Help Educate and Protect Masai Children

Last year, I was lucky enough to visit the Masai village of Olchurai, in Kenya. I met an incredible community of people, working hard to do the very best they can for their children, particularly the young women, who are

frequently married off early, or subject to female genital mutilation (FGM).

I met a University educated Masai Warrior by the name of Andrew Ole Nkongoni, who had returned to his village after graduating to help secure a better future for the Olchuari children.

I was blown away by Andrew’s commitment to his people and asked if I could do anything to help. Together we came up with Bridge of Hope, a highly focused fundraising effort, directly enhancing the lives of the boys and girls of Olchuari. The money you donate will go directly to the children, their protection and education.

Here’s Andrew and his team to provide a more detailed background to Bridge of Hope:

Historically, the Masai community have always been suspicious of education, believing that a mainstream education would dilute the Masai Culture, therefore withholding children from going to school and learning.

Thankfully, views are evolving and communities understand the importance of education in growing and building a more stable and successful life for everyone.

Our village, Olchurai, has been trying to support this new mindset and as a community, has been coming together to teach our children how to read and write. What started with basic lessons to a number of children sat under a tree, has progressed to a humble building that we can teach the children in but with our classes growing in numbers and the structure not being suitable for this number of children, we’d love to build something a little more substantial for future generations to come.

Bridge of Hope is a charity founded in Olchurai, with the following key objectives in place to help better the community:

- We want to eradicate illiteracy, through education in the Masaai village and surrounding community. Education is the key to success and our main goal is to make sure 100% of our children have access to education. We would love to build a new school and provide the children with all the necessary equipment to support their learning (books, pens, paper etc)

- We strongly discourage FGM, early marriages and pregnancies in young, promising Masai girls. We’re determined to provide necessary measures and education of FGM to the girls and also create a conducive environment for the girls where they are not threatened or exposed to any dangers of cultural practices

- We want to eradicate poverty in less fortunate families and therefore offer a feeding program where grains, cereals, corn flour, cooking oil and vegetables are distributed to households.

- We aim to supply sanitary towels to the girls within the villages

- The Ochurai community’s only water source is the river, which is not clean; it’s shared with wild animals and spreads disease. It's our vision to supply the village with sustainable water sources such as water tanks.

A little about our founder, Andrew:

“I am a warrior, one of the boys who got a chance to attend school. After finishing primary school level my parents couldn’t afford to put me through high school due to financial problems. I was worried because I had no any other option but to be a herds boy, fortunately one of the managers at a nearby camp close to my village decided to pay for my entire High School! With many Masaai boys, if you are unable to go to high school then you’re likely to join the warriors, or become a herdsman. Girls will just be married off. This was my motive of wanting to change my community.

I started helping children who couldn’t afford to go to school by volunteering to teach them at home and helping the elders by teaching them also how to read and write as many of our adults really wanted to learn. I volunteer to help my people as a way of giving back to the community and hoping to pass this idea of “help” from one person to another. I also rescue girls who are threatened with early marriages and also create awareness to stop FGM in my community. I’m passionate about conservation and guiding but to me, my community come first.”