Visiting Assistant Professor Lucas Shamala, a native of Kenya's Western Province and an Abaluyu tribesman, is the founder of SAFI.

Students from Adjunct Professor of Management Howard Flomberg’s senior management course – and Flomberg himself – will be honored May 9 for their efforts in support of Support Africa Foundation International (SAFI).

SAFI, a nonprofit organization started in 2004 by Lucas Shamala, Metro State visiting assistant professor of African and African American studies, works to empower disadvantaged rural Kenyans, particularly those impacted by the current humanitarian crisis. The organization has been working with villagers in the rural village of Kambiri in western Kenya, and to date has helped build a church and nursery school and install a well in the village.

With his time commitments as a faculty member and to various projects in the community, Shamala was hard-pressed for time to devote to fundraising for SAFI. Enter Metro State graduate Barbara Novick (’01).

Attending Metro State classes – including Shamala’s – as a Metro Meritus student, Novick became intrigued with SAFI. Shamala invited her to serve on its board, for which her background in fundraising has come in handy. And, it was she who came up with the idea of involving Metro State students in SAFI fundraising efforts.

“Students from Professor Flomberg’s class took on the challenge of fundraising for SAFI this semester,” said Novick. A team of 10 students from the senior-level capstone course are “applying the management theory and principles they’ve learned at Metro State to real-world fundraising,” she adds.

The student team already has held a fundraising concert and is organizing the May 9 “SAFI Saidia” event, for which they have collected thousands of dollars of in-kind donations, Novick says. (Saidia means “help” in Swahili.)

In addition to their twice-weekly class meetings with Flomberg, the team also meets weekly with Novick. She has been impressed with what the students have accomplished and is already looking to what’s next.

“This project has great potential at Metro State,” she says. “I would love to involve students from other disciplines at the College, like having journalism students write our press releases, accounting students work on financials or marketing students with promotion.

“The students are getting real-world applications of their learning, and the nonprofit is benefitting from their work. It’s win-win.”

The AAS department
As the Department of African and African American Studies (AAS) celebrates its 10-year anniversary, there is a desire to include more concentrated studies about African history and culture. Shamala, a native of Kenya's Western Province and an Abaluyu tribesman, is essential to that shift. He teaches Intro to African American Studies, Survey of African History and African American History.

Shamala has a joint doctorate in religious and theological studies from the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology, a master's degree in theological studies from Candler School of Theology, Emory University and a bachelor of education from Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.

In addition to teaching and his work with SAFI, Shamala is the program coordinator for New Foundations Nonviolent Center and Dahlia Student Youth Center; president of the National Association of Pan-African Seminaries (NAPA Iliff Center), secretary to the Kenya Denver Community (KDC), director of International Missions Sure Foundation Ministries and former program director for Colorado Youth At Risk.

Editor’s Note: For more information about the SAFI fundraising event at which Flomberg and his students will be honored, call Shamala at 720-422-7413. RSVP deadline is Friday, May 2.