A dream come true

The Mama Zebra Memorial Fund was founded in the fall of 2002 with the ambition of giving the children of Maasai land a better life through proper education and health care. At the beginning, there was a simple wooden building that served as a classroom for the approximately 80 school children, who sat on the floor during class-time. A grant of USD 7,500 from the Children’s Book Club in Sweden laid the foundation for the fund’s work.

Thanks to all the generous donations over the years, we are happy to have realized the construction of two primary schools, two colleges, a medical station, wells for clean water, solar cell systems and much more that helps thousands of Maasai children in Kenya, every year. Our next dream is to also be able to build the first university outside Kenyan metropolitan areas within a few years.

Below are some images from milestones during the past 18 years. Please click to enlarge and read more about the events.

Festive opening ceremonies at Talek school

Tuesday, October 1st, 2019 was a great day for both students and teachers at the Talek School in Masai Mara—not to mention for the group that were currently joinging us in Kenya. The visit began with a ceremonious opening of the new library at the primary school that goes by the name of Astrid, after the famous Swedish author Astrid Lindgren.

The anonymous donor whose donations had financed the construction cut the ribbon. She had brought one of Astrid Lindgren’s most famous books, Pippi Longstocking which doubtlessly will be read countless times for the children at the school. After that, we witnessed spectacular singing and dancing performances by school children of all ages in the dining room.

NEXT BIG OPENING

We went on to the Boys High School right next door and here, too, they were singing and dancing. The visit ended at the Girls High School where the next big ceremony took place—the opening of the second dormitory, also funded by the same anonymous donor. Talek school is now so popular—partly because it ranks first among the district’s approximately 50 schools—that there is a constant stream of new students and there is always a need for more classrooms and dormitories.

A STEADY STREAM OF NEW PROJECTS

We can also announce that the classroom that some parents funded and that was previously missing a roof has now been finished thanks to the support of Pernilla & Michael at KustCamp, who joined us in Masai Mara in January 2019.

We also visited Dr Jackson’s clinic, financed by the fund. Dr Jackson claims that a so called inverter of the solar cell system has been stolen, and therefore they have no power. In a few minutes, our group of tourists has raised the money needed to buy a new inverter and Dr Jackson is cheering.

This is also the site for the next big project. Here, we will build the first delivery room ever in a Maasai territory, funded by Britt Marie & Thomas Mårtensson who joined us in January 2019. Their daughter Therese, who works at Buppa Brand, has donated several boxes of lovely blankets to the clinic, to later be given to all newborn babies.