Palm Beach County organization raises $350,000 to aid Maasai community in Kenya

A Palm Beach County organization has raised roughly $350,000 to help pay for the construction of spring water pipelines as well as school buildings, desks, textbooks and more for a Maasai community in Kenya, said Becky Conway, co-founder of the Olalashe Foundation.

The money was raised during a private fundraiser hosted March 11 at Le Bazaar Salon in Palm Beach that also featured the appearance of William Ngigiro Twala, a Maasai safari guide and co-founder of the foundation, who traveled to the United States for the first time to attend the event.

The fundraiser's success marked a milestone in the organization, which started after Dris Ramdane fulfilled a lifelong dream of traveling to Africa. Ramdane, an owner of Le Bazaar, went on to co-found Olalashe with Conway, Twala, Julie Kasle and his wife, Junny Luke Perez.

“I started to go to Kenya in 2015 as an amateur wildlife photographer, and I met Twala," Ramdane said. “We became really, really good friends right away.”

The trip fueled countless more, each growing the relationship between Ramdane and Twala, while also opening Ramdane's eyes to the daily challenges of water insecurity and limited education opportunities facing the pastoral people living in Kenya's arid southwestern region.

“We started getting very close, I knew his parents his kids ... And I started to think, ‘What can I do besides just doing the (safari) tours and taking pictures?’” Ramdane said. “What can I do for the community?”

Perez, Kasle and Conway soon made their own visits. Each came away with a drive to help the community that hosted them.

In 2019, with guidance from Twala, the group paid to build a more than 1.5 mile pipeline that ran safe drinking water through the Majimoto Village to the Naisula Primary School. The village is nearly 267 miles southwest of Nairobi, Kenya's capital.

The village's reaction left a lasting impression on the future co-founders.

“When I went there to see it, I didn’t expect much. But Twala tricked me by bringing out the whole village, and I was overwhelmed by everything,” Ramdane said.

Encouraged by the positive reception, they worked with Twala to form the Olalashe Foundation, with a focus on building infrastructure to deliver clean water and create more educational opportunities for the Maasai people.

Twala said he visited the various Maasai villages, talking to leaders and residents to figure out their most pressing needs.

Sometimes that meant steering the organization away from its original focus, Conway said.

“During COVID-19, we actually ended up being able to raise money ... (and) we were able to deliver 77,000 meals for the Maasai people,” said Conway, a resident of Wellington. “It didn’t follow along the lines of water and education ... but at a time of extreme crisis, what did education mean if no one was getting fed?”

Since then, the organization's efforts have led to the distribution of 700 textbooks, 134 desks for schools, multiple scholarships opportunities for Maasai children, clean water access to 11,000 residents and the construction of 46 buildings including latrines, classrooms and teacher housing.

Teacher housing and classroom expansions are especially important, said Twala, since public education in Kenya functions through a registration system in which the government provides teachers so long as three key requirements are met.

Those are, that the school is registered with the state of Kenya and has paid any accompanying fees, that there is adequate housing and accommodations for the incoming teachers and that there are a sufficient number of potential students living in the community, Twala said.

Twala's first trip out of Kenya

Not only was Twala's visit to Palm Beach County his first time leaving his home nation, but also his first time visiting the U.S.

The journey was not easy.

The U.S. Embassy in Kenya denied his attempt to get a U.S. visa, turning him away immediately after his first interview, Conway said.

But Twala had someone working outside on his behalf. Conway began reaching out to friends, who reached out to others. Eventually, they connected with Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, who because of his time in the 1980s as a relief worker in Kenya, had connections to the U.S. Embassy there.

"When they called Twala, for the first time from Sen. Coons office, they said, 'I don't know how in the world you've got this connection,'" said Conway, who is also an International Equestrian Show Jumping Rider.

Twala finally landed in the U.S. on March 3. With Ramdane and Conway as guides he has spoken to students at Wellington's Upper Echelon Academy about the help the Maasai have received from the Olalashe foundation.

Twala has also visited the Everglades where he gave kayaking a try. And he's discovered a new favorite treat: ice cream.

"It (Palm Beach County) is totally different from where I come from, the culture is so different, things are so well organized," Twala said.

Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach fundraiser brings $350,000 to aid Maasai community in Kenya