Deborah Santana throws her annual fundraiser for Africa

Saturday night I was invited to attend a gala fundraiser for Daraja Academy. The annual fundraiser was hosted by Deborah Santana, author, philanthropist, activist for peace and social justice, and founder of Do A Little, a non-profit that serves women and girls in the areas of health, education and happiness. (If the name sounds familiar, Deborah was married to musician Carlos Santana for 34 yrs)

 

 

The event was to raise funds for the Daraja Academy freshmen girls in Kenya.

Daraja Academy is a boarding secondary school for Kenyan girls with top academic scores and exceptional leadership skills but no means to continue their education.  The academy provides shelter, food, healthcare and counseling services which allows students to focus on their academic and personal potential, without being hindered by the everyday barriers of poverty.

Music was provided by Salvador Santana, son of Carlos & Deborah. Salvador is a musician born in 1983 in the San Francisco Bay Area. His main instrument is the keyboard. He sings and loves spoken word, but piano and keyboard have always been his mainstays. Loved the music!

His latest Cd, Keyboard City, was available for purchase on Saturday. (My favorite song is Mi Tesoro - available on iTunes)

It was a very successful fundraiser, people were donating all over the place! I'm sure they took in over $50,000 in donations which also included several $4,000 donations from people who wanted to accompany Deborah to Kenya next August to visit the academy.

me & Deborah Santana

A good time was had by all! Deborah is a great inspiration to me and I wish her the best with her project.

Below is a video from May 20, 2012. Daraja Academy ran a 10K lap-a-thon simultaneously with sponsors in San Francisco's Bay to Breakers race.

 What a great idea!