As we continue to wade through the waters of the global pandemic, we are focusing even more of our attention on our community support projects.

With generous funding from our friends at The Mara Rianda Charitable Trust we have overseen the completion of a new girls dormitory at Enkereri School. This is a significant achievement as it will house eighty girls between the ages of eight and fifteen years old. Many of these students were previously having to walk up to seven kilometers to school in the early morning (a prime time for human-wildlife conflict to occur) and then returning home again in the late afternoon.

The newly built girl’s dorm at Enkereri School, Masai Mara 

The (upto) fourteen kilometers round journey was not only potentially dangerous, but was cutting into time required for homework and extra study. We look forward to the celebrations of the official ‘Open Day’ which will be later this year. Work will then commence on building a similar dormitory for the male pupils.

The new dorm extension will sleep eighty school girls 

Our huge community food drives have continued into their tenth month now of support. On the 11th of April eight tons of food was divided between 280 families in the Masai Mara. The rainy season is here and as a result access to the villages was tricky. Luckily our trusty tractor was able to assist the supply truck getting through the muddiest sections.

Our Mara food drives continue – photo credit Felix Rome

We remain committed to helping these families whilst their livelihoods are being adversely impacted by the crash in tourism and other industries in the region. As always, they wished to extend their deepest thanks to the Wilderness Trust, the Mara Rianda Charitable Trust and our individual donors who have all made this work possible.

In Rwanda, our work continues for the Single Mothers Sewing Project. We are supplying them with food packages to alleviate the strains during Covid and we have also provided support by way of orders for face masks and staff uniforms. The ladies are making school shirts and dresses at the moment. Their focus and attention to detail is second to none! Many of them have no other option other than to bring their children in with them to work and are therefore grateful that the center supports them in their work and has given them a second chance in life.

The ladies of the sewing project making shirts 

If you feel in any way moved by any of these initiatives, and you would like to support us, you can make a donation of any kind through the Governors’ Camp Collection Community and Conservation Trust’s secure online payment portal. We will ensure that any funds you send are used to directly improve the lives and well being of our community neighbours. Thank you!

By Alisa Karstad, Community and Conservation Manager for Governors’ Camp Collection.