The Nyack Center was jammed Friday night for a fundraising show supporting the efforts of Rockland-based Maloto charity, founded by Valley Cottage resident Anna Msowoya Keys to combat economic and educational adversity in her native country of Malawi in Africa.

The event put focus on the most recent efforts of Maloto, which opened the Mzuzu Academy in Malawi, one of the most destitute nations on the African continent. The school aims to provide Malawian youngsters with the education that many in the region miss out on. Only about one in 25 children make it to the secondary school level in Malawi, according ot Keys.

Money from the fundraiser is earmarked to buy supplies for the new school, which opened in September.

The evening included African drumming and dance by local musician Arthur Lorde's Motherland Rhythms, a short film about Maloto's projects produced by Nyack filmmaker Jennifer Fineran, and a panel whose members shared their experiences in Malawi. The panel included Keys, Meredith Brokaw, a Maloto board member who is also wife of newsman Tom Brokaw, and Mitchell Warren of South Nyack, executive director of AVAC, an international non-governmental organization that uses public education, policy analysis, advocacy and community mobilization to accelerate the ethical development and global delivery of AIDS vaccines and other HIV prevention options as part of a comprehensive response to the epidemic. 

The fundraiser was attended by many Nyack school district parent. Mzuzu Academy has become a "sister school" to Nyack schools. South Nyack musician Dan Cohen served as host for the event.