A wonderful heart warming letter from the Massai

In early 2012 the woodland ways team took a small group of caring individuals out to the Rift Valley on the Massai expedition, here the team lived within a small remote village way of the tourist track to experience what it was actually like to live like the massai, and to understand the culture of the tribe. The proceeds from the trip were donated to the village in order to assist in the funding of their desire to build a community school and to help educate their own young about their own culture to try and preserve their way of life. We promised to help fund the school on the proviso that they raised their own funds also to make the project work. Upon our return to England our Director Jason Ingamells has diverted more funds from our UK operations to further fund this development.

It was with delight that today we recieved a letter from the villagers stating that they had held their own community fund raising day and that a lot more funds had been raised, meaning that the building of the school has now commenced and how grateful they were for the funds provided from you, our customers. We are not dictating anything to the village on what or how they educate, but we are assisting them to help themselves in order to preserve their own customs and traditions. The village chairman has hopes that the school will be opening in September this year and we have been invited over to attend. We would prefer to divert funds direct to them rather than spend money on flights and so it is unlikely we will get their ourselves for the opening however we aim to return and continue to assist on our massai expedition in 2013. More details here

We are not a charity, we are just ethical in our approach to our courses and expeditions, you can have an opportunity to be part of it. We will update you with pictures and stories as we go as our commitment to the village is long term.