The Kennedy Airlifts

John F. Kennedy, his brother Bobby Kennedy, and politician Tom Mboya arranged The Kennedy Airlifts in 1959 and 1960 that saw hundreds of East Africans get scholarships to study in the United States, one of the more famous being Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai.  

Tom Mboya seen here with Mrs Ethel Kennedy, wife of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

Tom Mboya went from Catholic school student, at a time when Africans were still told what to do by white colonial masters and had little access to education, to a visionary thinker whose ideas about education would prepare his people for nationhood.

The Kennedys had a great love for Africa and Bobby and Ethel Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy Jnr., and Jackline Onassis Kennedy visited numerous times.

Mo enjoyed his time with Kennedys capturing their visits to East Africa. He spent weeks with Bobby Kennedy Jnr. shooting a documentary on wildlife conservation that the young Kennedy still remembers.

"John F. Kennedy' was always my favourite person, my favourite leader, in my early years and I have had immense admiration for him. I’m just very fond of reading books about him and I have read just about every book that I can lay my hands on."
Mo Amin