Brebeuf, Guerin Have Ties to Kenya

The Indianapolis Star reports that students from Brébeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis and Guerin Catholic High School in Noblesville (and their families) are in Kenya this week to deliver books to stock a library at the New Life Home's orphanage in Ruiru, near Nairobi.

You can read about it here until it expires from The Star's free online archive!

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Indiana and Kenya: More Connections

Here's an announcement from John Clark at Provocate.org.

Wednesday June 30 at 5:00 pm Provocate and the Center for Interfaith Cooperation will host a discussion of two trips from Indy to Kenya in July. This discussion will take place at the Indiana Center for Interfaith Cooperation, 1100 W. 42nd St. Indianapolis (at the corner of Michigan Rd. and 42nd, across the street from the Indianapolis Museum of Art). If you would like to learn more about some of the many links connecting Central Indiana and Kenya, this will be the place to be.

• Provocate's Zach Patterson will travel to Uganda and Kenya with the Village Experience in July, then spend several more weeks in an internally displaced persons camp in Nakuru working on microfinance projects. You can learn more about Zach and follow his trip at Provocate.org.

• IUPUI student Raynesha Rogers will spend July in Eldoret with a team of professors to turn a high altitude distance running training facility into a world-class sports tourist destination. You can read more about this fascinating project here: http://newscenter.iupui.edu/4705/IUPUI-Students-Faculty-Travel-to-Kenya--to-Help-Make-High-Altitude-Training-Center-into-a-Sports-Tourism-Destination. And you can also follow Raynesha's trip on Provocate.org.

You'll also have a chance to meet high school students from the Muslim Alliance of Indiana's Youth Leadership Institute, who are raising $10,000 to fund the education of 40 Kenyan students.

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Indianapolis Prize Announced

Save the Elephants founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton (center in photo) has been named the 2010 recipient of the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation. In recognition for his
lifetime achievements, Dr. Douglas-Hamilton will receive $100,000 and the Lilly Medal at a gala ceremony 25 September at The Westin Hotel, Indianapolis.

Born in Dorset, England, Douglas-Hamilton grew up in Constantia, Cape Town, South Africa, attended Gordonstoun School in Scotland and received his bachelor’s degree and doctorate from the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. He currently works and resides in Nairobi, Kenya.

In 1993, Douglas-Hamilton founded Save the Elephants (STE) in Northern Kenya, in order to create an effective and flexible nonprofit dedicated specifically to elephants. The organization works to sustain elephant populations and preserve the habitats in which elephants are found, while at the same time fostering a heightened appreciation and visibility for elephants and their often fragile existence.

The biennial $100,000 Indianapolis Prize represents the largest individual monetary award for animal conservation in the world and is given as an unrestricted gift to the chosen honoree. The Indianapolis Prize was initiated by the Indianapolis Zoo as a significant component of its mission to empower people and communities, both local and global, to advance animal conservation. This biennial award brings the world’s attention to the cause of animal conservation and the brave, talented and dedicated men and women who spend their lives saving the Earth’s endangered animal species.

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Kenyans Win "500" Festival Marathon, Again

The "500" Festival reports that Janet Cherobon has won her fourth straight Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis -- and broke a race record!

In fact, a pair of familiar faces sprinted to the finish to win the men’s and women’s races in the 2010 Mini-Marathon. Janet Cherobon made it four wins by edging out Belainesh Zemedkun near the finish, while Festus Langat won his second straight Mini-Marathon by pulling away from a three-man race down the stretch.

Cherobon, a Kenyan native who lives in Rome, Ga., has won several marathons this year. Her college resumé includes collegiate national championships in the 5,000-meter outdoor and 10,000-meter outdoor; she will be inducted in the NCAA Division III Track and Field Hall of Fame later this month. Weather conditions didn’t affect the 31-year-old Cherobon, who won in a record time of 1:10:59 – well below her 2009 winning time of 1:12.22.

In the men’s race, Langat was in a pack that included Ondara Macdonard and Alene Reta. But a late kick down the stretch put Langat in control. The Kenyan native who lives in West Chester, Pa., won in 1:02.51, three seconds ahead of Macdonard.

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Karua To Speak at IUPUI

The Honorable Martha Karua will speak on "Justice, Human Rights and National Cohesion" from 5-7 p.m. 5 April in the Wynne Courtroom of the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis, 530 West New York Street, Indianapolis. Ms. Karua is a Member of Parliament, former Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs and renowned activist in the promotion of justice, accountability, women’s rights and other human rights in Kenya. Refreshments to follow in the Law School atrium.

Her appearance is co-sponsored by Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis' Office of International Affairs, Multicultural Center, Office for Women, Human Rights Works Program in International Human Rights Law at IU Law-Indianapolis, the Indiana University-Kenya Partnership and The University College.

The presentation and reception are open to the public at no charge.

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Moi University–IUPUI Peace Symposium

A Peace Symposium co-sponsored by Moi University and Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis will be held 12-14 May in Eldoret, Kenya. The theme is Youth Empowerment for Peace, Reconciliation and Development. See the call for papers. Deadline for submission of abstracts is 26 March.


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Second Annual Hunger Banquet

The Second Annual Hunger Banquet begins at 6:30 p.m. 20 February in Room 450 of the Campus Center at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. It's sponsored by IUPUI Campus and Global Health Student Interest Group and co-sponsored by the IUPUI Common Theme Project and by Partnership: Africa.

This is an "awareness and advocacy event", which will feature diverse cultural entertainment, sales of fair-trade Kenyan crafts from Imani Workshops, and ethnic food from restaurants around Indianapolis. Tickets are $12. All proceeds benefit IU-Kenya Orphans & Vulnerable Children Program" (pictured).

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Kenya Project Receives $5 Million to Expand Care

A partnership between Indiana and Kenya is receiving a 3-year, $5 million grant from USAID to expand health care in western Kenya, reports Inside INdiana Business. Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), a collaboration between the IU School of Medicine and Kenya's Moi University School of Medicine and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, will use the grant and other private funds to expand its network of clinics in the sub-Saharan nation.

AMPATH, the joint partnership between Indiana University School of Medicine, the Moi (Eldoret, Kenya) University School of Medicine and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, has received a 3-year, $5 million USAID supplement grant to expand health care services in western Kenya.

AMPATH – the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare – received a 5-year, $60 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2007 to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS in Kenya. AMPATH is the outgrowth of an IU School of Medicine and Moi University partnership formed 20 years ago.

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"A Poor Man Shames Us All"

Explore the alternative views of wealth and society that are exhibited in the lives of tribal cultures as seen in the film, "A Poor Man Shames Us All". Viewers journey from a New York ad agency to the jungles of Indonesia and the plains of Kenya to see how Western views of wealth and economic needs have created a society of strangers in the midst of material riches, while tribal cultures such as the Weyewa of Indonesia and the Gabra of Kenya create economies of dependency on others and measure wealth through people, not possessions. The showing will be at 6 p.m. Thursday (28 January) in the Lilly Auditorium of University Library at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, 755 West Michigan Street, Indianapolis.

After the screening, Ian McIntosh of the IUPUI Office of International Affairs will lead a discussion of this film by David Mabury-Lewis. The event, part of Partnership Africa at IUPUI is co-sponsored by the IUPUI Common Theme Project.

Partnership Africa is a year-long series of lectures, films, performances, exhibits, and video conferences focused on a part of the world with which IUPUI has strong connections, done in collaboration with colleagues, students, and public figures from that country or region.

UPDATE: This screening has been postponed; no date has been announced.

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September is Ethnic Festival Month!

The glorious weather of September means more ethnic festivals than there's time to attend!

Some of those on the calendar are:

Oktoberfest sponsored by the German-American Klub, on Indiana State Fairgrounds, Indianapolis: 4, 5, 6, 11, 12 September

Little Italy Festival in Clinton: 4, 5, 6, 7 September

Kenya Festival at Second Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis: 5 September

Greek Festival at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Carmel: 11-12 September

Chinese Festival in Military Park, Indianapolis: 12 September

French Market at St. Joan of Arc Roman Catholic Church, Indianapolis: 12 September

Scottish Festival at Bartholomew County Fairgrounds, Columbus: 12-13 September

Andersontown Powwow in Athletic Park, Anderson: 12-13 September

Irish Fest in Military Park, Indianapolis: 18-20 September

(Hispanic) Fiesta on the American Legion Mall, Indianapolis: 19 September

Scottish Highlander Festival in Trafalgar: 26-27 September

There are more details on these (and many other events) at the Nationalities Council's calendar: click here. (And, don't forget that Indy's International Festival is coming up in November!)

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Golfing for Kenyan Elephants

A golf outing and dinner is planned for 22 August at the Trophy Club in Lebanon benefitting the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi, Kenya. It's hosted by U.S. Friends of the trust and chaired by Janice Smith, a Master of Social Work student at the Indiana University School of Social Work at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. Smith serves as the director of donor relations for the U.S. Friends as well as being a full-time MSW student.

U.S. Friends is an American-based nonprofit dedicated to providing financial and technical support to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, a Kenyan wildlife conservation organization. The organization has worked for more than 40 years to rescue, rehabilitate and reintroduce orphaned elephants, rhinos and virtually all wildlife.

According to the School of Social Work, Smith’s interest in the animal preservation organization came about in 2003 after traveling to Kenya with her husband, Stephen Smith, and son Nick, to visit Marty and Sue Moore of the Moore Foundation. The Moores were teaching at the Staerhe School in Nairobi at the time and the Smiths were supporting a student at the school.

They were introduced to Daphne Sheldrick, who founded the Sheldrick Trust in honor of her late husband, the conservationist and naturalist, David Sheldrick. He was the founder warden of Tsavo East National Park in Kenya from 1948 until the mid-1970s.

At the time, the wildlife trust had no official U.S. link and the Smiths decided to try bring awareness in this country of conservation of wildlife issues that should be important to everyone. Upon returning home to Indianapolis, Stephen, an attorney with the law firm of Krieg DeVault, formed U.S. Friends as a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization in 2004.

The golf outing in Lebanon will be the U.S. Friends' first Indiana fundraiser. For more information, e-mail or call 248:390-8568.

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Indy Linked with Campinas, Brazil

Inside INdiana Business reports that Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Mayor Helio De Oliveria Santos of Campinas, Brazil, on Tuesday (28 July) signed an agreement to make Campinas the newest Sister City of Indianapolis. The city has existing partnerships with Cologne, Germany; Monza, Italy; Piran, Slovenia; Hangzhou, China; and Taipei, Taiwan.

According to Inside INdiana Business, the Indy Mayor's criteria for selecting a Sister City include "having a metropolitan population of more than one million, an international airport, economic vitality in multiple industries and an education and cultural infrastructure able to foster exchanges with Indianapolis institutions". However, neither Monza nor Piran meet all of those criteria. Last year, the mayor canceled a nascent Sister City agreement with Eldoret, Kenya, where the Indiana University School of Medicine and Moi University School of Medicine have engaged in a cooperative program since 1989.

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African Children's Choir to Sing in Greenfield

The African Children's Choir will sing at 9 and 10:45 a.m. 19 July in Brandywine Community Church, 1551 East New Road, Greenfield. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.

The choir has established schools in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan and Uganda.

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Valpo's Engineers Without Borders Work in Tanzania

A team of Valparaiso University students recently returned from a 10-day trip to Tanzania, where they launched what will be at least a five-year relationship with a village facing health and land degradation due to problems with its water canal system.

Alex Williams, president of Valpo’s chapter of Engineers Without Borders and a junior civil engineering major from Fargo, N.D., traveled with seven other students and an engineering professor to the village of Masaera, where they assessed the scope of the project and sought to gain the support of its people.

Over the next year, the chapter will research the best designs for improving the canal and create an educational program so the community is prepared to maintain the canal network themselves.

Valpo’s chapter will return to Masaera next May to begin implementing its canal improvement plan and education program.

Masaera is the second community in Africa that Valpo’s EWB chapter has worked with. In 2008, the chapter completed a five-year project constructing drinking and irrigation water systems for the village of Nakor in Kenya.

EWB-VU was the first university chapter to begin a project in Kenya and it was named a Friend of Kenya by the country’s ambassador last year. Valpo’s chapter won the Engineers Without Borders-USA Educational Achievement Award in 2005 and members have presented information about its Nakor project at several conferences, including the World Education Colloquium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Two Kenyans Win Indy's Mini Marathon

Two runners from Kenya finished first in the 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indianapolis. Women's race winner was Janet Cherobon, who currently lives in Rome, Ga. Men's winner was Festus Langat of West Chester, Pa.

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Legal Aid Center in Kenya

A legal aid organization has been established in Kenya thanks to the efforts of Judge Patricia Riley, Indiana Court of Appeals, and Fran Quigley, director of operations for the Indiana University partnership between the IU School of Medicine and Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya.

The Legal Aid Center of Eldoret (LACE) officially started in September 2008 with a small staff and initial funding from the Reuben Family Foundation and the Indianapolis Rotary Club. LACE is currently located in the hospital where the AMPATH program has IU physicians and medical students helping Kenyans living with HIV/AIDS.

Riley and Quigley, both of whom are alumni of the IU School of Law in Indianapolis, started LACE because many of the medical patients are in need of legal as well as medical help.

The law school plans to collaborate with LACE by offering a Kenyan lawyer or lawyers a full scholarship to attend the LL.M. program in Indianapolis on condition that they agree to work at least two years as a staff attorney at LACE, as well as to coordinate legal work assistance for LACE from volunteer LL.M. graduates and students while enrolled as an LL.M. student.

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IUPUI Partnered with International Festival

A community partnership with the 2008 International Festival fits with many growing international programs at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis.

IUPUI is home to the new Confucius Institute in Indianapolis, which serves local business, government and education by providing information and instruction on Chinese language and culture. The Institute is the hub of IUPUI's partnership with Sun Yat Sen University in Guangzhou, China.

Additionally, IUPUI has a comprehensive, strategic partnership with Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya.

The university's Binational/Cross Cultural Health Enhancement Center is the driving force of IUPUI's partnership with the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo in Pachuca, Mexico.

Last year, IUPUI ran 36 study-abroad programs with nearly 400 students participating which represented a significant increase from previous years.

IUPUI head basketball coach Ron Hunter made world news through his efforts to raise public awareness and over 100,000 pairs of shoes by coaching a game barefoot for Samaritans Feet. Coach Hunter and team members traveled to Peru with ESPN this summer to distribute the shoes.

2008 marks the second consecutive year that IUPUI has stepped up its involvement with the International Festival as a full community partner.

Ricardo Laranja, 35, formerly of Brazil, is one of the immigrants set to become a naturalized citizen at the International Festival ceremony. Laranja is a professor at IUPUI, music composer and a professional pianist. As a pianist he has performed for two U.S. Presidents. He has lived in the U.S. for 22 years. Larnaja will perform the National Anthem at the ceremony with singer, Lynda Sayyah. She is the daughter of a Palestinian father and German mother.

Laranja says, "...at the age of 35, being naturalized is the final stamp for me. It gives me a true sense of belonging and pride. Usually when asked about what I think of naturalized citizens, I respond that unlike naturally born citizens, everyone who is being naturalized made the choice to become a citizen of this country and that counts as a lot."

IU School of Medicine Reports on Children's HIV

Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine, the Regenstrief Institute and Moi University School of Medicine are the first to report that adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) to fight human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in children who live in low income countries is as high as or higher than adherence by children living in high income countries.

These findings, which were the results of review and analysis of all published studies of pediatric adherence to ART in low income countries, appear in the August 2008 issue of The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, and provide the first complete picture of ART adherence among individuals under age 18 in limited income countries, as defined by the World Bank.

Ninety percent of the 2.3 million HIV-infected children in the world live in sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding children's adherence in resource-limited countries presents a critical challenge, because they have limited options if viral resistance develops.

The review by the American-Kenya research team found that 76 percent of the studies among children in lower income countries reported more than 75 percent adherence to their medicines for HIV. Other studies have shown a pediatric adherence rate of lower than 75 percent in high income countries.

You can read more here

Kenyans Are Top Winners in Mini Marathon

Kenyans Lamech Mokono and Valentine Orare were neck-in-neck at the men's finish of the 13.1-mile 500 Festival Mini-Marathonrace – so neck-in-neck that race officials had to review the videotape and still photographs before determining a clear-cut winner, according to race organizers. It was decided that both men were declared winners and would each get a full first-place prize purse of $3,500. The pair ran the course in 1:02.53., while Kenyan native Reuben Chebii took third.

The top women's finisher was also a Kenyan, Janet Cherobon, whose time of 1:14:11 made her champion for the second year in a row, reports The Indianapolis Star.

Indiana University-Kenya Partnership Honored

The International Center of Indianapolis announced today (7 March) that it will honor the Indiana University-Kenya Partnership as the recipient of its annual International Citizen of the Year Award, to be presented in September. In addition, ICI will recognize other as yet unnamed organizations and groups that have an Indiana-Kenya tie and meet the recognition committee’s criteria.