USA Update: Week Three and Beyond

Jonathan with new sponsor Jody Meyer

After a frenetic second week at SJP and Ipswich fundraisers, MAYOO picked up right where it left off for the third week. By scheduling meetings with our prospective sponsors for at-risk Maasai girls, we were able to meet individually and have an in-depth conversation about our program and their girl. This was a great experience for Jonathan who was able to get to know these generous people further as well as share more about himself in a welcoming environment.

Our second school event to raise awareness was at Winthrop Elementary School, where we had the great opportunity to talk with the fifth grade. Thanks to Sheila Mcadams and Kathleen O’Reilly we were able to come in and teach the fifth graders more about the Maasai way of life; they were able to learn Maasai words, handle Maasai jewelry, and of course carry water like a Maasai! We were lucky enough to have the most polite and attentive fifth graders I’ve ever met who had more questions than any group we’ve had thus far. Thanks Winthrop!

After the talk at Winthrop, it was off to NYC where we hoped to secure some good contacts for the organization as well as show Jonathan the big city life! After an overwhelming introduction through Times Square, where Jonathan’s eyes actually looked like big apples, we went to World Connect for a meeting. World Connect is an amazing charitable organization that helps develop grassroots locally driven projects around the world. We ended up having a very constructive meeting discussing how our project came to be as well as our future dreams for MAYOO. WorldConnect is a great resource of information for start-up charity projects so we are very excited about potentially utilizing that resource to aid our project down the line.

The following day we had lunch with non-profit expert and independent writer, Pippa Biddle, who has a lot of experience with start-ups and charity work. She was a great connection who gave us advice on going forward as well as other contacts in Kenya that could be potential partners. After that meeting it was time to show Jonathan more of one of the greatest cities in the world, so we wandered around and saw the sites before he had to head back the following morning.

This past week Jonathan has been staying in Cape Cod with future volunteer, Janet Biondi, who was kind enough to host Jonathan and set-up events before she sets off on her trip to Africa this winter. They had an extremely busy week as they did MAYOO work through a private fundraiser, church service, other social events, as well as last nights successful event at an African Restaurant who were very supportive to the cause. Thanks to all their hard work in Cape Cod they were able to find long-term sponsors for 5 more girls as well as almost a $1,000 for water-piping!

Janet & Jonathan

So, as we enter our last couple weeks with founder Jonathan Simel in the United States we are excited to complete the projects he set out to accomplish. This coming week he will be with Sherry Anderson in Holliston, MA, then he will come back to the North Shore where have some final events planned at Zumis Coffee Shop in Ipswich and a farewell party in Nahant. We hope you will be able to join us at some point to support MAYOO and the work we are fighting hard to get done!