(From L-R) GFNY Inc co-founder Grace Rwechungura, Model Miriam Odemba, GFNY Inc CEO&Chairperson Rosemary Kokuhilwa

On behalf of Global Fashion New York and Fashionjunkii, I thank you all for your participation and donations towards the Murungu Primary School Project at our event organized last week Thursday, February 16, 2012 at Studio XX1 in NYC. Kudos to all of you for making the night successful.

With the generous support of people like you, we will be able to help the students at Murungu Primary School work towards a brighter future through quality education.

Thank you again, and we looking forward to your continued support.

Sincerely,

Rosemary Kokuhilwa

CEO/Chairperson, GFNY

Global Fashion New York Inc and Fashionjunkii will be hosting a Charity soiree during Fashion Week to benefit The Murungu Primary School Project in Tanzania on Thursday,  February 16th at Studio XX1, 59 West 21st street, New York, New York.  The theme is A NIGHT OF FASHION FOR PHILANTHROPY: ”Better schools Better education Project”, celebrating fashion for a Good cause to benefit the Murungu Primary School in Tanzania.

The soiree will feature fashion  presentations,designers auction, cocktail reception, music and networking.There will also be surprise guests for the night so you definitely don’t want to miss it.

 For more information  contact the organizers at info@gfny.org  or fashionjunkiis@gmail.com . Hope to see you all there! 

Millen Magese @ Bunmi Koko AFW 2011

GFNY would like to congratulate its 2010 model Millen Magese  who is with  Ford models New York and Ice Models South Africa  for walking the runways of  top Africa designers during Africa fashion Week.  For the first time in her modeling career, Miss Magese who is also  former Miss Tanzania 2002 walked all the shows at the Africa Fashion Week 2011 which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. Below are a few  images of Millen doing what she does best, taking over the runways of different designers including Bunmi Koko , Mustafa Hassanali and Laquan Smith. BRAVOOOO!

Millen Magese @ Laquan Smith AFW 2011

Millen Magese @ Mustafa Hassanali AFW 2011

Images via: http://www.hautefashionafrica.com

The idea of the old proverb that says Charity begins at home was an attestation to my three days experience at my ancestral home in Kagera region. During my 2011 summer vacation in Tanzania I took a three days trip for the first time as an adult to the village, Ngote. This is the place where I spent my first two years as a child before my dad left for Europe and  my mother and I  moved to Singida for a few months, then later on Dar-es- salaam, the capital of Tanzania. So, you can imagine the feeling of anxiety going back to a place you left three decades ago. During my visit I had a chance to speak to some of the villagers who had come to see me at my grandmother’s house. The village is located 8km from the main roads at Lunazi, the commercial town of the area. There are no roads, no clean running water and no clinic in this village. During labor women have to walk to a clinic 10km away in another town. Most often these women ended up giving birth on their way to the clinic. If you are not lucky depending on the complications of the pregnancy you may die on your way or loose the baby

But biggest concern I had from the villagers was Education for their children. Children from village and other surrounding  two villages attend the the same and the only school in the village called Murungu Primary school. After talking to the mothers and fathers and hear what they have to say about the school I decided to tour the school myself and to see what I heard from the parents of these children. I must admit I have never seen anything like this. It was shocking, depressing and heartbreaking to see the conditions under which these children are supposed to learn. The school has only one complete classroom which is being used by standard seven and a small storage room used by the teachers as an office. The rest of the students sit and study under the trees and on the grass.

The school has only 4 teachers to teach the entire school of 421 students(ie from standard 1-7,). As I mentioned earlier these children who attend this school come from three villages including Ngote where my grandmother lives. When I asked one of the teachers what happened when it rains, he told me they move all the students to the two rooms they have, the only completed classroom and the storage room used as an office by the teachers. Besides the structural school problem there is also the personal or the human side. Most of these students and teachers walk a long distance to and from school. Majority of the students uniforms are worn out, their shirts are ripped off and they have no shoes and no school bags.

After spending almost two hours in the school I then had the opportunity to ask the students some questions. We talked, laughed, played a little ball, sang and so much more. These children are amazing as any other children anywhere. They have hope and big dreams just like any other kids in the developed world. They want to be lawyers, doctors, teachers and pilots but the opportunities seem elusive. The vexting question is what and how to help these children to succeed in their own way.

During my questioning the students were clear and convincing what kind of assistance they needed for themselves and the school as well as the communities at large. When I asked the students what changes they would love to see they all said they would like to have completed and furnished classrooms, a library full of books, more teachers, water and toilets. They also talked about a road leading to their various villages and to the main roads where their parents undertake commercial activities.

In my opening paragraph I talked about the proverb, ‘charity begins at home’. It is natural to take care of people close to you before embarking on a greater cause. It would be irresponsible to walk way from one of the most humongous and heart wrenching problems I have seen in my life in my ancestral place while focusing on other issues. The children need our help. Aspiration is the cornerstone of social context. These children are full of aspirations, hopes and big dreams.

Consequently,Global Fashion New York is proud to announce that we are adopting Murungu Primary School in Tanzania as our first international project, a project that is going to take about 5 years to complete. The project will focus on building classrooms, a library, a clinic and sponsoring the construction of roads to link the main road at the major town of Lunazi. Global Fashion New York can not do this alone. I would like to appeal to my friends and well wishers to assist in bringing this project to a successful completion.

In a short time an announcement would be made as to when, what and how the financing of the project would be done.

Thank you all.

Rosemary Kokuhilwa

Chairman/CEO, Global Fashion New York Inc;

Eight well established designers will be presenting their collections from different parts of the globe. They are: MATAANO, Amparo Chorda, Louda Collection, African Mosaique, Thula Sindi, David Tlale, Nike Kondakis, and Prajje 1983. Moreover, there will be a total of 36 diverse models representing every part of the globe.

This one of a kind fashion show will not only bring the invited only attendees a taste of global culture, but will also give them a chance to “hobnob” with global celebrities, high profile fashion gurus and New York Elite. Guests will also have a chance to see one of a kind pieces (most of which are not mass produced).

The fashion show is the first Global Fashion show event presented this year to benefit charities and is intended to be a yearly fashion gathering for great charity causes.

The Global Fashion show is one the most talked about fashion shows to ever happen in New York today due to it’s huge success. A total of eight well established designers show cased their spectacular collections from different parts of the globe. The designers featured that evening were; Maatano who are based in the United states but of Somalia descent, Amparo Chorda from Spain, Louda Collection who is based in New York City but of Russian descent, African Mosaique from South Africa, Thula Sindi from South Africa, David Tlale from South Africa, Nike Kondakis who is based in Kenya but of Greek and Danish descent and Prajje 1983 from Haiti but also based in the united states.

The much anticipated fashion show was the first Global Fashion show presented this year with its first recipient;The Bisila Bokoko Africa Literacy Project. Many well known prestigious guests came to show their suppport. Some of the guests that came to support the event and first charity recipient included, the guest of honor, founder of the BBALP and Exutive Director of Spain-US Chamber of commerce Bisila Bokoko, Well known HBO actor from the series ” The Wire” Gbenga Akinnagbe, Victoria’s Secret super model Oluchi Omwegba, and Miss Universe 1999 Mpule Kwelagobe from Botswana

Models elegantly strutted down the runway owning each piece majestically. Among the models that shared the runway that evening a few stood out, models such as former Miss Tanzania and Ford model Millen Magese, America’s Next Top Models Aminat Ayinde of cycle 12, Fatima Siad of cycle 10, former Miss teen New Jersey Eremene Clerjuste and very well known African model Adebisi Sowemimo

Hermes Spring 2012 (L), Dries Van Noten's spring 2012 (R)

We would like to congratulate GFNY last year’s model, ANTM’s Fatima Siad from Somalia for walking the runways of top designers Dries van Noten Spring 2012 and Hermès Spring 2012 during Paris Fashion Week. See images of Fatima Said taking over the runways of designers Prajje 1983 and Mataano during last year’s Global Fashion New York below.

Mataano GFNY 2010 (L), Prajje GFNY 2010 (R)