partner schools, Arusha Secondary School and Moringe Secondary School. The video discussed the difference that computer installations such as AfricAid’s Kisa Project are making in the educations of African youth. Click here to watch this inspirational video.
AfricAid and She’s the First!
Over 95% of women in Tanzania are unable to finish their high school education. But Elizabeth David will not be one of them. Elizabeth was recently given the rare opportunity to improve her own future and to use her story to encourage other girls, as well. That, and so much more, was made possible by She’s the First, which recently sponsored a benefit concert, GIRLS WHO ROCK, with the profits going toward AfricAid’s Kisa Project. Held in New York City on June 10th, the concert raised enough money to sponsor six one-year high school scholarships that will be given to three Tanzanian girls to carry them through a full two-year Kisa leadership program.
AfricAid was chosen as the concert’s beneficiary in honor of its new Kisa Project, a ground-breaking initiative that enrolls girls in leadership training and digital storytelling workshops, where they learn to share their lives with their sponsors through rich, vivid videos. Seventeen Magazine was in attendance to capture the red carpet events with interviews and photos of the evening’s many amazing performers, including MoZella and Kat DeLuna. If you couldn’t be there in person, or watch the live feed, you can see the wrap video here. The concert generated such a great deal of publicity that Glamour Magazine featured GIRLS WHO ROCK on their online blog, and Media Global, a United Nations publication, also published an article on the event and the work of AfricAid in Tanzania.
AfricAid’s Kisa Project and ShesTheFirst Featured on envisionGood.tv
In an interview on envsionGood.tv, Tammy Tibbets of ShesTheFirst talks about the upcoming benefit concert for ShesTheFirst called Girls Who Rock New York. The concert, which takes place in New York City on June 10, 2010, aims to raise brand awareness for ShesTheFirst, and raise funds for the selected beneficiary, AfricAid’s Kisa Project. To see the story and view Ashley Shuyler’s video for the Kisa Project, click here.
Ashley Shuyler Featured in a Capitalist Chicks Podcast
In an article and accompanying podcast carried by Capitalist Chicks, a newsletter blog devoted to women in the business arena, Ashley Shuyler recounted her work with AfricAid, and talked in particular about the impact that AfricAid’s new Kisa Project will be having in the lives of young Tanzanian women, and in the lives of their sponsors here in the U.S. “I think that one of the most important things for people to know about this type of work is that there are so many opportunities for true partnerships, and meaningful relationships,” she says. Those partnerships are at the heart of the Kisa Project. To read the newsletter article, click here. To listen to the podcast, click here.
AfricAid Brings Cutting-Edge Computing to the Children of Tanzania
That’s the title of a recent case study on AfricAid’s use of innovative technology in its new Kisa Project, published by NComputing, a leading global provider of low-cost, virtual desktop technology. Led by Louis Gutierrez, AfricAid’s IT Manager, the installation of the NComputing technology in the computer labs at the first two Kisa Project schools in Tanzania has already begun to revolutionize the learning experiences of thousands of young students there. By providing low-cost, low-energy, easily maintainable PC access to students in a replicable fashion, AfricAid has made it possible for its Kisa Scholars to connect with their US sponsors through the internet, and made the benefits of modern computer technology available to all the school’s students. To read the case study, click here.
Ashley Shuyler and AfricAid Featured on envisionGood.tv
Ashley Shuyler’s work with AfricAid was recently featured on envisionGood.tv, an organization whose mission is to educate, entertain, and inspire viewers by providing video interviews, behind-the-scenes insights, and personal profiles of social entrepreneurs & extraordinary people who are changing the world. To view the video, please click here.
AfricAid’s New Kisa Project Featured on Colorado Public Radio
Ashley Shuyler had the opportunity to talk today about AfricAid’s new Kisa Project on CPR’s Colorado Matters. The program can be heard online here.
The program also featured short segments from several of the digital stories created by 12 Coloradans about their various connections to Africa that were screened last month at AfricAid’s Kisa Film Festival at Denver’s Starz Film Center at the Tivoli. Videos like these will be an important aspect of the Kisa Project, helping to both better educate those in the U.S. with the realities of life in Africa, as well as create a meaningful and immediate connection between the Kisa Scholars in Tanzania and their American sponsors. The complete videos can be viewed here.
Recent Press Releases
Bazi Kanani Joins the Board of Directors of AfricAid, June 2010
Kent Redding Joins the Board of Directors of AfricAid, June 2010
AfricAid Hosts First Annual Unwrap-A-Story Twitterbration to Support Girls’ Education in Africa November 24, 2009
AfricAid announces the Unwrap-A-Story “twitterbration” to support girls’ education in Africa. Running from December 8th to 11th, the three-day online celebration will invite the public to use online tools like Twitter and Facebook to share and celebrate the people who have made a lasting impact on their lives while making a $10 donation to the Kisa Project– a two-year program that provides African girls with a school scholarship, leadership training, and formal mentoring. In the spirit of Kisa, which means “story” in Swahili, participants will tweet a short, 140-character story about the person who gave them their greatest gift.
AfricAid and First Person Publishing Announce the Release of On My Way To School October 27, 2009
AfricAid and First Person Publishing announce the release of On My Way to School to support education at Losinoni Primary School in northern Tanzania. Written in collaboration with 61 Losinoni students and illustrated by Penny Weber, the book gives American children a colorful glimpse into Losinoni students’ multiple mile trek to school from their remote village– showing the sacrifices that many African children are willing to make for the opportunity to go to school.
Click here to see a short film about one young man in particular, that also draws upon the narratives of dozens of other students in the village. A common proverb unites this community in the understanding that their lives have been enriched by relationships that are as constant as the mountains that surround them.
AfricAid Hosts Second Annual Kisa Film Festival October 13, 2009
AfricAid announces the Second Annual Kisa Film Festival to support girls’ education in Africa. On October 25th, at 4:00 and 6:15 p.m., AfricAid screened short films directed by Coloradans about their experiences, work, and travels in Africa at the Starz Film Center at the Tivoli Student Union in Denver.
Messages from AfricAid
View messages from our founder and executive director, Ashley Shuyler, about our programs, progress, and future. Also, feel free to browse articles from our past newsletters, highlighting successful Tanzanian students, amazing donor stories, and other points of interest.
Interested in receiving AfricAid’s online monthly newsletter? Sign up in the right-hand sidebar. Or contact us if you’d like to receive our quarterly print newsletter.
Media Recognition & Awards
The work of AfricAid is increasingly being recognized in the local and national media, through both media coverage and awards for our work. We’re proud of the recognition we’ve received and the impact that we are having on raising awareness about the challenges and joys of life in Africa today. Play around in our video library and see what others are saying about us!
Testimonials
AfricAid has also received testimonials from many of the wonderful people that we work with in Tanzania. Read all about it!
