The Sunnyvale Sun

Cover Story

Photograph courtesy Kimeli Naiyomah

Kimeli Naiyomah, who is studying at Stanford University, celebrated his graduation from Maasai warrior to a junior elder at his village of Enoosaen, Kenya in 2002.

Maasai's Mission

Resident believes in 'compassionate diplomacy'

By Cody Kraatz

Two Sunnyvale residents--a local politician and a Maasai warrior--have teamed up with several East African-born Indians to drive an ambitious effort to ship three donated ambulances to a remote Maasai village in southwestern Kenya.

The village, Enoosaen, is near the Masai Mara National Reserve, renowned for its wildebeest migrations, lions, elephants, zebras and many other animals. The region is witnessing a surge in safari-based tourism that brings the Maasai, who still live a very traditional lifestyle, into closer contact with rather wealthy representatives of Western society.

The Maasai are cattle herders. They live on milk, beef and herbs, and have little in the way of modern educational or medical resources. And despite the amenities tourists may find, the Maasai have to walk miles to get to a hospital.

"Most people can't afford to hire a van, and there's no ambulance system, no transportation," says Kimeli Naiyomah, 30, the Maasai leader living in Sunnyvale. Typhoid, malaria and injuries are treatable, but people die because they cannot get to hospitals in time, he says.

Naiyomah recounts trailing after the party carrying his mother in a stretcher, on foot, to the nearest hospital when he was young and she nearly died from a complicated pregnancy. He was forbidden from coming, but he followed them anyway, starting out at 4 a.m. and arriving around 8 p.m. Since that hospital closed, the nearest one is even farther away.

Currently studying biology on a scholarship at Stanford University, Naiyomah has dedicated himself to ensuring that the Maasai's inevitable modernization bridges the pitfalls that have sunk many traditional African societies into poverty and disease as they face modern influences.

Compassionate diplomat

Naiyomah believes that ordinary people can solve global problems by extending kindness to people in a foreign country, with individual sacrifice and compassion, rather than empty ceremony.

Confidence and determination infuse Naiyomah's words as he describes his hopes for his people and his zeal crackles beneath his tranquil demeanor. He already has a school and clean water project under his belt, steps in a steady progression as he sees it, and it is difficult to doubt he will fulfill his promises.

These qualities inspired Vice Mayor Tony Spitaleri and the other founders of the American African Nuru Foundation, created in 2005, when they met Naiyomah.

Now comfortable in the media spotlight, Naiyomah is best known for convincing more than 30 Enoosaen elders to dedicate 14 cows to the families of 9-11 victims, a message of compassion relayed after he witnessed first-hand the terrorists' attacks in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

"It was a very powerful thing for me to see this country brought to its knees," he says. "[Americans] are the reason I'm able to build a water project. Those people are the reason I'm able to build a school."

The cows were dedicated on hallowed ground, in a sacred warrior camping site where foreigners are not allowed.

In some ceremonies there, warriors gather and paint their bodies red. A divine leader speaks with God, prays and casts out evil spirits, cleansing the warriors of the sins of killing in battle.

The cattle, now grown to a herd of 29, are the property of the 9-11 victims' families, but are cared for by the Maasai.

Now a junior elder after serving the traditional five years as a warrior, Naiyomah expects that his efforts will evolve into a hospital or clinic in Enoosaen to serve the approximately 10,000 people who live there.

About 100,000 people live in the greater Transmara district, but the Maasai traditionally do not count children or cows, considering this boastful and an invitation to lose them to the wrath of God.

Support network

The stability he found in the United States, particularly in Sunnyvale, allows Naiyomah to set such goals and make promises.

"Part of my moving away has brought me to Sunnyvale. I have no place I call home. This has been home. It's the longest I've lived in one place," says Naiyomah, who grew up homeless because his mother, an only child, raised him and could not own property because she is a woman.

He depended on village leaders to let him tend their cattle in exchange for milk and a place to sleep. His mother and three older brothers now live in a compound on five acres that Naiyomah bought for them with his first $500 after coming to the U.S.

This honed his independence and survival instinct, and he spends a lot of time in solitary contemplation, working through concepts and plans. A philosophical type, he develops and crystallizes ideas independently.

"The best way I do things is I do it myself," he says. He lives frugally and makes sacrifices in his budget to send money back to Africa and fund trips he's planning.

But he is also very aware of all the help he gets from people who support him financially and logistically, as Spitaleri and his foundation are working to do. Many people already want to pitch in, and the foundation was only recently approved as a nonprofit.

"We said, 'We want to help. What can we do?' " says Sidney Reade, chief of the Carmel Valley Fire Protection District, which donated the ambulances. Spitaleri, a retired firefighter and union leader, told her about Naiyomah's plan to start an ambulance service while he was negotiating a contract.

She had three ambulances ready to be auctioned off but donated them instead, with more to come if possible. She and five of her firefighters pledged to go to Kenya to train the drivers and teach first aid to the Maasai. Her district offers free CPR, first aid and safety classes all the time, so she says this is not out of character. But it would be their first time taking their efforts to Africa.

"We certainly don't get a lot of opportunity to do that down here," says Reade.

Giving back

Also looking for an opportunity was Dr. Arun Mehta, the president of the Nuru Foundation and an orthopedic surgeon in the East Bay, who was ejected from Uganda when then-president Idi Amin expelled the entire Indian population. Despite a bittersweet history, he and other Indians of East African origin have not forgotten where they come from.

"Having been from there we wanted to do something back home. We had to leave the country under difficult circumstances, but we are in association with all East African countries," says Mehta, whose wife is Kenyan.

However, giving can be tricky. If poor communities come to depend on foreign aid, rather than developing their ability to survive on their own, they could suffer if that aid is withdrawn. A traditional society like the Maasai is particularly vulnerable, and projects need to be sustainable, meaning they include elements that provide for their future success and independence.

"You can't just suddenly pick up an ambulance and take it to Africa," says Spitaleri. "What's the sustainability of that? We want to make sure they don't end up parked somewhere because they don't have constant support."

The ambulances, currently stored at a Sunnyvale towing yard, are built to last but need suspension upgrades to handle Maasailand roads, which can be impassible in the rainy season. Other roads are maintained for tourists.

The foundation aims to raise $100,000 for those upgrades, spare parts and transporting the ambulances, and Spitaleri said there would be a stipend for the drivers who may be pulled away from their current work. That money would also buy a plot of land for the hospital, which would require a later $5 million fundraising effort.

Maasai-owned

However, Naiyomah has his own ideas about the sustainability of the project, and Spitaleri said that as the foundation works out its plans it is fortunate it can take its lead from a Maasai.

"He has more of the pulse of the community, what they need and how they do things," he says.

Naiyomah wants his community to support the program, paying for fuel if they can but guaranteed service by annual fundraisers in the villages if they cannot. He compares the ownership that develops when villagers pay to use the ambulances to the Maasai sense of owning the land.

Every member of the village, even those who cannot afford to own a herd of cattle that graze on the grasslands, would defend Maasai territory because they all have a stake in preserving the land.

"I don't want to sit my people on benches and say, 'I'll take care of you,' " he says. "I want them to take care of themselves. I want to set up something that does not need me, my presence, something that is alive on its own."

The American African Nuru Foundation is planning a fundraiser in October. For more information, visit www.aanurufoundation.org.