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GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement, unleashing the power of people and organisations to transform their communities and the world. Created in 2012, GivingTuesday started as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past 10 years, this idea has grown into a year-round global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.
Meet Albert, a Scholarship Success Story
Albert Kalelian was able to attend his dream school thanks to a scholarship he received from The Maa Trust (TMT) in 2018. He graduated from Narok Boys High School in 2021 and he is currently at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) pursuing a degree in Bachelor of Commerce.
"Thanks to the scholarship programme by The Maa Trust, I was able to focus on school work which resulted in good performance." - Albert Kalelian
He was inspired to work hard in school by TMT scholarship officer Daniel Ntimama, his parents, and the mentors he interacted with during the school holiday camps organised by The Maa Trust.
Albert attributes his good communication and networking skills to the good training he acquired while at the school holiday camps. This has helped him interact with new people, enhance his English skills, and enabled him to socialise with ease.
Albert is a member of the Talek youth peer educators and has a goal to give back to the community by putting a vulnerable child in need through school.
His dream is to be an astute financial expert in Kenya and beyond.
Meet Branice, a Beekeeping Success Story
Branice Mpayo is a female married beekeeper living in the Lemek area of the Maasai Mara. She is 32 years old, blessed with three children, and spends most of her time as a housewife and cattle keeper. Her husband works as a cook in one of the camps far away in Narok East and rarely comes home.
Branice connected with TMT beekeeping project in June 2022 during a village workshop when she was nominated by the entire community to represent beekeepers from here area as a woman champion. She was unaware that this would start opening new windows in her life as a beekeeping trainer of trainees (ToT). As a ToT, she also got a lot of experience and has continued building her confidence in handling bee colonies at different apiaries ranging from tree cavities, homesteads roofs/ceiling, caves, and different hive models.
Her role as a ToT sees her supporting other beekeepers across her area. Through these interventions, Branice has positively changed her attitude towards beekeeping as a woman and honey as a source of income. She has been saving the income earned, which has enabled her to apply for a loan to expand her beekeeping business even further.
Meet Denis, an Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health Project Success Story
Denis Sumare, a 21-year-old from the Irbaan community in Talek, Maasai Mara. He was born and raised in the same village. He completed the International Computer Driving License (ICDL) program at the Talek Youth Friendly Centre (YFC), thanks to support from TMT.
Denis is also one of 48 peer mentors for the Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health Project. Denis has been an active peer mentor, attending mentorship trainings in schools, providing ASRHR trainings in the villages, and participating in the youth mentorship program. Through trainings, he has gained confidence in tackling issues impacting youths and adolescents in his home area, such as teenage pregnancies, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), child rights, early marriages, and reproductive health.
"Before I joined the program, I was afraid of addressing sensitive Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) issues with my peers. But after participating in mentors training given by the ASRH project, I gained knowledge and confidence in addressing this to the community, particularly youths and adolescents. Teenage pregnancies will be reduced, FGM will be eliminated, and young boys and girls will be able to finish their education as a result of raising community awareness of ASRHR." - Denis Sumare, Peer Mentor
The Youth Friendly Centre (YFC) project aims to transform the youths and teenagers in the Talek community through awareness, information, and empowerment with the following activities: health and psychosocial support trainings, school mentorship, career guidance and academic empowerment, economic and social empowerment.
"In the past, youths have been ignored when it comes to decision making, even on problems that directly affect them. I am confident that the project's impact will be visible after 5 years. Together with my other peer mentors, I am excited to provide mentorship training at the village and school levels, and we look forward to seeing the transformation that this will bring to the community. I believe in generational development through information sharing." - Denis Sumare, Peer mentor.
Meet Noolkishiru, a Beadwork Artisan Success Story
Noolkishiru Moriaso is a member of the Olkuroto beadwork group. She is 38 years-old, married with a co-wife, and has five children. Four of her children are in school while the youngest is still too young to join.
She joined the Maa Beadwork social enterprise in 2013. At that time, her children were not in school. As a direct result of the income that she has earned as a beadwork artisan, she has now been able to send them to school because she can afford school fees. She has also started a small business where she sells potatoes in the market once a week. Rather than being a burden, Noolkishuru has been a pillar to her family by providing for their basic needs through her beadwork income.
"Since joining Maa Beadwork, I have been able to make an impact in my household and family. Today I have a business, my kids are in school, they have clothes, and I can feed them." -Noolkishiru Moriaso
Her ambition is to grow her business in the future and to build a permanent home for her family.
Meet Jackline, a Women in Leadership Success Story
Jackline is a 35 years old mother of three children. She is also a Women in Leadership (WiL) council member. In October, she attended the WiL project design and implementation planning meeting. In the meeting, she shared her life story with the women’s council members. She shared that at an early age she was a subject of child abuse and child marriage. Through the support of her mentors, she was able to escape the abuse and was sponsored through school. She is currently the Deputy Head teacher of Namunyak High School.
"I wish to use the WiL platform to mentor girls to pursue their rights. If I did not stand up for my rights I could not be here. I am happy that I am someone that girls from my region can look up to. I will stand in and carry the responsibility of being their mentor as I was mentored once." -Jackline
The Women in Leadership programme is a forum through which 25 women from across the Maasai Mara, who have shown leadership potential, are being nurtured and trained for six months so that they can enhance the role of Maasai women in leadership, and become trainers and mentors for women across the ecosystem.
Meet Sam, a Street Business School Success Story
Sam Mereru is from Esilalei village and completed his undergraduate studies at Chuka University. Sam is one of the youth group members that will be trained in Soap Making next year. In preparation for this technical training, Sam attended the Street Business School crash course which took him through the eight entrepreneurship modules. This will ensure that members are equipped with not only practical technical skills but also business skills to set up and run a soap making business.
"I have learned that I am an asset and a resource to my business. With this, I will fully commit to ensuring that my business becomes successful. From the business module 'Finding capital and starting small,' I have learned ways to fundraise for the 10,000 Kenya shillings. I will sell what I currently have but haven’t used for a long time. I am grateful for The Maa Trust for this opportunity.” -Sam Mereru
Sam’s group is comprised of eight youth. Each have agreed to contribute 10,000 Kenya Shillings into a joint pool to raise funds required to facilitate the construction of a building to use for soap-making.
About The Maa Trust
As an organisation, The Maa Trust has grown and matured over 2022. We are excited by the new strategic plan that will commence in January, which will see us start to expand out programmes from an existing geographical area of 1500km2 to 5300km2 – increasing the population that we will serve over the next three years from 40,000 to 120,000. Now that we feel that we have a solid grip of the implementation of our holistic, complementary range of programmes, this is the right time for us to look to scale up and expand the reach to more communities and families.
We cannot thank you enough for holding out a hand, and we are excited to invite you to join us continuing on this journey together.
If you would like to make a donation this Giving Tuesday, please visit: www.themaatrust.org/donate
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