As we reported earlier, the number of students coming to the Ko-K-Yo school tripled. While this is great news, this means that the renovated space is not enough for the number of students and, once again, students are being taught outside or having to take turns to have their lessons in the classrooms. We do not want to turn away anyone as that would severely dampen their enthusiasm for going to school and learning. Thus, we decided to build 3 more classrooms to accommodate every student. Please join us!
School Renovation!!!
Because of the generosity of our donors, we were able to renovate the school this Spring. Habib, the chairman of the villages, says that attendance at the school has tripled since the renovation! The children of Waki and Waytaleyta are so proud that they now have a real school to go to. They thank everyone who made this possible!
Some of the children are still walking up to 7 miles to get to the school. That’s 14 miles everyday! They start walking before the sun is up and are walking home long after the sun has set. Our next goals are to hire two additional teachers and provide the children with a bus so that they can use that time to learn instead of walking to and from school.
Ko-K-Yo is an official NGO in Ethiopia!
Good News! Ko-K-Yo is now officially registered as a NGO in Ethiopia. It took a few months of shuttling our application from office to office, while it was somewhat frustrating, it was all worth it and now we can begin renovation of the school. We are so excited! Check back for updates on renovation progress.
Update on Fundraiser
Ko-K-Yo Foundation held our first fundraiser last week! We are so thankful to all of the wonderful, generous people who attended and opened their hearts to the Afar children. Because of them, we surpassed our goal of $12,000 and can now fix and outfit the school in Waki! We will keep everyone updated as to our progress this winter.
THANK YOU!!!
Update on 501(c)(3) status
Woo hoo! Ko-K-Yo Foundation has been granted 501(c)(3) status by the Internal Revenue Service of the United States of America. This means that 100% of your donations are tax-deductible!
Next step: getting permission from Ethiopia to operate as a non-government entity (NGO) in the country.
We are almost there! Please join us in supporting the children and women of the Afar region!
New Board Members!
WE ARE HONORED TO HAVE DR. CYRUS TAYLOR AND DR. CYNTHIA KUBU JOIN OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
Dr. Cyrus Taylor. Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Albert A. Michelson Professor in Physics at Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Cynthia Kubu. Staff Neuropsychologist and Associate Director for the NeuroEthics Program at Cleveland Clinic.
Please see our Board of Directors page for more information.
Meet our Board of Directors!
We are proud to introduce our founding Board of Directors.
Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie, founder and President. Curator and Head of Physical Anthropology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
Dr. Denise Su, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Curator and Head of Paleobotany and Paleoecology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
Robert Jackson. Partner at Kohrman Jackson & Krantz LLP.
Robert Koonce. Chief Development Officer at the Boys & Girls Club of Cleveland.
Dr. Lisa Yerian. Medical Director of Continuous Improvement at the Cleveland Clinic.
Please go to our board of directors page to learn more about them!
Welcome
Welcome to the virtual home of Ko-K-Yo Foundation! We hope that you will look around a bit to see what we are all about, but we'd like to introduce ourselves as well through this introductory post.
Ko-K-Yo Foundation was founded with the mission to help bring education and entrepreneurial opportunities to the children and the women, respectively, of the Afar region of Ethiopia. The idea was borne from the experiences and interactions of Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie (President and Founder) with the Afar people over the last 13 years through his paleoanthropological field research. He saw first-hand the lack of education in the area and its dire consequences for the children and their future. He witnessed the incredibly difficult daily life of the women and the restrictions placed on them. He had frequent conversations with the chief of the area, Habib Wogris, and was inspired by Habib's vision for the future of his people, a future that included education for all children and opportunities for the women beyond a life of fetching water and firewood.
After the field season in 2015, Yohannes came home to Cleveland and proposed the idea of starting a foundation to help the Afar people in his research area to his wife, Dr. Denise Su. Denise also conducts research on human origins and has worked in the Afar region as well. She enthusiastically agreed that this was a worthwhile and needed project. They began talking to friends about their idea and soon Ko-K-Yo Foundation was born!
Ko-K-Yo Foundation was formally incorporated in August of 2016 and we are currently pursuing 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status with the United States Internal Revenue Service. We hope to have an update on our status soon!