We Support the Mpopongi Primary School

We believe strongly that education promotes empowerment. That’s why we have been supporting Mpopongi Primary School and the Siana Community in Kenya’s Maasai Mara.

East Africa Safari Ventures has always had a strong involvement with the Siana Community, as it has been one of our key safari areas since the establishment of the company in 2001. We developed a very close friendship with the community and through this, we identified Mpopongi School as the focus of our assistance. Since then, we have been proud to support the students and school directly, in the knowledge that these initiatives have also benefitted the wider community by transforming the lives of the younger generation.

How We Help

All of our guests automatically contribute up to $5 per night* towards our community conservation fund. Through this and larger contributions from guests, we have been able to contribute almost $50,000 to provide:

Ongoing bursaries for 20 orphaned or single-parent students from the immediate community, covering their boarding fees, uniform, school supplies food and other contributions normally made by parents.
Salary for one additional teacher since 2008.
Basic supplies and curriculum materials for students, such as pencils, writing paper and textbooks.
Teacher training and teaching aids.
Building construction, classroom equipment, maintenance and solar energy provision.
Educational enrichment through sponsorship of special events such as Sports Day, Prize Day and Conservation Days.

(In conjunction with Maasai community members, on Conservation Days, students experience excursions into the bush with our guides, conservation-focused lessons, and a chance to view their natural environs through the eyes of a tourist, significantly impacting their future perspectives).

Individual secondary student sponsorship: Once a child completes primary school, the opportunity exists for our guests to provide a scholarship, enabling a high-achieving student to receive a 4-year secondary education. We disburse the scholarship funds directly to the school, monitor the child’s performance, and ensure that the sponsors receive regular updates on their child’s progress.

* East Africa Safari Ventures includes a contribution to our Community Conservancy Fund in all safari quotations to our guests. This charge is normally $5 per person per day ($2.50 per child under 18 years) but, where a property included within the safari itinerary also includes a community fee in the quote, this contribution is passed on to them.

Why Education Matters

We could share multiple stories of the impact that our support for local education has had. Here are just two of the most poignant:

One day a young Maasai girl, Janet Rinka, and her elderly father from the Siana Community wandered into camp for a meeting with Joe & Gillian. Just 13 years old, Janet was about to married in exchange for dowry. Like many Maasai girls her age, Janet knew that education was the only way she could escape from the traditions that would bind her forever and had urged her father to take this extraordinary step with her. On that day, she had a chance to change the course of her life journey, and with our assistance, Janet has now completed secondary school, opening the door to employment opportunities and a future filled with potential.

During the severe drought of 2009, many Maasai communities suffered major losses of their sole source of income, their livestock. With families left financially destitute, students withdrew from school due to unpaid fees and other expenses. We saw the need to intervene, and along with community elders identified 20 of the most needy students to provide them with sponsorship. Without this assistance, those students might never have returned to school. We are grateful to be able to make a real difference in young people’s lives, which benefits the entire community.