Collective Flourishing has gone global!

A team of 8th graders in Westerville, Ohio can’t let go of the impact of a Future City competition in 2023, and continue to advocate for developing a locally-generated source of water in the community of Embolioi, Kenya.  Their persistence inspired Rotary Clubs in Ohio and Kenya to collaborate on a Global Grant to develop a borehole, water storage tank and water kiosk at the Dukers Community Learning Centre.

We are so close to achieving this audacious aspiration!

A Future City for Mashuuru
In August 2022, a group of 8th grade students in Westerville, Ohio entered the Future City competition under the guidance of Tina Bardwell and Linda Amici. The students  were charged with designing a sustainable city that showcased their solutions to mitigating climate change. After discussing the project with Kavita Tanna, Linda proposed to the students that they might design their city around the needs of the Mashuuru community as their rising concerns over their recently settled state align with the competition requirements. Changing land policies in Kenya resulted in settling the nomadic Maasai community in a region with limited access to food, water and housing. 

Connections Coming Alive
Between Kavita Tanna, Linda Amici and Tina Bardwell, there is a strong desire to make a difference in the lives of young people, locally and globally. Linda and Tina had previously connected around project-based learning and were ready to elevate to problem-based learning. Kavita and Linda had begun to collaborate using Catalyst Learning Labs’ Designed inGenuity framework. This project is an example of the powerful collaboration between Ustawi Global and Catalyst Learning Labs. 

By beginning with the students’ curiosities, a stronger personal connection to the project was created. This led to greater agency for the students as they helped their educators become aware of their passions around public health, girls education and the arts. They began to advocate for these areas of life to be improved for the community and how they might be able to frame their learning around those areas that spark their interest.

We all got into this because we wanted to get college credit, but as we got into the project, we realized we just want to help people

Cameron Shadley, Genoa Middle School student

The Westerville students connected with Ustawi Global’s Samson Nyikuri, meeting with him virtually to broaden their understanding of the unique needs of the Mashuuru community, and the story of the Dukers Community Learning Centre. The students found this personal connection gave their work focus and purpose as it became clear that their work could impact real people and problems, increasing their engagement, intrinsic motivation, and overall learning.

Learning Coming Alive
Tina and Linda worked hard to connect the students with industry experts to gain insight on the efficacy of their ideas and to build the students application of systems thinking. The students designed their proposal around the Maasai’s values and priorities, even making sure to honor their spiritual practices through their design. They researched local resource availability and climate, finding seeds that would grow well in the soil there and designing buildings to be made of local materials so there was no need to import goods, keeping the costs and carbon footprint of their project low.

Communities Coming Alive
Genoa Middle School and its surrounding community were able to come alive through this project. The students did not know each other previously and found the project caused them to bond through problem-solving and team-work. By the time they presented their designs in January 2023, it was clear they felt “inextricably connected” to the community in Mashuuru. The students achieved second place in the competition, but were not ready to stop advocating for the Maasai, and so became part of our Embolioi water project.

They involved their local community by holding a school-wide fundraiser to support our water project. They even presented to the Ohio Rotary Club to spread awareness of the project aims, leading to their collaboration with Nairobi Rotary Club and the eventual funding of a Global Grant of $85,000. This grant would not have been possible without the dedication and curiosity of these 8th graders!

We talked about how we didn’t do this to win, we did this to help people. What good is helping people if you don’t see it through to the end?

Paige Velegol, eighth grader at Genoa Middle School

Get Involved!
We are currently working with the Maasai community to develop a sustainable, permanent source of water at Dukers Community Learning Centre in Embolioi. Since having the Global Grant approved by Rotary International, we are hoping to proceed with the development of a borehole, pumps, solar panels and storage tank.

If you would like to support us with our work with this community, please click the button below so we can raise the remaining funds required!