By SARAH GORDON


Welcome!: The local Maasai children are ready with a smile and a wave


My new friend clings on to my hand and studies the freckles on my arm intently before attempting to rub them off.

She has been by my side since our group of western visitors arrived in her remote Maasai village an hour earlier to a pop star welcome.

Quietly taking my hand she had led me away from the swarms of schoolchildren in battered uniforms and, in between her giggles and muttered Swahili, stopped every now and again to stroke my fair hair and scrub at my arm.

Beyond freckle management, her main aim in pulling me away from the crowd is to excitedly show me her new school, a half-finished shell of a building which is being constructed by volunteer cabin crew and pilots from Virgin Atlantic.

The airline has chosen to spend the next three years supporting Free The Children - a charity originally set up by a 12-year-old boy who decided age was no barrier to helping people - and this project is just one of several across some of the world’s poorest regions where on-board collections will be spent and employees will volunteer their time.

One Virgin team member in particular is very excited about the project. Holly Branson, Sir Richard’s daughter, spent her gap year volunteering in Nairobi and has returned with me to the Maasai Mara to see how the charity works on the ground.


School's out: Holly Branson is besieged by children on a visit to a local school, built by community elders


The indefatigable Free The Children team are intent on giving us a snapshot of rural life, taking us to visit the small, almost Biblical, circular huts which many locals call home and even encouraging us to try carrying a 20-litre jerry can of water from the river so we can better understand the hardships many Maasai women face.

But it is not all hard work, in the evenings we retreat to the beautiful Bogani camp dotted with rustic cottages and a raised viewing platform where we can enjoy dinner with a view out over the savannah and a well-earned drink as the sun dips below the acacia trees and the night sky winks at us with her many stars.

It is here that couples, families and even groups of schoolchildren can come to stay throughout the year, using part of their holiday to help with local projects and learn more about Maasai culture.


Traditional tasks: Gender differences are very important to the Maasai, while warrior Jackson protects his community, Sarah tries her hand at carrying water from the local river


For those who want to combine their volunteering with safari, Bogani is located just on the edge of a reserve and an hour’s drive reveals a very different kind of local; zebras and giraffes wander freely, stalked by hyenas and lions.

During our stay at the camp, young Maasai warriors Jackson and Wilson are our cultural guides, explaining how their once-nomadic tribes have had to change in the face of 21st-century challenges including population growth and drought.

While the two warriors – aged around 24 (they are not quite sure when they were born) – had to kill a lion to prove their bravery, they are now part of a new movement of Maasai, encouraging young villagers to complete their education as a way to prove their coming of age.


Mothers' meeting: Holly beads with the local Maasai mamas, sporting the belt they presented as a gift


But ensuring children have access to education is just one of the areas Free The Children is focussed on. The charity has also been working with locals to help them earn an alternative income beyond their livestock and advising them on simple techniques around the home to help avoid illness.

Seeing the charity’s work with the ‘Maasai mamas’, the matriarchs who work quietly to hold their families together, is one of the most inspirational parts of the trip.

Mama Jane beams with pride as she shows us the house she built with money earned as part of a bee-keeping collective in her village. The women have shared their profits and put them towards building long-drop toilets on their properties and buying school uniforms for their children.


Maasai warrior 101: Wilson demonstrates how to throw a traditional Maasai club, used for killing predators


Mama Leah heads up another collective of women who earn money by selling traditional beaded jewellery and their gift of a beautiful coloured belt (about a week's work) to Holly leaves her overwhelmed at their generosity.

Sitting together under an acacia tree, the mamas – dressed head to toe in colourful garb and laden with their handiwork – giggle at our amateur beadwork as they work quickly, finishing off the accessories to be sold in local towns and villages and even as far away as Canada, where Free The Children was first started.



A Maasai elder during the dancing ceremony


Jackson and Wilson must have heard about our terrible attempts at beading as it is not long until they have us leaving behind traditional women’s chores in exchange for life as a warrior, explaining how they came to achieve their prestigious titles.

In a custom similar to that experienced by Nelson Mandela in South Africa, the two Maasai men had to endure an anaesthetic-free circumcision without flinching before being allowed to prove themselves as adults.

They were then sent out around the age of 16 to hunt and kill a lion using just a spear and a dense, wooden club, which can be thrown or used to hit an animal.
Although the practice is now frowned upon due to the diminishing lion population, it is still important for Maasai men to know how to use the weapons in cases of self defence against predators.

While I am allowed to throw the club – an attempt that would do little to protect me from an attacking ant, nevermind a lion – one thing I am not allowed to join in on is the jumping ceremony which is restricted to men.

The Maasai elders gather, singing in their low, incomprehensible Maa language, dancing and springing high in the air, their faces criss-crossed with deep lines, etched from years of hardship in the African bush.

But one thing does not change, those great wide smiles.

The gap-toothed grins of the elders match the cheerful radiance of the schoolchildren we saw the day before and the memories of their bright optimism in the face of so many challenges is quite infectious.

So infectious in fact, that we even manage to maintain our smiles as the elders spit fermented goats' milk at us for good luck.


Travel Facts
Virgin Atlantic (www.virgin-atlantic.com / 0844 209 7777) is supporting the Free The Children (www.freethechildren.com) charity, which has projects around the world in Kenya, India, Haiti, China, Ecuador and Arizona-Mexico.

Me To We (www.metowe.com) is the social enterprise partner of Free The Children and runs the volunteer trips for adults, families and school groups.

Prices for the Kenya trip start from £175 per person per day and include full-board accommodation at the Bogani cottages, personal hosting, transportation, all activities and materials. Many people opt to spend several days at Bogani, volunteering and learning more about the Maasai before going on safari.

Flights with Virgin Atlantic to Nairobi cost from £527 per person including all taxes.


source: dailymail