Our work at St. Joseph Mahiga Primary School in rural Kenya has already resulted in clean drinking water and electricity, a computer lab and new classrooms. Enrollment is up and water-borne illnesses are down. Mahiga Primary is now the highest rated school in the district!
A solid primary school is good, but education shouldn't end at the 8th grade.
With no secondary school, a complete education for 700 kids depends upon The Nobelity Project's commitment to build Mahiga Hope High School. The Education District for the area has committed to operate this school but has no money to build it. That’s where we come in. These kids are ready and eager to learn. Let's open the door on a better future for them and their community!
Nike and Architecture for Humanity join the team!
Nike has announced our Rainwater Court as winner of the international GameChangers design competition. Architecture for Humanity will oversee construction of the world's first "net-positive" basketball court that will also collect and purify drinking water for the school, serve as an outdoor classroom, a community meeting space and more. This is a great beginning, but to build the rest of the high school we need your help.
The Willie Challenge! To build twelve classrooms, a library, and computer and science labs
Willie Nelson is lending his hand to our efforts. Take the Willie Challenge and make a tax-deductible contribution to make this wonderful school a reality!
• Every $100 donation receives a copy of Turk and Willie's NY Times bestseller, The Tao of Willie, signed by Turk
• Every $500 donation receives a copy of The Tao of Willie signed by Willie too!
• Every $5,000 donation receives signed book AND your name on the door of a classroom!
Thanks to everyone who turned out for the World Premiere of One Peace at a Time. If you thought it was crowded at the museum (300 people) and at the theatre (1,100/Sold Out!), you were right! The response to the movie was wonderful, overwhelming, off-the-charts.. I don't know what to say (and almost couldn't say anything).
More great news - we have a theatrical trailer and it is fantastic. Thanks Matt Naylor and everyone at 501 Post. Check it out!
Screening news:
Sunday, 4/26 Mexico Premiere at Casa Dorada, Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
Friday & Saturday, 5/1 & 5/2 Screening at Wild Basin in Austin, tickets at www.wildthingsgroup.org
Tuesday, May 5, Washington D.C. Premiere, honoring Congressman Lloyd Doggett, Caroline Boudreaux and more. Screening at Jack Morton Theater, George Washington Univ; co-hosted by CNN's Paul Begala
A Sneak Preview of One Peace at a Time, the title sequence with music courtesy of Bob Dylan. More info at Nobelity.org
Monday, March 30, 2009
Willie Nelson says, "Don't miss the World Premiere of One Peace at a Time!"
Info and ticket links for the April 14 premiere at Austin's Paramount Theatre are below, but first here's Willie and Turk's new psa for the Nobelity Project's biggest night ever!
The April 14 Paramount Theatre World Premiere (7:00 p.m. with music and food; 8:00 p.m. Premiere; 10 p.m. after-party at Ruth's Chris) just 25 bucks for
One Peace at a Time, World Premiere Screening on April 14 at the Paramount Theatre
After 2 years, 20 countries and 1 broken leg, we're delighted to announce the World Premiere of The Nobelity Project’s new film, One Peace at a Time. Tickets are now on sale at the links below (Nobelity filled the Paramount for multiple screenings, so these tickets may go fast).
There are three great events on April 14th, and two tickets to choose from.
World Premiere Screening Party - $25/person (Click Here for Tickets) 7:00 p.m. Paramount doors open Live music onstage Great food from El Chilito, Mama Fu’s & Amy’s Ice Cream 8:00 p.m. One Peace at a Time screening, followed by filmmaker Q & A 10:00 p.m. After-party at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
One Peace Museum Party - $250/person (Click Here for Tickets) 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Private Reception at Austin Museum of Art Downtown An unforgettable evening celebrating the new film and our museum exhibit Our biggest party since Lance, Willie and Owen at the Four Seasons Catering by Word of Mouth and Becker Wines Thanks to our host committee: Willie & Annie Nelson, Rick Linklater, Elizabeth Avellan, Nav Sooch, Donna and Philip Berber & Eddie Safady. 7:30 p.m. Walk to the Paramount for the Premiere Screening Prime reserved screening seats & Ruth’s Chris after-party included in ticket price
Christy and I are tremendously excited about the release of One Peace at a Time. While Nobelity focused on global problems, the new film looks at solutions that are already working, and that could be amplified all over the world. The film asks one very big question - can we provide basic rights – water, nutrition, education, healthcare, opportunity and a sustainable and peaceful environment – to every child on earth?
The solutions I found on five continents had some inspiring Austin connections, including the model Indian orphanages of The Miracle Foundation and water projects in Ethiopia with A Glimmer of Hope. For a sneak preview of the water story in the film, check out our latest edition of Short Film/Big Changes, which is called A Glimmer of Hope!
See you April 14 at the Paramount - or if you can step up big-time for the nonprofit, at the museum.
Welcome back to the Nobelity Blog, where my motto should be, “Good News… about two months after it happens.” First of all, I want to thank everyone who supported our water and education projects in Ethiopia and Kenya. I’m back from an inspiring trip to Africa and could not be happier about the progress I saw there.
Water (and More) for St. Joseph Mahiga Primary School
I was met in Nairobi by our friend and partner, Joseph Mutongu, who first took me to the Mahiga Primary School three years ago. After we planted trees at the school, Joseph shared his dream of building a water system for these great kids who were walking long distances to collect surface water that frequently made them sick.
I promised that day to help provide clean water for the school, and that promise was in many ways the beginning of The Nobelity Project. For that, I owe Joseph a great debt of thanks, because a lot of good things in a lot of countries have grown out of his dream.
At the beginning of the Fall semester in September, Joseph and I traveled back to Mahiga for the official inauguration of the school’s new water and electrical systems, and a new Nobelity Project computer lab (I had 8 OLPC laptops for the kids in my bags on the flight to Kenya, and AMD’s Matthew Chetty brought a beautiful HP laptop for the teachers from his office in Capetown).
Mahiga kids with new computer
A new building! – The Nobelity Project Computer Lab
Joseph Mutongu with water storage tanks at Mahiga School
Words cannot do justice to the wonderful welcome we received, and for the appreciation of these 346 kids (and a whole lot of parents) for the improvements at the school. The happiest news was that the District Education Manager was also impressed. St. Joseph Mahiga now the number 1 rated school (out of 600!) in the district! Even better, the district has decided to seek funding to build an adjacent high school so that these great kids can continue their education past grade 8 and have real opportunity in their lives.
Looking out at all those wonderful kids, I made another promise – this time that the Nobelity Project will be a full partner for the construction Mahiga Hope High School. More on this great new effort after the New Year, but first we better catch up with the rest of 2008.
Our Six Wells in Ethiopia
After Kenya, I continued to Ethiopia where I had another inspiring experience checking out the work of A Glimmer of Hope. The Nobelity Project is funding six wells this year with Glimmer, and I had the chance to visit several of these wells as they were under construction. One of the wells had just been drilled and hit water at 150 feet. Two of the hand-dug wells were partially completed, and were already deep enough to be producing large quantities of water. Thanks to our major donors who provided clean water that will literally change the future of these six communities.
Short Films/Big Changes
Our ongoing series of short films is having a great impact on the programs we’ve profiled. Caroline Boudreaux and I showed One Child at a Time at a fundraiser for The Miracle Foundation last weekend, and after the screening at Nav Sooch’s home, TMF raised $300,000! to build a new Village Orphanage in India. Congratulations Caroline!
The next film in the series profiles A Glimmer of Hope’s incredible work in Ethiopia, and will be released before Christmas. We’ll be producing four of these films each year and need all the monetary support we can get to make these films and spread the word about great work that’s being done all over the world.
The next film profiles Wheels for Humanity and their work to provide wheelchairs to disabled children in the developing world. And in February, I’ll be traveling to Cambodia to film sight restoration camps and clinics with the Seva Foundation, who have restored the sight of 2 million blind people.
If you’d like to support the Nobelity in Schools program, where we’ll be providing free dvds of Nobelity and One Peace at a Time to thousands of teachers, click here. (Support Nobelity in Schools)
And if you’d like to make the best type of donation for us – one that can be used for any of our work – we pledge to do good things with your support. (Support the Nobelity Project’s General Fund)
- The Nobelity Project joins the Clinton Global Initiative - The Million Student Outreach Initiative - Nobelity goes to space - One Peace at a Time set to premier in March, 2009
With summer over, I am back on my feet from my filming accident in the Grand Canyon and looking back at fourteen weeks progressing from a wheelchair to crutches to a cane. I really didn’t want to break my leg in three places, but looking back, I can see that the forced sabbatical has resulted in a lot of great developments for the Nobelity Project.
The big news this week is that the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) has invited us to join its non-partisan convening of global leaders who work together to implement solutions to pressing global challenges. Whether a CEO like Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, a Nobel laureate like Desmond Tutu and Wangari Maathai, a corporation like Google, or a nonprofit like the Nobelity Project, CGI members make substantial commitments to take concrete, measurable steps to improve and save lives around the world.
We are very proud to announce that The Nobelity Project’s commitment to CGI is to reach one million middle and high school students in 2009 through a dramatic expansion of our Nobelity In Schoiols program. Since our profit accumulates in knowledge and change, we are going to donate a double DVD package of Nobelity and One Peace at a Time, plus classroom materials and a web-based Circle of Learning program to every teacher who wants to engage their students in the issues that will shape their futures.
One of our core messages to these students is that each one of them can make a true difference in the world.
Membership in CGI is going to be a big boost to our education work, but reaching a million students is going to be one of our biggest financial hurdles to date. The cost of the entire program is $250,000. AMD and the 50x15 foundation have already come aboard as the first sponsor, but we have a long ways to go and need to raise that money sooner, not later.
Other news bringing attention to The Nobelity Project--- Gaming Pioneer Richard Garriott is taking Nobelity into Space. In October, when Richard blasts off in a Russian Soyuz rocket, he’ll be carrying the insights of our Nobel laureates to the International Space Station. The son of an astronaut, Richard has long carried the dream of going to space and we appreciate his willingness to use the journey and the publicity that comes with it to call attention to pressing global problems.
Back on my feet (and cane), as I write this blog, I am wingng my way to Kenya, then Ethiopia, to resume filming on One Peace at a Time. In Kenya, I’ll visit the SIDAREC/Slum Community Center, the winning project design of the Open Architecture Challenge, which I profiled in our short film, The Challenge.
I’ll also be at our partner project, The Mahiga Primary School, where donations by many of you have enabled us to build a water system with UV purification, an electrical system and a new computer learning lab in a new block of secure, stone classrooms. A special thanks to Julian Kink and all of his supporters in helping make this a reality.
I’m carrying a number of OLPC/One Laptop Per Child computers with me for the school and 50x15.org is setting the teachers up with a more powerful laptop for their work. I’ll bring back a report and photos of course, and I could not be more excited about being at the Mahiga school for the beginning of Fall classes in a school that’s better equipped to help them make their mark in the world.
I’ll also be visiting the first of our six well projects in Ethiopia. Thanks to each of you who’ve donated to support this important work through our partnership with A Glimmer of Hope. I hope we can do more water projects with Glimmer next year, but we have also set our sights on building a school.
Christy and I and the Nobelity Project Board of Directors are just launching a major fund-raising effort to enable all of this work. We are searching for five additional partner corporations, foundations or individuals who’d like to share the credit for the Million Student Initiative. We are also searching for annual underwriting of our series, Short Films for Big Changes, and though I don’t mention it often, the ongoing costs of all our film, education and development projects is one of our biggest challenges.
Christy is still talking about the donations that followed my last blog. The same day that she received a check for five thousand dollars, she opened an envelope and found a check for five dollars. Combined, those two donations were the perfect representation of the work we do and the way that we are supported by so many people who contribute what they can because they believe in our work and want to make a difference themselves.
Whether $5 or $5,000 (or $20 or $20,000), we’d love to have you as a partner in the work that we feel so fortunate to be doing.
One more shout out to Allen Hardin at UT Athletics who adopted my broken leg and put me through a summer of physical therapy UT football style. I wouldn’t be going to Africa without the work I’ve been doing with Allen.
I have to put my computer away. The captain says it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
One Peace at a Time,
Turk Pipkin Somewhere over the Atlantic September 1, 2008
People know me from different things I've done, and often seem to remember me from whatever I was doing when our paths first crossed. So if you first saw me on television with Harry Anderson or doing stand-up comedy, you may be disappointed in my current level of funny. On the other hand, if you first saw me as that idiot narcoleptic guy in The Sopranos, I could really use a nap, so I'm still playing that part well. The last few years have been occupied by making two feature docs writer and director of the feature docs, Nobelity and One Peace at a Time, and doing what I can for our education and action nonprofit, The Nobelity Project (www.nobelity.org). I also shoot and direct an ongoing series called Short Films for Big Changes, and am a member of The Clinton Global Initiative. Acting roles include The Sopranos, Waiting for Guffman, The Alamo, Friday Night Lights and Scanner Darkly.
Have also written ten books of fiction and nonfiction, most recently the NY Times bestseller, The Tao of Willie, co-authored with Willie Nelson.
