It’s done. I’ll let you decide for yourself whether you think our effort was a success.

After careful consideration I decided to educate the Maasai rather than spending the money we raised on farmland. The Maasai are experts with cattle, but have zero expertise in farming. It became obvious early on that Olomo and his village had no idea how to plant, grow or deliver corn from the farm to their village – so I turned my attention toward traditional education instead.

I’ve spent the past two-weeks researching schools in Arusha, TZ – meeting with teachers and administrators trying to figure out the best plan of action. Why education?

The vast majority of Tanzanian’s don’t make it past “Form Four” (10th Grade). Those who graduate from Form Six (12th Grade) find work – and those who graduate with a one-year certificate from a technical school easily find good jobs. Those  graduating from a technical school with a two-year diploma are guaranteed a successful high-paying career. The select few who finish university with a three-year bachelors degree write their own ticket.

In addition to sending people to school I spent some of the money to help my Kilimanjaro mountain guide start a business that will funnel 10% of profits into a Porter To Guide Program (P2G). The idea is to help porters learn English and go to guide school, ultimately helping them break the cycle of poverty that rules their daily lives. (Most porters make $2 a day, depending on tips alone to feed their families). Stephanie Thomas was kind enough to help with designing the website.

Go to: www.fairtradetrekking.org to see the final product…. and please remember to use FTT if you ever plan on climbing Kili yourself! Amani William is a fantastic guide, a great guy and he’ll take great care of you. (Oh, and without his help none of our efforts would have been possible. He spent the last two weeks working closely with me every single day).

The result: we are sending Olomo to the Pasiansi Ranger School in Mwanza, his 11 year-old sister to a private secondary school for five years,  Amani to business school for a year and a seven-week computer course (along with buying him a bunch of gear for his business), a Maasai hotel employee named Pauline to school for an Information Technology certificate, we invested in a small charcoal business for a guy named Sylvester who lives in the largest slum in Nairobi and finally, we put aside a little money to begin English training for the FTT porters.

Olomos’ sister Naiputa was our largest investment. At 11 years-old she is too young to begin secondary school which starts after Standard 7 (7th Grade) – but after explaining the situation to the headmaster he decided to admit Naiputa early as long as we provided her with an extra year to adjust, learn and grow up. Thus, Niaputa will be attending secondary school for 5 years, rather than 4.

None of this would have been possible without her father’s blessing and a promise. In Nogorongoro it is Maasai tradition to circumcise a girl upon graduating 7th grade and marry them off for a bride prize. A young bride typically brings a dowry of 10 cattle – roughly $2,000. Eager to gain payment, many fathers marry their daughter’s off within hours of graduation.

This will not be the case with Naiputa. In a meeting with school officials I made her father make a direct promise to the headmaster that as long as she was in school she would not undergo circumcision or be married off. In return, I promised that if Olomo and his father paid for Form Five & Form Six, I would send Niaputa to college (so expect another fundraiser about 7 years from now)! In the event that Niaputa drops out or fails out of school, the money will go to help another student. Go to http://moringesokoine.org/ to learn more. (The website is terrible. Google it for more info.)

Below you’ll find a breakdown of how the money was spent:

Naiputa – Moringe Sokoine Seconday School (5 years) – $3,500. Includes tuition, room, board, uniforms, books & allowance. $100 donation to school.

Olomo – One year at Pasiansi Ranger School. $1,200. $65 to visit the school prior to admission. $100 watch as gift for his father.

Amani - $600 tuition for a one-year business certificate from The Institute of Accountancy. $100 computer course. $300 cook tent. $900 two new Tarango II tents, $200 two thick Thermarests ground mats, $450 new HP laptop computer, $100 web-hosting & domain for 5 years, $110 porter English training.

Pauline – $100 Computer course.

Sylvester – $200 Charcoal business start-up money.

Extra Expenses – $1,000 for M4M reprints from Asymbol, $2,000 for my flights. $100 for travel bags to carry gear for Amani. $100 operational fees for banking. ( FYI: Just so you don’t think I’m an ass for taking 2K for flight allowance… I paid for all of the original event costs which exceeded 2K by a fair bit and I covered my lodging & travel expenses for the 2 weeks I was arranging everything in Tanzania).

Total Raised: $10,642

Total Spent: $11,225 (excluding event and two-weeks of living expenses).

Left to right: Morris, Olomo, Naiputa, Elirehema and Amani.

Nice work people! You made a huge difference in the lives of everyone mentioned above and they are all tremendously grateful!

Now, I’m off to take some more pictures…