Stephanie's Masai Education Fund Vol. 2

Hi everyone,

It has been a while since my last post, sorry! I do have a valid excuse this time though (no it is not that I have been busy), it is that I have been quite unwell.

Even as I am writing this, I am lying in bed, wrapped in three blankets to keep the fever chills at bay. I have caught a rather bad infection in my left leg and have been unable to leave the house since the beginning of the month. 10 days on IV antibiotics and several courses of oral antibiotics as a follow-up later and I am able to walk again but still not all too well.

Primary school pupils of Lesoit village playing at break-time

I was going to write something about health in Africa and our fear of falling ill or catching a tropical disease while travelling, but I believe I have covered this topic before.

So I am writing instead about something I am very excited about and that has been in the planning for a long time now, delayed by my illness.

I am about to launch a second crowdfunding campaign for the benefit of our Masai community here in Tanzania, particularly the Masai girls.

The state of my left leg when I first fell ill.

Education is the key to sustainable development yet sadly so many Masai girls are deprived of their right to go to school because it has been ingrained in them and in their parents that all a Masai woman has to do on this planet, is getting married and having children.

I would like to encourage young Masai girls to go to school and empower those already in education to make the best of their studies. Yet there are so many hurdles to overcome when it comes to sending a girl to school. Prejudices, greed and ignorance all play a role and are difficult (yet not impossible) to overcome. This is why I continue to hold my women only meetings and this is why, with my new campaign I would like to take away at least one of the many obstacles Masai girls have to overome to gain an eduation: I would like to provide them with reusable sanitary kits.

The beautiful kits I hope to bring to the girls in our community. 

Here in rural Tanzania, sanitary products are hard to come by and are pricey and the lack of them is one of the reasons why many girls hesitate to go to school.

The kits I would like to bring to the girls of our primary and secondary school here in our local village, are made in Tanzania and contain everything a girl needs during her time of month, including underwear,  waterproof shields and washable pads.

Please follow this link to watch my campaign video and consider making a donation to this important cause. Campaign to be launched in the next few days:
https://youtu.be/y7aXAytIO6Q

Thank you!

Trouble for changemakers in Africa

When I tried to get sponsors for my Masai Education Fund, a common reply I got was: 'It is great what you are doing but from my experiences with community conservation in Africa, I know how hard it is to change things, so thanks but no thanks.'

Myself and our village land committe during a land use mapping seminar.

While this did not stop me to pursue what I was doing, now that we are in the implementation phase of the project, I see the critics' point.


So why is it so hard to implement change in the local people's attitude to conservation?

First of all, I believe it is lack of education and foresight that makes people indifferent towards their future, indifference born out of ignorance. You cannot fear what you cannot see, so to say. When you tell the average person here in Tanzania (and this is probably true for other African countries too), to stop felling trees because it contributes to climate change and is unsustainable, they will look at you and tell you: 'But how am I meant to cook my food? I need firewood.' Or: 'I am felling these trees to make room to plant my crops so my children get something to eat'. 'And what is climate change anyway?'

What do you answer them?

Learning to read the land during our training at the Mara Training Centre in Kenya. 

Secondly, there is no such thing as a humanitarian in the most rural, poorest parts of Africa. What I mean by that, and I am being careful not to generalise here, is that compassion for your fellow human beings and a wish to better all your lives together as a community, is pretty much non-existent in rural Africa.

If I give our village here in the Masai Steppe as an example: I see here daily, how funds given to the village leaders as part of projects that are meant to eradicate poverty or go towards education or feeding school children, to name but a few, are not passed down to the people they are intended for. They disappear in the pockets of the people who receive them, leaders, who were chosen to look after their communities. But instead of caring for their fellow human beings and instead of showing empathy and a wish to move forward, they use the funds for their own personal gain.

How do you instill a wish to help others in someone, who simply does not have the heart?

The beautiful land I hope to protect with my Masai Education Fund. 

Thirdly, there is an element of fear that keeps those people who do wish to make a difference from speaking up. When I tell the Masai women here, who go out daily to collect firewood (only dry wood is supposed to be collected, no trees to be felled for firewood), why they do not chase away or apprehend the Swahili women from our neighbour village who go and fell big mature trees to put on their fires, they tell me that they are scared to do so and tell tales of how they were being snapped at or threatened on occasions that they did speak up.
Common replies are: 'What does it concern you?' 'You did not plant that tree!' 'Go away or I will make you!' While these are more modest examples, there are cases where people have openly been threatened with murder.

A culture worth preserving.

Another factor is one that is frowned upon or laughed at in the First world and that is the issue of witchcraft. I believe in all of sub-saharan Africa, this magic is practised and believed in and it is a common tool used in retaliation against someone who offended you or caused you harm in any way.

While we may not believe in it, many many Africans do and it scares them enough to not do what is right.

How do you tell people to stop fearing what they feared for centuries?


We are currently struggling to implement what we have learned through my Masai Education Fund and we are dealing with all of the above.
While it is definitely challenging and keeps me on my toes, it has not made me despair yet and I still believe that we can overcome these obstacles if we continue to talk and educate.

I have nothing but love for this beautiful tribe.

After all, we all only have this one life given to us and we might as well use the time we have to try and make the world a better place, even if it is difficult and feels like a fight. If you look at things with love, you never get tired 😊

Stephanie's Masai Education Fund

Sooooooo, I have left my beloved Tanzania and swapped it for Kenya for just a week!

Why? Because I say no to staying silent when I see things not going well. I say no to letting the tribe and people I have come to love be washed down the massive river called modernisation.

I say no to seeing wilderness be turned to desert and to let wildlife disappear.

During our first day of training at the Mara Training Centre 

This is why I have started my Masai Education Fund with which I have raised funds for our community leaders to be trained in land management and sustainable husbandry. This is why we are here at the amazing Mara Training Centre, Narok, Kenya.

It has been a challenge getting here and organising travel permits for everyone but it has been an AMAZING experience and one that has brought us even closer together and made us wiser and stronger in so many ways.

Our warrior leader Seperwa enjoying some time with the beautiful herd of Ankole cattle we were introduced to.

From being refused travel permits in Arusha and having to travel to our region's capital Babati to getting out huuuuuge amounts of cash under guard from our warrior leader ready to throw his club at anyone coming too close, to getting everyone safely across the border, to laughing at how bad Kenyan Swahili is compared to our Tanzanian one, to dodging traffic in Nairobi and finding a way to call home - all I feel is pride and happiness that we have made it here.
And the great thing is, we are just in the middle of it: Today we have completed our first day of training at the centre and have done the ground work to provoke change in our community starting at the social level.

Beautiful Ankole-Watusi cattle.

We have seen different breeds of cattle and different ways of keeping them, have walked in woodland where cattle and antelope graze side by side.

We have identified challenges and ways to overcome them. And more importantly, we have recognised what we want for our future, for the future of my husband's tribe and for our community.

I look forward to what the next fews days will bring and to getting back to our village of Lesoit in Tanzania to start on the long hard road to a place called change.

Masai misconceptions

Today, after having been silent for 11 days! (forgive me!), I would like to share with you some of the myths about my husband's tribe.

There are many books about Masai culture but sadly, 90% of the time they are outdated. The Masai have a culture that dates back to over two centuries ago and they try to hold on to it even today in 2018, yet they have to adapt daily to the many challenges modern day planet earth brings with it.

My husband and his brothers working to inject one of our bulls.

Because of this, their culture is changing quickly and there have not been many publications that deal with these changes in Masai culture.

I would like to give you examples of some customs here and would like to ask you to comment below wether you believe they are true or false.

I will then reveal the answers and explain.

1)     To become a warrior, Masai boys have to kill a lion.  True or false?

2)     Masai men share their wives with visitors.  True or false?

3)     Masai women do not use hygiene products during their periods. True/false?

4)     Masai celebrate Christmas.  True/false?

5)     Masai girls are circumcised before marriage. True/false?

6)     The colour of the cloth a man wears, displays age or social status. True/false?

7)     Masai dance is exclusive to men. True/false?

8)     Warriors whistle to their cattle. True/false?

9)     Masai girls herd the goats. True/false?

10)   There is a hidden meaning to facial markings. True/ false?

11)    Masai live only off meat and milk. True/false?

12)    Masai don't wash. True/false

13)    Masai live close to famous National Parks. True/false?


Please click on the 'comments' icon below this blog post to type your answer for each example. Looking forward to chatting!

Please also check out my crowdfunding campaign which I am running to bring environmental education to the Masai community I live in. Thank you!

An african love story

I have not shared stories with you for a while as I am so involved in my Masai community education campaign which is leaving little time for anythung else.

It is taking me on a journey to reconnect with old friends and to also go beyond my comfort zone to ask people for support, but it has so far been an AMAZING experience and one that is leaving my heart full of love every day!

We have also had a very sad week as we lost a young warrior in a tragic accident but the amount of love and support that has and is being shown to his family is just overwhelming and is leaving everything else in its shadow.

I am wrapped in a blanket of love, in the mood for sharing this beautiful emotion with the world and this is why I would like to tell you a love story - my very personal one. The story of how I met my husband Sokoine:

Sokoine taking a break while herding our cattle

I had met him on Mafia Island. A magical place. Paradise. A haven of peace, blue seas and the most amazing diving. Mafia to me was Zanzibar’s little sister. Just as beautiful and cultured but more herself. Less altered by the hordes of tourists that befall Zanzibar so frequently.

The day I set foot on Mafia was the day I met Sokoine.

I was with a group of volunteers, exploring the village of Utende, when we bumped into some Maasai. I was enthralled at first sight. He was taller and bigger than the others, but what drew me in were his eyes. Dark and fiery, yet infinitely kind and patient.

Our wedding day.

I tried to keep him there, on the dusty road in the midst of the village, with my year’s worth of Swahili I had picked up working in Ifakara, close to the Selous Game Reserve in the south of Tanzania. I did not want this moment to end. Another one of those moments that made me feel so intensely at one with the dust under my feet and the sun caressing my skin; at one with the country I had come to love, with the Swahili flowing freely off my tongue, with the immensely beautiful and fascinatingly exotic people standing in front of me.

He worked as security for one of the hotels by the beach and everyday, when we walked past, I tried to make myself as noticeable as possible, pushing our dive cart, laughing, talking; and should I glimpse him watching me, my heart would beat a little faster.

Five weeks passed and I became more and more attached to Mafia, its people and Sokoine. I knew I would not go back to Germany.

And when my friend Michael, whose shop down by the beach was right next to Sokoine’s, told me one day that Sokoine liked me, it seemed I had even more of a reason to stay.

That this beautiful, proud, mysterious human being that comes from a world I cannot even begin to envision, should like me, this ordinary white chick, was too much for me to comprehend. But it was true and we got together and spent the most amazing three weeks under the sun and the stars of Mafia Island…

…a year later we married and moved to his traditional Masai home in the Masai Steppe of Tanzania.

Our son Yannik, Sokoine and I. 

Six years later, and I am still here with him, his parents, his grandmother and more recently with our son. I am as in love with the beautiful country as I have always been and have recently launched a campaign to bring environmental education to our Masai community to make a stand against the ongoing environmental destruction of their homelands.

If you would like to support me in saving the Masai culture along with the wilderness they live in and depend on to feed their cattle, click on this link.

A culture under threat

My husband's younger brother enjoying the views while herding our cattle.

The Masai are one of only a few tribes left in this world that try to hold on to their traditional way of life.

These days, however, it is proving increasingly difficult for them to do so.
This is mainly due to an increasing human population that encroaches into formerly wild land and thereby also into Masai territory.

Neighbouring tribes' influences take hold of the Masai's cultural heritage and threaten their identity.

Even though the Masai used to be a warring tribe (therefore the term 'moran' or warrior to describe adult, circumcised men) they are incredibly peace-loving people who are too modest to defend their culture against swahili influences and lack the confidence to value their traditions.

Their cattle suffer from a decrease in pasture lands due to deforestation for the sake of farmland. Many cows die of starvation in the dry season and the land is showing signs of desertification.

Little is being done to educate the Masai about the effects this ongoing destruction of their land will have on their culture and they themselves take little action against it.

It saddens me to hear how abundant wildlife used to be here only 20 years ago - today hardly any is left.

My background in conservation and the love and respect I have gained for the Masai make me want to do something about the destruction of their homelands.

In my opinion, the ancient cultures of this world, are worth preserving as much as Africa's unique wildlife. There is so much beauty in the diversity of the human race and often preserving them, is also the key to saving the wildlife that lives on their doorsteps.

Please watch below a video taken as part of my campaign 'Stephanie's Masai Education Fund' soon to be launched in the name of cultural and environmental conservation in the Masai Steppe of Tanzania.

My campaign is now live and open to contributions! 

Please click on this link to help me make a difference:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/stephanie-s-masai-education-fund-africa/x/17779290#/