Tanzania - Masai village - Mairete village nursery school

We travelled to the Masai village of Monduli Juu to visit the Mairete village nursery school to hand out some more Elephant Branded bags.

Along the shaky, shaky road we were all looking forward to meeting the Masai community. We arrived armed with bags, exercise books, and pencils.

At around 2,000 metres above sea level there is a very different look to the landscape and climate, although it was still red hot even though it was over cast with the odd shower. We were struck with the sheer beauty of the place. Everywhere you looked it was a lush green, with crops and cattle as far as the eye could see. The local Masai families were very happy to see us and after introductions we gave out the bags and the children sang traditional songs to show their gratitude. We then went for a 20 minute walk up to the church where the school is situated and where we met the pastor of the church Father Gilbert Amani who showed us around. The school is a basic room which the church are providing so that the children can go to school. He told us about the history of the church and how he has been trying to help the Masai community see the value of education as in the past education has not been seen as important. This was evident as many of the local tribe did not speak Swahili and only their Masai tribal language. He said there is some progress however it is slow and their main challenge is paying the teachers. This echoes the same challenges we have encountered at the other non government funded or sponsored primary schools in Tanzania. The pastor, teachers and board of school governors told us that the community are very keen to set up a long term project that will raise money and then see work carried out to build a new classroom, a well for drinking water - they currently only have enough reserves during the wet season and the following three months -and a new bridge to cross the river during the rainy season so that the parents can take their children to the school. Based on our wonderful experience today it's an experience we'd all highly recommend.