What started out as an effort to raise money for netting expanded to a full-fledged campaign to educate children throughout Kenya, undertaken by the Students Taking on Malaria and Poverty, otherwise known as STOMP.
Founded 10 years ago by professor Gabe Ording and MSU graduate Aaron Schaer, one of his students at the time of its creation, the group rapidly has expanded as more students each year contribute to the cause.
Ording, the director of the MSU Center for Integrative Studies in General Science, said STOMP’s initial partnership with Nothing but Nets, a global organization run by the United Nations Foundation, worked to raise money for bed nets in an effort to combat malaria in Kenya. STOMP then joined with Ording’s study abroad program, opting to construct screens for homes, which Ording said were more effective at preventing malaria-carrying mosquitoes from entering domiciles.
However, it was on one of these study abroad trips where Ording began to rethink STOMP’s approach.
“One of the elders said to us, ‘MSU, you’ve been coming to our village and benefiting from us for years, what have you done for us?’”
In recent years, the question prompted STOMP to shift its focus, from working on malaria to combating chronic poverty.
Ording and his study abroad program went to schools in rural Kenya, finding many in dire need of feminine hygiene products, school supplies and books. Ording explained that young women, without proper health products, often are forced to stay at home, halting their education and contributing to the nation’s high fertility rate.
STOMP also continues to raise money to equip schools with solar panels, as schools in rural Kenya
often don’t have electricity. Students also are frequently forced to stay overnight at schools, as twilight elephant attacks endanger children attempting to return home, according to Ording.
Mike Mottweiler, a human biology senior, said he was first exposed to the conditions while studying abroad and remembers seeing hundreds of children ready to welcome MSU students.
“The kids were so excited for all the new books and supplies,” he recalled.
Ording equips his study abroad students with bags filled with children’s books and school supplies, donated by Ording’s ISB 201 classes each semester.
Looking ahead, Ording said he expects STOMP to continue to broaden its reach and provide educational opportunities for children across east Africa.
“Really, STOMP wants to take this a step further and get involved with identifying additional communities, widen our scope,” Ording said.
Pat Ross, an environmental studies and agriscience senior, said he believes STOMP provides an excellent opportunity for students to get involved.
“This is the time in all of our lives where we have an opportunity to travel and make an impact,” Ross said.
With the study abroad returning next year, a growing interest by students to participate in the program and an attic in North Kedzie filled with books, STOMP actively is seeking new opportunities to help those in need.
“STOMP is all about providing people (with resources) to secure a better future,” Mottweiler said.
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