"Exchanging Spears for Books: The Maasai School Project"
Come hear Duluthian Hans Johnson, founder of the Maasai Cultural Foundation (and drummer of Dance Band) speak about his recent work helping the Maasai build a school where over 100 adults are learning to read and write. Music will be a part of the lecture, but it will be that of the Maasai people - not Dance Band.
"Exchanging Spears for Books: The Maasai School Project"
Presented by Hans Johnson,
Founder of the Maasai Cultural Foundation
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 7 p.m.
University of Minnesota Duluth
Fourth Floor Library Rotund
Free and open to the public - Reception following lecture
Hans Johnson went to Kenya when he was 21 with some recording equipment and a desire to document the music and culture of the Maasai people. Through these recordings of Maasai music, Alan Sparhawk of the band Low became interested not only in the music, but the Maasai people as well. Together they decided to work on a community project that would benefit the Maasai. Elders in the community responded positively and asked for a school building -- a permanent home for their adult literacy classes.
Hans will discuss his experiences with the Maasai -- reflecting on his recent work helping the Maasai build a school and how the current conflicts in Kenya, where he recently visited, have effected the building process and school attendance.
Posted by
Purple on March 11, 2008 02:26 PM | Permalink
Comments
Thanks for posting this - i saw the post & decided to go - it was fantastic. Hans is such a down to earth guy, and it's truly amazing what he's managed to do at such a young age. I'm inspired.
Posted by: Mel | March 12, 2008 07:46 PM
I'm glad you enjoyed the lecture, Mel! You probably already picked-up the Alworth Institutes's propaganda, but if not, check out www.alworth.org for more information about our programs (or just click on "purple"
Posted by: purple | March 14, 2008 08:01 AM
I grabbed the rest of the schedule for spring. I'll see what I can make it to! The presentations are very inspiring and interesting...but they make me vividly aware of all the things I'm not doing that I wish I was :-) Thanks for such a great presentation, hope to make it to a couple more! Also I saw your fellowship recipient is from the University of Wroclaw - which I love because I studied there for a month in 2005! Maybe I will be able to hear her speak somewhere. Take care. Thanks again.
Posted by: Mel | March 14, 2008 11:24 PM
How are they supposed to hunt for food with books?
Posted by: adam | March 16, 2008 11:35 AM
01010100 01110010 01101111 01100111 01101100 01101111 01100100 01111001 01110100 01100101 00101110
Posted by: adam | March 16, 2008 04:32 PM
In ruby (using irb)...
s = "01010100 01110010 01101111 01100111 01101100 01101111 01100100 01111001 01110100 01100101 00101110"
s.split.map {|x| x.to_i(2)}.pack('c*')
=> "Troglodyte."
huitz
Posted by: huitz | March 16, 2008 06:27 PM