Through my travels, I have been
interested in accommodation establishments that work with the community in
different way. When I received accommodation on Mara Explorers Camp in the Maasai
Mara in Kenya, I camped on their website to see what work they do to uplift the
Maasai villages. I was very impressed by The Porridge Project they have that
provides a meal for the kids at the Ole Keene Primary School. Through sponsorship,
Mara Explorers Camp are able to keep the porridge project running. There is also a small library of books which travelers donate their old books that they have read and you can buy a book from the library, and all proceeds go to the Porridge Project.
This is also where I learned about
Pack for a Purpose. Pack for a Purpose is an international drive that
encourages all travelers to leave a bit of room in their luggage and fill that
space with meaningful contributions that will go to the community that they are
visiting.
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| The Grade 8 class of 2015 at Ole Keene Primary School. |
You can visit the Pack for a Purpose
website or the lodge you will be staying with to get a list of what the
community you will be visiting needs. These differ with the different communities
and the goal that is aimed to be achieved.
Before I started backpacking Cape
to Cairo I had a farewell party and asked all my friends that they do not buy
me farewell gifts but to rather buy me stationery that I will donate to the Ole
Keene Primary School when I got to Mara Explorers Camp.
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| The Grade 3 Class of 2015 at Ole Keene Primary School |
And my special friends did just
that, they brought me stationery. I managed to squeeze my clothes into my bag
and carried it through Southern Africa and East Africa till I arrived in the
Maasai Mara. I was able to visit the school and meet some of the learners. I
donated the school stationary and the principal was very happy to meet me and
truly appreciated my efforts. I ad
lovely chat to him for over an hour about Africa, being African and most
importantly the learners and how their biggest challenge was sex education
especially because sex is taboo to talk about in the Maasai culture.
The principal also shared some
stories with me regarding the Porridge Project. There is only one condition for
the learners to be able to get a meal. Everyone has to bring a stick every
morning so that they are able to make the fire to make the porridge. Sounds
simple enough considering that there are sticks everywhere in the Maasai Mara
but the learners would not bring any
when the initiative started and the principal explained to them why they were
not being fed. The next day, nobody brought just one stick for the fire, they
had up to three mountains of sticks to make the fire because no one wanted to go
without their porridge. This was a bit funny the way the principal explained
it, made me realize that, kids will always be kids, no matter where in the
world they are.
If you are able to donate to the Porridge Project, you can contact Mara Explorers Camp here.
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#TheSoloWanderer
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