Maasai Community

Meet the beautiful Maasai people of Lengiloriti who live in a remote area outside of Arusha, Tanzania.  This is a traditional Maasai community with 7 tribes and 20,000 people.  The "Village Elders" are thinking about their future and the evolving needs of their community.  

The Travel[in]4Good leaders work directly with the Lengiloriti Village Elders to support the projects that they want to prioritize.  Not the other way around.  We want to help them evolve their community in the ways that THEY want, not what outsiders believe.

PRIMARY SCHOOL

The first project was to continue expanding on their dream of building a Primary School.  Since children are required to be educated for 7 years in Tanzania, these Maasai children would have to be "sent into town" to go to school because there were none within 32kms.  Therefore, the government agreed that if we would help them to build the infrastructure for the Primary School, they would certify it, pay for and send the teachers and the school supplies (books, desks, etc).

So, over several years, we were able to help them build 7 classrooms, 8 teachers' houses, and other infrastructure buildings (office, storage, toilets).  Therefore, the government kept their word and has sent the 8 teachers who educate 763 students everyday for Standard 1-7 (grades).

WATER WELL

The Maasai people are traditionally nomadic and would "follow the rains" with their herds of cows, goats, sheep and donkeys during the dry-season of their area.  However, because they are so close to the national parks, this community is no longer allowed to migrate their animals to through preserved parks.  So during dry times, many of their animals (and therefore people too) would die from illness related to dehydration and intestinal diseases from drinking dirty water.

Over the course of several years, we were able to get land surveys, drill test holes and finally build a successful water well for these 20,000 people to use during the dry season!  The well is 240m (780 ft) deep, has an electric pump run from the power lines put in for the school and has a tank that holds 70,000 liters of water at a time.

MEDICAL CLINIC / DISPENSARY

This community has a very high infant and maternal mortality rates and no access to medical care for any other urgent needs.  The government has agreed to pay for and send the doctor and the medical supplies if we build the building, the house for the doctor and infrastructure buildings (like toilets).

The buildings have been completed and the government has certified the clinic and we are awaiting a doctor to be assigned to this community and move out to live in this remote area (expected date of March 2026)!