Michael Kirtley

Michael Kirtley President and Founder of the Friendship Caravan.

"Hailing from Bardstown, Kentucky, Michael has spent much of his adult life in North and West Africa. Thrice selected to the Who’s Who of International Photojournalists, he has written and photographed feature stories for such publications as National Geographic, Newsweek, Time, Life, Stern, Geo, and Paris-Match. An Africa and Arab World specialist, he has interviewed numerous heads of state, including former South African President Nelson Mandela, the late King Hussein of Jordan, and Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi. He holds a degree in Psychology from Amherst College, Amherst, MA.

"An inveterate desert enthusiast, Michael has operated an adventure travel company in the Sahara Desert, an expanse he has traversed some thirty times. In the late 1980’s he founded The America To Africa Society (ATA), an organization that created media events to facilitate image change and counterbalance negative stereotypes about Africa with positive information about its people. At its peak ATA had offices in seven countries, including Morocco, Senegal, France, and the USA.

"In the aftermath of 9/11/01, Michael founded The Friendship Caravan to nurture understanding among people of diverse cultures: “The Friendship Caravan proposes that for the world to live in security America must lead the world humbly, by embracing what we Americans can learn from others, and by offering America’s founding values through positive example – not through moralizing and hegemony. With such an approach I believe we can abate the fires of hatred, reduce the loss of human life, and weaken the promoters of extremism. People on all sides can benefit from this respectful sharing of cultures, and I would like to offer the events of the Caravan as a spiritual center of reflection about the future of our planet.”" CV


 * Co-owner and CEO (early 1990s), Africa Trade Associates