Supporting A Maasai School In Engaruka, Tanzania

Audrey Spielmann rode the 2024 Morocco: Kingdom of the West Cycling Adventure. She shares what she has been working on when she isn’t on a cycling tour with us.

It was such a privilege to see Tanzania for the first time in 2018, when we were on a family trip with our three kids, visiting the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti. How wondrous to see the animals while on Safari, life changing for all of us. We spent a number of days in the game reserves but I could have been there for weeks, never tiring of the animals nor the look on the kids’ faces as they saw these interesting creatures. My favourite was the warthog, such a silly little beast and, of course, the lions and their cubs.

The other highlight of the trip was a visit to a small school in Engaruka which is situated between Lake Natron and Lake Manyara. It had just opened in February 2018, with boarding students attending the first primary school class of the Engaruka English Medium Primary School-EEMPS. The kids were chosen from Maasai families in the neighbourhood based on high need, including the area involving the Ngorongoro conservation area and Ol Doinyo Lengai (Mountain of the Gods).

The idea initially was to educate and protect the young girls from early childhood marriage and other cultural habits (such as fmg) but the community wanted both boys and girls educated. Martha Olemisiko, a prominent Maasai women, founder of the school and a number of grass roots initiatives for Maasai women and children, told us the need was to provide English immersion to prepare the Maasai children for entrance exams for high school, only provided in English.

This was absolutely something I wanted to get involved with. I was fortunate to meet Theo Dillaha and Brian Benham, founding members of the USA-based Maasai Education Foundation (MEF), also at the school at the time, who had been fundraising to develop the school along with the other board members of MEF. This has been one of my most cherished and satisfying endeavours; to help fundraise for sponsorship and materials to build the school one class at a time. Now the school has just graduated their first grade 7 class with honours last fall and because there are a limited schools of such good quality nearby, a secondary school has been started on the same grounds so these kids can continue their education in Engaruka.

I have been successful in forming the Maasai Education Society in April 2024, a Canadian registered charitable society, to facilitate fundraising for sponsorships for the children in Canada. There has been tremendous growth for the school since 2018, development of the grounds with orchards and gardens, girls and both boys dormitories, a dining and assembly hall, classroom building and the beginnings of the secondary school.  If anyone is interested in supporting the school, please check out the Maasai Education Foundation (American foundation), or Home • Maasai Education Society ( Canadian registered charity).

Feel free to contact Audrey Spielmann anytime if you have any questions about the school at [email protected].