EDUCATION

Educational Effort

From 2018, MING Tribe has put more effort into education, and with the background of our directors, who are co-founders and shareholders of top international schools in China, we have attempted to bring out children’s awareness in social responsibility, environment protection, wildlife conservation, and attention to vulnerable groups. We believe raising awareness is the first step before taking actions. We work with children worldwide to create a diverse environment for children from different cultural and educational backgrounds around the world to learn together.

Raising Awareness

In 2018, MING Tribe worked with Chinese directors to produce a documentary telling Kibera Ballet School’s story. The documentary itself has attracted attentions to the school and the ballet teacher, giving the world a peek of how amazing things can happen under challenging environment. MING Tribe, as the co-producer, made sure the production happen safely and all information are captured correctly. Our staff donated to their facilities and families out of their own will

after the production finished. The documentary has been nominated in many Film Festivals and Academies and attracted worldwide attention to impoverished girls in African slums. It reveals the reality that donating only is not enough, it is more important to teach these girls a lifelong skill and a mindset of believing in themselves that can actually make them independent and more promising in the future.

Taking Actions by Children Growth Program

In 2023, MING Tribe is moving from raising awareness to taking more actions. Children from international schools around the world attended our Children Growth Program. During this program children will be formed into a group and attend various activities, including wild surviving training, conservation workshops, learn about the day of an UNICEF Ambassador and cultural engagement.

We worked with UNICEF Ambassador who took our children to the library and school they sponsored in Kaloleni. Children from China and Kenya exchanged their stories and traditions, and our Chinese young visitors also brought stationaries and books as gifts to their welcoming new friends from Kenya. In the afternoon, we visited Ligi Soo Football League. Ligi Soo Football League is founded to give kids more skills in sports, and more spirit in teamwork, in order to prevent them from doing drugs and theft. Not only the football league, the program is also for various skills training, including basic business knowledge, computer skills, language learning, etc. The league helped both their body and mind, showed them how knowledge can change life. And with the Children Growth Program, both children from different world get to meet and share their ideas. We also got football training together and had a friendship football match among the kids. Both groups benefited from the experience, because it shows them the importance of embracing traditions and cultures you don’t know. It is our generation’s responsibility to show the world how people can engage with completely different backgrounds and work together as a team.

For the wildlife and conservation work, we have invited local researchers to give our children and their parents a speech of their work. We also took the children to spot elephants from helicopters, which gave them a more profound idea of how difficult and committed conservation works are. From the air, children had a wilder view of landscape of the bush and began to observe the conflicts between farmers and conservationists. They might not be able to do too much at this

age, but the idea of environmental protection has grown in their mind and heart.

During the wild surviving training, our children got to work with one of the most legendary safari guide, naturist, and former director of KPSGA (Kenya Professional Safari Guide Association), Mr. David Githu. David is on the board of KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) and honored lecturer in Nairobi National Museum, giving joys to all nature lovers and kids who are excited about Africa wilderness. He is also the designated guide for BBC and NAT GEO, offering amazing

guiding and knowledge to the world through so many documentaries. Our children had a five-day training by him, offering them all kinds of knowledge about wildlife, animals, plants, landscape, culture, and history of different tribes. While we were tracking the animals in the bush, our children took photos of different animals’ footprints, wrote down notes of all kinds of animals, started fire from cow dung, and made bows and arrows like masai worriers. They sat by the

river for 2 hours just to observe the movement of mara river and animals like a BBC documentary maker. We would like to show children that when you are in the wild, you need to survive not only by having more knowledge, but also always being humble and respectful to nature.

During the program, children get the chance to take real actions to understand the world and realize how delicate it can be. They are coming from a more developed country and hoping to make the rest of the world a better place with their knowledge and exposure. This experience taught them maybe you are a big star now, but you never forget your roots and never forget education and knowledge is the way out of poverty. It taught them the braveness of conservatist when they face daily threat from farmers and poachers, but they still need to keep moving forward with their work to protect wild animals. It taught them a man with all the knowledge and accomplishment in his safari career can still be humble and thirsty about the wild. One day our children will find their career path and contribute to the society. We are glad this experience has not only shown their different occupations, but also the devoted spirit of these amazing mentors.

Liaison with International Schools

Apart from the contributions to Kenya community, MING Tribe has been working on education since 2007. Our shareholder is also co-founder of many international schools in China. These school are not only top international schools, but they have also been donating and building schools in rural areas of China to offer more education opportunities to kids and families who can’t afford. The exchange for these schools is amazing projects, children from different schools and living environments exchange to each other’s school and home, to give them more exposure and understanding of diversity among cultures. And we are pursuing exchange programs between them and Kenyan international schools.