Amboseli Maasai Relief

Hi, my name is Roy Austin. I am asking for your help because my friends in Amboseli Kenya are starving. Amboseli Kenya is experiencing an extreme drought, and my friends are starving.

Extreme Drought Alert for Amboseli - AMBOSELI CONSERVATION PROGRAM.

I visited a Maasai school in Amboseli in 2018. I became friends with a Maasai elder, Samuel Ntimama Mutagere, nicknamed “William.” We have been communicating for the past 4 years. I have been to his home twice for lunch. Once in September 2021 and in July 2022, he and his family welcomed me and my daughter and granddaughter to their home for lunch.

William’s clan adopted me into their family and gave me a Shuka, the traditional blanket that all Maasai men wear. I consider the Amboseli Maasai to be my extended family. In a way, I am a white Maasai.

William said they had lost hundreds of cows, sheep, and goats because there was no grass for them to eat. The zebra's wildebeest and giraffes are dropping dead,, but it is illegal for them to harvest these dead animals. The Maasai make their living herding animals. If the animals die, the Amboseli Maasai starve. And right now, they are staving. The market for selling livestock has crashed because people are selling their animals before they die to buy food (maize, rice, beans), creating a glut of animals for sale. William said that a cow that used to sell for 40,000 Kenyan shillings (about $350) no sells for 8,000 Kenyan shillings (about $65).

Trying to get a dying cow to stand up

Cow partially eaten by hyenas

Baby sheep

This giraffe died beside the Amboseli school

Zebra

Cape buffalo

Baboon

Wildebeest

Impala

Warthog

They need money to buy hay for their animals. William did not ask me for money. I have sent them money and will continue to do so, but their clan needs more help than I can provide.

I hope you can find it in your heart to help the Amboseli Maasai through this crisis

Mungo akubariki (Swahili: “God Bless You”)