Tamar is a second-year Friedman student who gained valuable international experience working with the Maisha Project. Here are some of her reflections:
At the beginning of my second semester at Friedman, I distinctly remember wishing for a Friedman study abroad trip. When the experiential learning requirement was announced, my mind was teeming with ideas. In January, my classmate, Cassie, connected me with her friend, Jake Breit, the development director at the Maisha Project. Maisha is a Kenyan grassroots organization that has empowered the community to break the cycle of poverty through education, healthcare, and sustainable farming. Jake told us we needed to go for ourselves and see the work that Maisha was accomplishing: They are working towards exactly what we study at Friedman.
What first attracted me to Friedman was the global focus of food and nutrition policy. I cross-registered at the Fletcher School, studied the causes and effects of food security, and am currently working on a monitoring and evaluation course project with an international healthcare organization. The coursework is important and technically useful. But what I had been missing from my classes was the chance to learn from people who face the challenges that I seek to help address. Our trip to Kenya helped fill that gap while invigorating me to dive deeply into community-led food security solutions in my remaining time at Friedman and throughout my career.
During the week’s visit, we bonded tightly with the staff and students as they proudly showed us their dance moves, classrooms, regenerative sustainable farm, and school feeding program. Each aspect of Maisha feeds into the wider system and supports its mission of bringing new life and opportunities to its community. For example, the farm itself functions because of synergies among the plants. Fruit trees provide shade for smaller crops, like collards and herbs. The cooks at Maisha prepare the collards, also known as sakuma wiki, for the children at lunchtime daily, and the farm is managed by a team of agricultural vocational students who study the farming system known as “syntropic agroforestry”.
I am so grateful that we got to experience the magic-like synergy that Maisha creates. While serving the students lunch on our first day, I was amazed at how quickly they welcomed us into their home. Everyone has a role at Maisha, and no one is a stranger. Although I was devastated to leave Kenya, I was ready to return home, carrying with me life lessons and new perspectives on building working food systems, empowering communities, recognizing my own privilege, and finding my role in supporting organizations like the Maisha Project.
To learn more about the Maisha Project, visit their website: maishaproject.org
Interested in visiting Maisha for yourself? The organization is hosting visitors to volunteer on-site on June 4-15, June 18-July 2, and October 17-26.
Cassie and Tamar are preparing freshly harvested papaya to serve the Maisha students at lunchtime.
Cassie helping a Maisha student wash their hands before lunchtime.
Tamar greeting a Maisha student in the morning.
