MWEEP Participation at Kitsap Arts and Crafts Festival

Due to a fantastic suggestion by Maria Mackovjak at Old Town Custom Framing and Gallery in Old Town Silverdale, WA, the MWEEP board voted to have a booth at the Kitsap Arts and Craft Festival in Kingston, WA on July 24th, 25th and 26th. She supported our decision with the payment for our booth. The Festival was including non-profits. http://www.oldtowncustomframing.com/

The event itself was a great deal of work; however, it was very successful. In the three days, we spoke with 250 - 300 people. They did have a chance to make a donation to MWEEP or to choose Maasai beadswork for a donation.

Liz D. one of our board members made beautiful cards with photos of MWEEP women from Kenya and some of the girls who receive help with school fees.

Sheila T., 3rd grade teacher at Pearson

Elementary in the N. Kitsap School District, taught her students about Africa, an African artisit Tessa Edwards and about making charitable contributions. Her class created art work in the style of Tess Edwards, making them into cards and selling them to parents and friends and donating the funds to MWEEP. Seven parents gave permission for the artwork to be made into more cards. For a donation, people could acquire the cards. They were a BIG hit.

We're In Maasailand

Living in a more remote part of Maasailand brings amazing experiences as well as causing us to wonder, can we really do this. Those of you praying for us, it is making a differenct.

This year we are seeing some green, it has rained a little awhile ago. We have never seen this before. Now they are anxious for more rain. Lucy, our host is having to bring water down to here place since her tank if about empty.

We are living in a metal house with dirt floors. No window in the bedroom, just a bed and our bag piled up everywhere. WE NEED TO BRING LESS.

Jon is at a male circumscion celebration today over at the next boma. He got to see the cow being slaughtered. He's hiked to the top of the Ngong Hills with Wilson the herbist and loving it. The next day they hiked to the Spring, he's gaining lots of knowledge.

I've been out to even more remote areas to visit with women who have taken the class and have already started their businesses. These are very determined women and working with extreme conditions. FLIES ARE EVERYWHERE. We are staying healthy.

We had our MWEEP meeting yesterday, that was a wonderful experience as well as exhausting.

Today we are in Ngong shopping for the food for the celebration, they are expecting about 100 people.

WE'RE OFF TO KENYA 2008

Jon and Loanna Day are heading to Kenya today, November 29, 2008. We'll fly on BA through London. Since we get in too late for the flight to Nairobi, we'll spend the night with our daughter's family in Reading, England. Then on December 1 we'll arrive in Nairobi late, spend the night and head out to Ngong (east side of the Ngong Hills) and then continue to Oloshoi-bor (east side of the Ngong Hills in the Rift Valley) We'll be spending the first 8 nights with Lucy.

Many of you have heard her story.

On Saturday, December 6th we will be attending an all day event -- the graduation of the women taking the coursework from Project Baobab/MWEEP. The women will be presenting their business plans after 19 weeks of attending class ( 3 or 4 Saturdays a month, June -November). The top 1/3 of the class will receive a $100 grant to start their business.

We will also be meeting with the girls who receive help with their school fees to attend secondary school and some of their parents. One girl is attending Moi University and she would like to give back to her community by having a meeting with the girls in the village. Even thought school is not in session in December, we will be able to visit Olooseous Secondary Boarding School where some of our girls attend.

We will also visit with a Kenyan organization called FAWE http://www.fawe.org/ and also the Green Belt Movement http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/ in order to make connections for MWEEP Kenya.

The second part of our trip we will be staying out of the Rift Valley on the east side of the Ngong Hills with Christine and her husband. She has been managing our coursework with Project Baobab. The MWEEP Kenya women and I will be meeting with Project Baobab to evaluate the coursework.

On December 19th we will be heading back to England to spend Christmas with the Marcus and Amanda Hahnemann family. This will be grandparent time.

African Dinner for MWEEP

The Maasai Women's Education and Empowerment Program USA had an awesome African Dinner at the beginning of this month for a fundraising event. We are now just wondering if it will be an annual event.

We had the amazing contribution of talent, skill and time when Simba Tirima and his wife Koi Tirima volunteered their time to cook the meal. Simba is the International Student Recruitment Director at the University of Idaho and Koi is a Professor of English at Olympic College in Bremerton, WA.

They cooked: Chicken a la Simba, Githeri, Baked Rice with Kenya seasonings, Ntorro, Chapati and Kenyan Chai. It was a very delicious meal with many going back for seconds.

A VERY BIG thank you to Simba and Koi. They made the evening special.

We also had guests from Project Baobab, Wambui (who works for Microsoft and is a Project Baobab board member)and Alice (the new Executive Director for Project Baobab who is moving back to Kenya). You will have read the blog about our work with Project Baobab in Kenya. Wambui spoke about the impact of educating the village women and the difference that makes for her, her family and the community. Thanks go out to both of them for taking the time to join us.

We appreciate our guests for taking the time to be there and to learn about the need for educational opportunities for the girls and women. We are so thankful for all the contributions and for those who have said they wish to host a "Dinner In" or a "Lunch In".

Education for Women in the Village

Picture taken by Francis Sukada (SIMOO), 2008

MWEEP USA has had exciting news about the class being offered in

the village of Oloshoi-bor. The women have now had 10 of their classes.

They attend class 3 of 4 Saturdays of the month.

Women are coming from 4 different villages. Some of them walk up to

2 hours one way.

This past Saturday, August 23rd, the class had a visit from the Interim Executive Director from Project Baobab. This is the group that is offering the class and has developed the curriculum.

Colleen McLaughlin is in Kenya now and went to visit the class with the in country director, Jane, and the head trainer, Ruth. They took along a Spanish journalist from Business Weekly who want to see what the classes were like. Fortunately he took along some photographers so we will hopefully see some of those pictures.

Here are some quotes from Colleen: "The class was fantastic."

" The class is being taught in 3 languages: English, Kiswahili and Kimaasai - which I found incredible - there were women who followed in one, two or all languages."

"We asked the women to share some of the knowledge they've gained though the Project Baobab course and it was so exciting to see all of them anxious to share. They talked about how they had tried business before, but were running things "upside down" and now they understand the importance of bookkeeping, customer relations, business location, marketing, etc. Businesses mentioned were selling milk, a hotel (small restaurant/cafe'), selling mobile top-up cards, braiding hair, a "camera lady" (which challenges gener roles here, as usually men are the "camera men" -- she mentioned that if she hadn't had the lesson on thinking creatively about business ideas, she never would've seen her camera as a business opportunity).

Project Baobab also teaches Life Skills: one woman shared that from the "family relationships" section, she's now learned to communicate with her husband in a way that he is more open to her and even supportive of her.

Then to all of you who have contributed, Colleen said ". . . you should feel great about the opportunity that you have been able to avail these women - it is clear their lives have changed and they said a prayer for you. You have truly made a difference."

Fundraising Activities

Fundraising is continuing through out the summer.

One fundraiser was a neighborhood garage sale, 5 miles of sales.

Our family decided to donate what we raised to the Maasai and to

put up a display to educate people about MWEEP. Neighbors and friends

donated items to sell which helped to make the event successful. ANYONE

interested in helping with this event next year or donating items (no clothes) please call

Loanna 360-830-4674 or email mweepboard@massaiwomen.org.

We will be hosting several lunch and dinners in. If you would like to attend an event, please call

or email Loanna.

Hellen Pulei from MWEEP Kenya is in the Seattle area. She has already attended one event and will be at two more events before she returns to Kenya.

Coursework for Village Women

The women taking the Project Baobab course number 30. They have now taken 5 of their 17 classes. They are coming from several villages to Oloshoi-bor where they are hosting the class in the local church. They start about 9:00 am and work until 2:00. Three women are hired to cook for them and present a lunch at 2:00 before the women start heading home. Since conditions in that area of the Rift Valley are very dry and gardens are without food, having a meal is very important. Women are hired to bring wood, water and the food and then do the preparation and clean up. There is also a woman hired to take care of any children who might be with their mothers.

The women meet the first three Saturdays of the month. I have been receiving emails with comments about the class.

"The training has become more and more interesting women are learning alot (more) than they expected, the topic we learned was about the reasons for starting a business and advantages of a business."

"I want to brief you about Saturday training. The turn up was good, 30 women attended the training. The lessons are wonderful every woman is enjoying it and they have started involving themselves in small businesses even before they have finish the training. This have bring a great impact in the life of each woman who is attending the training. The topic learned last Saturday was, types of businesses and marketing. Loanna may God bless you for organizing for us to have such training. I believe we shall never be the same again."

We are looking forward to some pictures from the class and will add them to the blog page as soon as they are received.