Program Description:

Project Nairobi is umbrella name of a 2-3 year program working with teachers and students of the Wholistic & Counseling Centre in Nairobi, Kenya which incorporates education, health, activism, and stainability. Including in this project proposal is Phase One of this overall project.

Phase One Description:

Project Nairobi – Education. This includes the design of a two week educational excursion program working with teachers and students of the Wholistic Care & Counseling Centre in Nairobi, Kenya. The day curriculum will be dedicated to students, while the evening curriculum will include collaborative sessions with teachers.

Mission Statement:

To provide teachers and youth with a variety of fun, innovative, and interactive workshops engaging them in a series of conversations designed to help deepen their experience of themselves, their communities, and empower them in uncovering the “leader within” creating new openings for action.

Desired Outcome:

1) To support teachers and youth gain a deeper understanding of themselves, the world around them and to feel confident in their thoughts, feelings, and self expressions through exploring the connections between self-reflection, education, and activism.

2) Upon successful implementation of this program, the aim is to develop an academically accredited study abroad program working with local universities and academic institutions in various areas such as leadership development, education, health, infrastructure development, and sustainability.

Project Overview:

Step 1: Creating a team of passionate educators committed to community development

Step 2: Designing an educational curriculum which draws from various educational paradigms in collaboration with teachers for students and local community development

Step 3: Budget & Fundraising

Step 4: Resources

Step 5: Post Project Steps

Step 6: Strategic Steps for Community Development

Project Overview Details:

Step 1: Creating a team of passionate educators committed to community development

Current Team Members will eventually evolve as Program Managers accountable for working with university students in various aspects of individual and community development.

Meet Our Team Members:

Valeri Bocage: is the founder of Powerful Women International and has been assisting people in living their dreams for over 15 years. She has inspired hundreds of people to fulfill on their life's mission. She has coached authors, entrepreneurs, parents, families, public speakers and artists to expand their vision for what was possible in their professional and personal lives.

Valeri was born and raised in New Orleans, LA. As a result of Hurricane Katrina, Valeri lost EVERYTHING, except her indomitable spirit and true passion for life. She took the loss as an opportunity to start a whole new life. She moved to San Francisco to fulfill on her dream of "EMPOWERING WOMEN TO EMPOWER THE WORLD." Powerful Women International is doing just that. Now, only a few years later PWI has more than 20 connections around the world.

Parth Savla: is the co-founder of NuTouch Systems, a web design, development, and online marking company. Understanding the power of technology, communication, and community, he is deeply interested in how to utilize technology, community building, and education. He has worked with youth in various capacities outside of the classroom for the past five years, through his experience in the Big Brothers program and as a Board Member of YJA (Young Jains of America in 2008).

He shares a passion for learning process and through his studies experience in working with youth and young adults, and studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies, he has deepened his interest in developing educational curriculum which creates space for the students’ self exploration and expression. He believes that the processes of self reflection and creative inquiry when incorporated in an overall educational program can not only provide deep healing but deepen students' sense of connection with themselves, each other, and the community.

Sophie Donpineo: brings with her a wealth of expertise and wisdom from the 10+ years she has been a Waldorf teacher. Waldorf Education is a huge and dynamic conversation in and of itself. It's a worldwide movement with about 800 schools around the globe. It is a pedagogy based on the work of Rudolf Steiner who was involved 80 years ago in the then new social impulses arising out of the ravages of World War One in the fields of Biodynamics, Architecture, Medicine, Therapeutic practices, to name a few. Having been trained in the various alternative and progressive modalities included in Waldorm Education which seeks to shift the social consciousness of how we relate to each other - and ourselves, Sophie brings with her a deep sense of perception and sensitivity to the many ways children and adults evolve in their experience of themselves.

Having a Masters degree in Education and being a mother of two teenage children Sophie brings a lighthearted and humorous intensity coupled with a deep commitment for the educational process.

Sofia Sarachansky: is our resident educational technology expert. She brings a unique combination of knowledge in educational technologies, passion for the educational process, and project management skills. Some of her passions are focused on preservation of languages, a growing issue that is fortunately gaining attention by organizations and universities. Language preservation efforts are essential in order to save not just endangered languages but also their cultural knowledge, wisdom and heritage. Their communal repertoire of experiences in music, medicine, traditions, etc is very valuable legacy that is critical to the preservation of culture.

She was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina has received her BA in Psychology and Master's degree in Education from San Francisco State University and is eager to implement, learn and get involved in Project Nairobi as way to engage youth and teachers in education with equality.

Amanda Mazzanti: is an extraordinary documentary film maker and founder of Digitalady LLC, whose passion lies in creating projects which support indigenous communities in their effort to preserve their culture. She has produced several films and works with clients in a variety of capacities regarding their multi-media needs. Two years ago she produced and directed a 6 week Production in rural Central American. About her experience, she writes, “We traveled by car, foot, and horse through Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador. We slept n the jungle, in villages, and in hotels international. We filmed without power for up to five days at a time. We laughed, cried, purged, and danced. Personally, I felt the equivalent of joy from this experience that I did fear.” The film was called “Maya Nuts: Seeds of Inspiration” and has won several accolades since it's production in 2007.

She has been gracious enough to join the Project Nairobi team and support the project due to its vision for education and sustainable community development.

Ø Documentary: With the expertise of our in house Documentary Film Maker, the Project Nairobi Team hopes to create a series of short videos to be used as marketing materials for future fundraising and promotional efforts.

Members of the Project Nairobi Team have tremendous gratitude to Valeri Bocage and Powerful Women International for this platform to as a phenomenon opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children, teachers, and local community members. The global vision is to be able to create an educational model that focuses on the interconnections between self reflection, learning, and activism along with providing enough flexibility for members of the community to tailor it to the values, needs, and world views of their culture. Expanding it beyond education, various centers around the world will be build each fashioned and chiseled by members of indigenous communities yet connected through a global network, where individuals can share each others thoughts, feelings, perspectives, and engage in cross cultural dialogue and understanding.