projects & initiatives
Dear friends and supporters,
We invite you to join us in making a difference in the lives of the Maasai community in Tanzania. Your generous contributions can help fund various projects and initiatives that foster sustainable development, education, and cultural preservation. By supporting the Nashipay Maasai Initiatives, you directly empower local families through education, healthcare, and economic opportunities. Your donation can also enhance the Maasai Eco Boma, a model of sustainable living, and support the MamaPower Duka, which provides vital resources to women entrepreneurs.
Together, we can create a lasting impact and ensure that the Maasai community thrives while maintaining their cultural heritage. Every contribution, no matter how small, makes a significant difference. Please consider donating to these vital projects and be a part of our journey toward a brighter future for the Maasai people. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.
With deep gratitude,
The Maasai Eco Boma Lodge
current initiatives
Community members' involvement and participation is central in the design and implementation of our programs and projects.
Founded in 2013, our English medium school delivers the Tanzanian Ministry of Education curriculum within a Maasai cultural setting. Every student also engages in Permaculture as an extracurricular activity. Most of our university-educated teachers are proficient in three languages: Maa, English, and Kiswahili. We offer a bursary program called "Education for All" for parents unable to afford the annual fee starting at $350 USD, which covers tuition, meals, and supplies.
Our dormitory accommodates 125 children, and we emphasize gender equality among both our students and teaching staff. Nashipay Maasai School operates as a social enterprise, where all revenue generated is reinvested into education for our children. The Education for All Bursary program seeks annual donations to support 100 children.
We measure our success based on the number of children with access to formal education, clean drinking water, and lives saved through our village clinic and reproductive health program
The name “Alamal,” meaning “walking together,” was selected by the Mamas for our shop. It symbolizes our collective success and mutual responsibility within the community, extending a warm message to visitors as well. Our shop offers an array of beaded crafts, traditional Maasai shukas, and, seasonally, our locally produced honey.
We open most mornings coinciding with safari departures, and we're available at other times upon request. Your purchases directly support the Mamas and their families.
In 2019, we chose to diversify our agricultural practices by incorporating vegetable and fruit crops. So far, we've developed 7 acres of arable land and continue to expand annually. Our gardens not only supply food for the school feeding program but also sell any surplus to the community.
Our nursery provides families with trees and seedlings to create shade for their homes and establish small kitchen gardens. Additionally, we have planted over 7,000 trees around the Maasai Eco Boma and Nashipay School to help retain water, provide shade, shield against winds, and offer food. Our budding beekeeping program yields 120 liters of honey annually. We follow permaculture principles, particularly focusing on water conservation.
We lease 100 acres of land outside the wildlife corridor—growing crops within the corridor has proven challenging due to wildlife consuming our produce—to cultivate corn and beans for the community and school.
Read more here about Permaculture Courses.
In Maasailand, livestock serves as an essential form of currency. Economic challenges faced by women leading single-parent families motivated us to create this program.
Selected women receive a small herd of goats along with training on how to care for them. As the goats reproduce, they share kids back into the community herd during the 1st, 3rd, and 5th pregnancies, while retaining the kids from the 2nd and 4th pregnancies.
Provided the goats are well cared for, the initial herd is theirs to keep indefinitely.
Village Community Banks (VICOBAs) have become invaluable for both Mamas and Warriors to enhance their entrepreneurial skills and grow equity in their micro businesses. Each VICOBAs group gathers weekly to buy shares, collect loan and interest payments, and extend loans to its members.
Dividends are distributed annually, based on the shares held by each member.
This program delivers education and support to the women and girls in our community. Each year, our Health Committee conducts workshops to enhance understanding of reproductive health concerns and provides access to menstrual health kits.
Additionally, our Community Health Nurse collaborates with our Traditional Birth Attendants to support women throughout pregnancy and postpartum.
7 - Maasai Eco Boma Cultural Centre
Established in 2022, this Cultural Centre provides accommodations for travelers eager to explore Maasai culture and the wildlife inhabiting the Tarangire–Ngorongoro–Simanjiro Wildlife Corridor. The Centre also serves as a meeting space for community members to practice and celebrate our living culture through dances and songs.
The Maasai Eco Boma Lodge will preserve and celebrate Maasai cultural heritage, inspiring the community to safeguard significant art and indigenous knowledge for generations. The center includes art galleries and a women's cooperative. Guests are invited to immerse themselves in the Maasai way of life through guided walks on the land, visits to Maasai homes, dancing with us, and engaging in conversations with our staff. The Cultural Centre operates as a social enterprise, sharing its revenue with Nashipay School.
Community Welfare with Sustainable Water
Improving Child and Community Welfare with Sustainable Water. Harvesting Solutions at Nashipay school
In March 2023, the earthen dam around the reservoir in Makuyuni failed due to elephant activity and exceptionally heavy rainfall. As a result, the Makuyuni Maasai community and Nashipay Maasai School lost their independent water source. We've had to depend on alternative water sources that are inadequate, costly (502,600 TZS or 200 USD weekly), and unreliable (due to frequent power outages). We're grateful to the small group who donated 12,219,000 TZS (4,858.45 USD) to set up a rainwater catchment system.
Building this catchment system was crucial for the community, as it will provide us a dependable way to capture rainwater. This ensures we can supply water for domestic needs to our 430-pupil school and our 3,000-strong community. This project will enhance the health and wellbeing of our community, especially benefitting our schoolchildren’s health, while also supporting our conservation and environment goals.
maasai education sponsorship
Maasai Eco Boma Lodge depends on well-wishers for support. A well-wisher is someone who expresses good wishes or support for others. It's a heartfelt term for people who genuinely hope for the best for others and often show it through kind words or gestures.Well-wishers can now sponsor a Maasai child’s education at Nashipay Primary School. With a nominal donation, you can support a child’s schooling for an entire year, making education accessible for those who otherwise couldn't attend.
