Your Gift Makes All the Difference!

​​There are 2 ways to help support our community:

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1) Make a donation to TTOP via Mpesa or PayPal using +254 748 19 7172. If a name/address is requested, use Emmanuel Aoron, 379 Lodwar-Kapenguria Rd, Lodwar, Turkana, 30500, Kenya. Feel free to send him a text as a heads-up that it's on its way! All funds will be deposited to the TTOP CBO account in Lodwar, Kenya. ​(not tax deductible)​

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2) Tax deductible gifts may be made through the Topernawi Fund administered though the State University of New York at Oswego (please read detailed instructions below.) The Topernawi Fund is primarily oriented toward educational programs, but also helps with community development projects such as clean water.​​​​​​​​

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Tax-deductible online or by check:
It’s easy to send a check or charge to a credit card online.
(For more info, contact Patricia at patricia.princehouse@oswego.edu; cell/text 440-478-5292)

To send a check, please make it payable to Oswego Topernawi Fund, and mail to Prof. Alanna Ossa, Chair, Dept of Anthropology, SUNY Oswego, 7060 State Route 104, Oswego, NY 13126-3599

 

To use a credit card or PayPal, please click on the link below (which will open a new page), and do the following:​​

 

1) On the linked page, first choose a standard amount or write in any amount. 

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2) Under “Please select your area of support”

Choose the option : “Other or multiple”

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3) A drop-down box will appear.

Please scroll down to “College of Liberal Arts and Sciences”

There will be a box to check for "Topernawi Research Project"

Please check that box and click on “Continue”

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4) It will bring up a “Selected Designations” box and ask you to verify by again typing in the amount of the gift 

It will then ask you to choose whether to “Make a one-time gift” or “Scheduled Payments” or “Perpetual Gift” (if one of the latter 2, it will ask for additional info). Then it will have you fill in your name and email address

It will ask if you are affiliated with the university. You can always just put “Friend”

It will ask if your employer will be matching the gift, or if you’d like the gift to be in memory of someone, or if you’d like info on Planned Giving

It will then invite you to check out using either a credit card or PayPal. 

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If you run into any glitches, just contact Patricia 

at patricia.princehouse@oswego.edu cell/text: 440-478-5292

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About The Topernawi Fund (TTF):

 

The Turkana County area of Kenya is utterly unique in the world. Its story of animal and human life stretches from the days of the dinosaurs to the present. This record of the past tells how the diversity of life emerged over the long history of the land in Turkana. How our own species emerged from other animals -who also evolved in their own directions- and how all of us survived past climate change and other challenges. This record is irreplaceable. The loss of this chronicle would impoverish humanity, our children, all children for all time.

 

Climate change and other crises have caused tremendous hardship for the indigenous pastoralist people of Turkana. Many Turkana have been pushed off their ancestral lands –often by well-meaning organizations. It’s a complex problem.

 

Topernawi is a rare community where the extended family and clan structures are still stable. The pastoralists living near the famous paleo site of Topernawi are the people whose ancestors are buried there. But there has been no clean water, no formal education, almost no healthcare, scant literacy, and little to no access to the sorts of services most of us take for granted. 

 

These people, whose community has done so much for science -even without understanding all its ins and outs- must benefit directly from the science done on their land, and the development of science tourism. 

 

The people of Topernawi must not be disenfranchised.

 

Topernawi has a healthy ecosystem with surviving wildlife populations, such as baboons, hyenas, gazelle, jackals, leopards, giant porcupines, pygmy hedgehogs, and many other vertebrates and invertebrates, many unique to Turkana. Correspondingly, Topernawi has a healthy cultural structure. In Topernawi, survival of nature, science and culture all go hand in hand.  TTF supports cultural and natural heritage preservation with community-driven development.

 

Pressing needs

All donations help! Here are some of the larger needs:

 

Þ Desalination plant for the new well. The water is potable now, but salinity in the water of more and more aquifers in Turkana is increasing due to climate change. We need to be proactive in securing the water supply.

Þ Tuition, books, uniforms, room and board, etc for PaleoKids on scholarship to attend boarding school, and for interns to go to college. (Sponsor a PaleoKid for a year for just $1500)

Þ Topkids preschool needs funds for books, school supplies, clothing, and staple food for their hot lunch. 

 

Þ The teachers and the guardian need raises, and we’d like to hire an environmental guardian to tend to trash and recycling, and watch over the wildlife. 

Þ Solar pumping equipment for the borehole well. 

Þ Apiary initiative. Beekeeping is an excellent, low-impact undertaking that will provide income and protect the environment!

Þ Dogs -Vet care for the hardworking dogs of Topernawi, including rabies shots, parasite control, etc.

Þ Livestock -Vet care and animal husbandry for the livestock of Turkana -goats, sheep, camels

Þ General Expenses: We have so many very worthy smaller projects going on –

too many to enumerate here. Plus, sometimes emergency expenses arise (e.g. sick children). Any amount will help defray these costs, thanks!

 

Winners Circles!

Thank you so much to all the people who help us win with this work. Supporters, please let us know if we can thank you in name!

 

Akiba Circle (Dawn-level contributors!)

David Moore

Sandra D’Andrea

Louis Rezanka

Nikki Puccini

Abigail DeCicco

Miles Lanicca

Anonymous

 

Elap Circle (Moon-level contributors, $500-1000!)

Glenn Starkman

Rahab Kinyanjui

Eliot and Rizvan Bush

Cynthia Case

Tim Treible

Anonymous

 

Akolong Circle (Sun-level contributors, $1000-5000!)

Mary Beth Pringle 

Whitney, Nancy, and Leigh Coombs

Faith Dickens

Hank Keating and Deborah Judd

Pat Wells

Anonymous

 

Etop Circle (Star-level contributors, $5000+)

Jan Waitz

Anonymous

 

We’ve had super success thus far, and this is only the beginning!

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