Vanessa Somos:
She is a Canadian Registered Nurse who is working at Noonkodin Secondary School and surrounding villages from October to December. She is teaching basic health classes, including information about HIV/AIDS, and female genital mutilation - encouraging open discussion and exchange of ideas. Vanessa enjoys traveling (this being her 31st country to have visited or lived in) and is passionate about human rights, social justice, and holistic health. She is continuing her studies in February at the University of Auckland to become a physician specializing in maternal-child health.
Kristin (Kiki) St. Clair:
She is the executive director of Humankind Foundation working in East Africa to promote equality and education to Maasai families. A Quaker since childhood, her focus has always been social activism and she has been tireless in the pursuit of justice and equality since the 1960’s. She began Humankind Foundation with another RN, a Maasai from northern Tanzania, and together they trained other Maasai to teach in the villages about HIV/AIDS. Since that time Humankind Foundation has had significant impact on the villages where their teachings began so long ago. Currently her efforts have been in Northern Tanzania and in the surrounding villages where the training of the women continue. Humankind Foundation and their FGM project, Kamilika, is currently centered at Noonkodin highschool/safehouse where Maasai girls receive high school education and sanctuary from FGM and early marriage which would end any education they may dream of.
