The Nobelity Project
Encyclopedia
The Nobelity Project is an Austin, TX-based nonprofit founded by Turk and Christy Pipkin, in 2006, while producing the film Nobelity
Nobelity
Nobelity is a feature documentary which looks at the world's most pressing problems through the eyes of Nobel laureates, including Desmond Tutu, Sir Joseph Rotblat, Ahmed Zewail and Wangari Maathai. The film was premiered at the 2006 SXSW Film Festival and was the first of several sold-out...

. The nonprofit's principal goals include education and bettering the lives of people across the globe. The Nobelity Project's programs relate to several issues: Nobelity in Schools, the Kenyan Water Project, and the films, Nobelity
Nobelity
Nobelity is a feature documentary which looks at the world's most pressing problems through the eyes of Nobel laureates, including Desmond Tutu, Sir Joseph Rotblat, Ahmed Zewail and Wangari Maathai. The film was premiered at the 2006 SXSW Film Festival and was the first of several sold-out...

 (2006), One Peace at a Time
One Peace at a Time
One Peace at a Time is a film by Turk and Christy Pipkin. It was produced by The Nobelity Project and was premiered to a sold out audience at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, USA, on April 14, 2009. It is the sequel to the film Nobelity...

 (2009) and Building Hope
Building Hope
Building Hope is a film by Turk and Christy Pipkin. It was produced by The Nobelity Project and premiered on March 12 at the 2011 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas...

 (2011). Nobelity works in partnership with numerous organizations, including CARE, A Glimmer of Hope Foundation
A Glimmer of Hope Foundation
The A Glimmer of Hope Foundation was founded by Texas-based philanthropists Philip Berber and Donna Berber to reduce extreme poverty in rural Ethiopia. In 2010, Philip and Donna were ranked #7 by Barron's in its list of '25 Best Givers' in the world,...

, Concern Worldwide
Concern Worldwide
Concern Worldwide is Ireland's largest aid and humanitarian agency. Since its foundation over 40 years ago it has worked in 50 countries and currently employs 3,200 staff in 25 countries around the world. Concern works to help those living in the world's poorest countries to achieve real and...

, and Architecture for Humanity
Architecture for Humanity
Architecture for Humanity is a charitable organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crises and brings professional design services to communities in need...

. In 2010 Turk and Christy Pipkin spoke about The Nobelity Project and their most recent documentary at the 2010 TED (conference)
TED (conference)
TED is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading"....

.

Nobelity

Nobelity
Nobelity
Nobelity is a feature documentary which looks at the world's most pressing problems through the eyes of Nobel laureates, including Desmond Tutu, Sir Joseph Rotblat, Ahmed Zewail and Wangari Maathai. The film was premiered at the 2006 SXSW Film Festival and was the first of several sold-out...

 is a film that looks at the world through the eyes of nine Nobel Laureates. The film follows filmmaker Turk Pipkin’s personal journey to find enlightening answers about the kind of world our children and grandchildren will know. Filmed across the U.S. and in France, England, India, and Africa, Nobelity combines the insights of nine distinguished Nobelists with a first-person view of world problems and the children who are most challenged by them. The film features Steven Weinberg
Steven Weinberg
Steven Weinberg is an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his contributions with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles....

, Jody Williams
Jody Williams
Jody Williams is an American teacher and aid worker who received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the campaign she worked for, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines...

, Ahmed Zewail
Ahmed Zewail
Ahmed Hassan Zewail is an Egyptian-American scientist who won the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistry. He is the Linus Pauling Chair Professor Chemistry and Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology.- Birth and education :Ahmed Zewail was born on...

, Rick Smalley, Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai
Wangari Muta Mary Jo Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist. She was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the University of Nairobi in Kenya...

, Sir Joseph Rotblat, Dr. Harold Varmus, Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...

, and Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen, CH is an Indian economist who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions to welfare economics and social choice theory, and for his interest in the problems of society's poorest members...

 and premiered at the SXSW film festival in Austin in 2006.

One Peace at a Time

One Peace at a Time
One Peace at a Time
One Peace at a Time is a film by Turk and Christy Pipkin. It was produced by The Nobelity Project and was premiered to a sold out audience at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, USA, on April 14, 2009. It is the sequel to the film Nobelity...

 is the sequel to Nobelity
Nobelity
Nobelity is a feature documentary which looks at the world's most pressing problems through the eyes of Nobel laureates, including Desmond Tutu, Sir Joseph Rotblat, Ahmed Zewail and Wangari Maathai. The film was premiered at the 2006 SXSW Film Festival and was the first of several sold-out...

. Turk Pipkin, again takes his camera and embarks on a journey around the world. The film looks at solutions to the problems of the previous film and at those who are making a difference, including the Bangladeshi creator of the micro-loan system Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, an institution that provides microcredit to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Peace Prize...

, Thailand's premier family planner Mechai Viravaidya
Mechai Viravaidya
Mechai Viravaidya is a former politician and activist in Thailand who has popularized condoms in that country.Since the 1970s, Mechai has been affectionately known as "Mr...

, and The Miracle Foundation
The Miracle Foundation
The Miracle Foundation is a 501, non-profit organization founded in 2000, focused on empowering orphans in India to reach their full potential, one child at a time. By creating a family-style living environment for each of the 500 orphans currently in their care, this secular organization goes...

, among many others. The film underlines the idea that each generation has a responsibility to involve themselves in the world and to help make it sustainable for the generation that comes next. It premiered in Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

, Texas, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, on April 14, 2009.

Building Hope

Building Hope
Building Hope
Building Hope is a film by Turk and Christy Pipkin. It was produced by The Nobelity Project and premiered on March 12 at the 2011 South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas...

 is the sequel to One Peace at a Time
One Peace at a Time
One Peace at a Time is a film by Turk and Christy Pipkin. It was produced by The Nobelity Project and was premiered to a sold out audience at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas, USA, on April 14, 2009. It is the sequel to the film Nobelity...

. After rebuilding a rural Kenyan primary school, Turk Pipkin and The Nobelity Project agree to help build the area’s first high school - including the award-winning RainWater Court, classroom building, science and computer labs, and a library. Through drought, flood, and fundraising challenges, Building Hope chronicles the construction of Mahiga Hope High, and the connection between a thousand people in the U.S. and an African community working to create a better future for their children.

Nobelity in Schools

Nobelity in Schools brings the films of the Nobelity Project to classrooms across the U.S. and abroad, to inform students about problems faced by the world and motivate them to become involved, through the words of Nobel laureates in the films. DVDs of the films are available to any teacher that requests one.

Kenyan Water Project

Seeing the stark poverty of a village in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

 was a primary motivator behind the formation of the Nobelity Project. Students at the St. Joseph's Mahiga Primary School had to walk for an hour to reach a stream to get drinking water and suffered illnesses from the unpurified water. The Kenyan Water Project was able to build a pump and provide running water to the school, and provide the classroom with supplies including some computers.

Mahiga Hope High School

In 2009 The Nobelity Project began construction on Mahiga Hope High School in rural Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

. It is the first high school in the area of Mahiga near Nyeri
Nyeri
Nyeri is a town in situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya Kenya, which was the administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province...

. The school held its grand opening on October 1, 2010. The Nobelity Project is also building a science building for the school along with organic gardens to be completed in fall 2010. Construction of the school earned the Nobelity Project a nomination for Architecture for Humanity
Architecture for Humanity
Architecture for Humanity is a charitable organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crises and brings professional design services to communities in need...

's book, Design Like You Give a Damn 2, a collection of writings about projects designed to benefit humanity.

Mahiga Rainwater Court

In 2009, Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...

 awarded The Nobelity Project, in partnership with Architecture for Humanity
Architecture for Humanity
Architecture for Humanity is a charitable organization that seeks architectural solutions to humanitarian crises and brings professional design services to communities in need...

, a "Game Changers Award," an architectural grant to build a multiple purpose game, performance, and rain water collection facility. It is an athletic facility for Mahiga Hope High, as well as provides a community center for Mahiga. It also serves as the schools only source of drinking water. The Mahiga Rainwater Court held was opened in conjunction with the school's grand opening.

Mahiga Hope Library

In 2010, construction began on the Mahiga Hope Library. This library will provide books to the whole community of Mahiga. This unique library consists of books donated by individuals along with personal inscriptions in each book, part of their book drive 1,000 Books for Hope. The book drive received contributions from individuals and various school groups and the library will also provide text books and reference books in English and Swahili.

Sources and External Links

http://nobelity.org/
http://nobelitythemovie.com/
http://gamechangers.architectureforhumanity.org/proposals/rainwater_court_mahiga_hope_high_school
http://www.austin360.com/movies/pipkins-living-by-a-charitable-pact-518890.html
http://architectureforhumanity.org/node/1506
http://www.austinwomanmagazine.com/Articles/2009/10_OCT/54_Christy_Pipkin.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/business/29flier.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper
http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Entertainment/cat_index_nyc_events/One_Peace_At_A_Time_-_A_Turk_Pipkin_Nobility_Project_Film.php
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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