Monicah Kivaa. (Courtesy photo)

Ann Kivaa sometimes imagines she is a branch of a tree, a supporting beam for the many smaller branches that spread and leaf out below her. Kivaa, a native of Kenya and the second of nine children born to a schoolteacher and a salesman in the city of Kitui, came to New England to complete her education at Harvard Law School. While the practicing attorney is now married and the mother of a baby girl of her own, she sees her position as a vantage point from which she can help offer her siblings the same opportunities for education that she has found here. At the moment Kivaa is working around the clock to raise money for her younger sister Monicah, 18, who has been offered a significant scholarship to attend Assumption College in Worcester this fall. Working in concert with her are any number of friends and family: brother Joseph Kivaa, the African educational philanthropy Zawadi International, Assumption College faculty and staff, and a special group of 10 Harvard women who call themselves the “African Aunties.”

Garden metaphors abound in the language of Kivaa and her younger brother Joseph, a student at Salem State College and part-time resident at Astrolabe Farm on Depot Road. Both speak in elegantly accented English, and both articulate their hopes for Monicah with images of her potential to blossom by pursuing a college education. As both Kivaas explained, higher education in Kenya is available only to a privileged few. Most students end their education at the eighth-grade level; only those with exceptional academic ability—or the financial means—continue on to high school and college. Monicah has already beaten the odds, they say, by finishing high school with a scholarship from a local private school. The 18-year-old, whom brother Joseph describes as “very organized, focused, and orderly,” is interested in biotechnology and medicine, according to her older sister. Going to school at Assumption, Ann pointed out, will give her fertile ground in which to grow:

Joseph Kivaa takes a break from his studies to weed the gardens at Astrolabe Farm on Depot road. (ourtesy photo)

“She is like a seed: she will germinate and sprout, like she is in a garden.”

She also points out that her sister has the potential to learn and contribute the way her brother Joseph has done in the five years since he left Kenya. He would never have had access to any of the opportunities for education that he has had here, she said, her pride in him palpable over the phone.

“Watching him has been so rewarding,” she said.

Joseph, who will graduate from Salem State this spring with a degree in nuclear medicine, hopes to go on to earn a Ph.D., and become a professor.

“This is just a beginning for me,” he explained.

Both siblings remember a clear edict from their parents: books are a way out of poverty. Joseph remembers the day his father told him he could no longer afford to keep him in school, and that his education was about to be cut short just as he was hitting his academic stride.

“That was the worst moment of my life,” he said.

After years spent working on his godmother’s farm, his hopes were resuscitated when Ann was able to sponsor his emigration. In a lucky twist of fate, he ended up meeting Astrolabe Farm owners Mary Craumer and her husband David Porte at a dinner party one evening, and the trio struck up a friendship that has deepened over the course of the five years Joseph has lived in Harvard. He now works part-time on the farm on weekends, spending weekdays in Salem working for his degree. His interest in medicine lies behind the academic, however: exuding a warm combination of benevolence and kindness, he is most animated when talking about his ability to help others.

“I want to give a lot,” he said. “Any time that I’m giving, that I’m helping out, that’s when I’m happy.”

Educating Monicah goes beyond educating one woman, Ann Kivaa said. Women are in positions of influence as mothers, as members of the community, and in their potential to be role models for others. The more educated a woman is, the more impact she can have in her community—and beyond.

“When you educate a woman, you educate a nation,” she said.

That message of the importance of education—and the empowerment it brings—is a message that she would eventually like to take back to Kenya as a professor. In her native country, she explained, opportunities for advancement of any kind are often curtailed, most often by poverty, disease, or illiteracy. Improving the lot of even one more person is a positive step in the world, a point of view echoed by Renee Buisson, director of public affairs at Assumption College.

“In helping Monicah achieve her academic aspirations, we may be helping others down the road,” she said.

Working in partnership with that spirit of philanthropy is the goal of the group Craumer assembled around her kitchen table at Astrolabe Farm one morning. Impressed by the Kivaas’ drive to succeed, as well as their concern for the family’s well-being during the recent election disturbances in Kenya, Craumer and nine other Harvard women joined forces to form a support group to bring Monicah to the United States. Craumer credits Hellie Swartwood with coming up with the name that so accurately describes their mission.

“It’s the African idea of the extended family of aunties and uncles that forms the wider tangible support for families in Africa,” Craumer explained. “We want to be that caring network surrounding Monicah during her four years at Assumption.”

The African Aunties, along with Assistant Professor Bart Morrison of Assumption College, have been working to bring Monicah Kivaa to the United States to continue her educaton. Front row: Dr. Roxanne Daleo, Mary Craumer, and Lisa Aciukewicz. Back row: Bart Morrison, Suzanne Hays, Kathy Elkind, Kate Lucey, Mimi Dorward, and Chris Morrison. Missing from photo: Hellie Swartwood and Jen Stone. (Courtesy photo)

A vital part of the Aunties’ network is Harvard resident and Assumption College business professor Bart Morrison, also of Depot Road. Morrison, whose wife Chris is also part of the group, has been “totally instrumental” in securing a scholarship for Monicah, Craumer explained, and their success owes a huge debt to his efforts. In addition to Craumer, Swartwood, and Morrison, the other members of the group include the Harvard Press’s Lisa Aciukewicz, Mimi Dorward, Kathy Elkind, Jennifer Stone, Suzanne Hays, Kate Lucey, and Dr. Roxanne Daleo.

At the moment, the Aunties’ main mission is raising the additional $12,000 needed to secure the paperwork for Monicah’s student visa. Time is running short: all funds need to be in place by mid-July. To date, the group has raised almost $10,000, most of which has come from the aunties themselves. Craumer is confident the group can pull the money together, however, citing the enormity of the obstacles they have managed to surmount already.

“The whole thing has been a miracle so far,” she said.

For more information on the African Aunties and their mission, visit www.africanaunties.org or contact Suzanne Hays at 978-456-9177.