THE PATRON

Dr. Auma Obama is the Founder and Director of Sauti Kuu Foundation. Sauti Kuu is Kiswahili for “Powerful Voices” and is trying to give perspective to disadvantaged children and youth by helping them unlock their potential, in particular through Life Skills training and educational opportunities that lead to their engagement in economically sustainable activities.

The foundation is based on the principle of ‘Self-Help’ and aims to support and motivate the younger generations to take their fate into their own hands and be the makers of their own destiny.

Dr Obama was born and grew up in Kenya. She studied in Germany where she obtained a Masters degree at the University of Heidelberg, before attending the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) in Berlin and finally graduating with a Doctorate at the University of Bayreuth.

She then moved to the United Kingdom, where she worked for the local government Children’s Services Department before eventually returning to Kenya, where she worked for almost 5 years for the relief organization CARE International. Among her tasks was the coordination of the program ‘Sport for Social Change’, an initiative that uses sport education to strengthen self-confidence and self-worth of children and youth, in particular girls, from disadvantaged backgrounds and leads to positive behavior change.

Currently Dr Obama sits on the board of the Jacobs Foundation, a Swiss based non-profit organisation that funds research and development programs in the field of child and youth development, with special emphasis on early childhood development, employability and socio-economic wellbeing. She is also a member of the Kilimanjaro Initiative Governing Council. The Kilimanjaro Initiative organizes an annual ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain on the African continent, for disadvantaged and at-risk young people, giving them an opportunity to gain self-belief and enable them to take on a constructive role in their communities, and not engage in negative behaviour.

In 2010 Dr Auma Obama published her memoir ‘Das Leben kommt immer dazwischen’ in the German language. The English edition ‚And Then Life Happens‘ was published in 2011. Both books are available on Amazon.

Links:

http://www.sautikuufoundation.org/sautikuufoundation/SautiKuu.html

http://www.amazon.com/And-Then-Life-Happens-Memoir/dp/B00A17NQ94

http://www.amazon.com/Das-Leben-kommt-immer-dazwischen/dp/3785724039