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  Kenya
Kenya, the top travel destination in East Africa, sits squarely on the Equator and offers some of Africa’s best-known natural landmarks: snow-covered Mount Kenya, Lake Victoria and the Great Rift Valley. What Kenya is best known for, however, are the savanna grasslands of the Masai Mara National Reserve. It is here that visitors on safari drives can see Africa’s “Big Five” -- lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, and rhinoceros. Other wonders of the animal kingdom include cheetah, zebra, hippo, antelope, gazelle, hartebeest, giraffe, baboon, warthog, jackal, spotted hyena, ostrich, and a host of other birds. One of the best times to visit the Masai Mara National Reserve is July and August, when millions of wildebeest are making their annual migration north in search of fertile grazing lands.

Kenya is a country of extraordinary cultural diversity. Kenya’s 70 tribal groups have a long and rich history of migration and dispersal in the region, but fall into two basic language groups. The Bantu-speaking peoples came originally from East Africa and include the Kikuyu in the central and northern parts of Kenya. The Nilotic-speaking peoples originated in the Nile region and include the Masai and the Luo. Along the coast, the Arabic spoken by Middle Eastern merchants blended with Bantu, eventually forming Swahili. In addition to English, Swahili is Kenya’s other official language.

Kenya’s climate is varies by region. It is hot and humid along the coast, temperate inland, and very dry in the north and northeast parts of the country. Traditionally the rainy season takes place between March and May, followed by a second, more moderate rainy season in October and November.

Global Issues Background
The Masai “pastoralist” lifestyle revolves around cattle. Shompole residents refer to their livestock as the “Masai Bank,” as cattle are the main asset around which everything in the Masai world revolves. The Masai diet is based on cattle, including meat, milk, cheese, and other dairy products. When possible, the Masai complement these foods with vegetables, fruits, beans, corn, and rice.

The Masai live close to the earth and the rhythms of nature. Their agricultural techniques, which include cultivating a variety of crops in desert and scrublands, have been recommended to other African nations as models of sustainability. To avoid over-grazing, the Masai move their living quarters, compounds constructed of mud, cattle dung and wood, with regularity. The Masai also do not eat wild game or birds. For this reason, Masai-controlled areas of Africa remain some of the most wildlife-abundant regions of Africa.

Historically, the Masai controlled extensive areas of the East African grasslands. There was little competition over grazing resources, as the Masai traversed vast territories in search of food and water to support their livestock. But during the last century, the Kenyan government forced the Masai to settle in group ranches, much like Native American reservations in the U.S., which has limited the Masai’s ability to seek new grasslands.

Meanwhile changes in rainfall patterns and extended droughts, both associated with climate change, have gradually reduced or destroyed the Masai grasslands in Kenya. The shortage of grass has caused overgrazing and soil depletion and in turn pushed the Masai into poverty. Many Shompole herdsmen have had no choice but to leave their wives and children behind and drive their cattle toward greener, Masai-controlled grasslands in Tanzania.

The United Nations Panel on Climate Change concurs that Africa is just beginning to feel the effects of climate change. The UN predicts that climate change will eventually cause food and water shortages for tens of millions of Africans, resulting in significant levels of conflict and human suffering.

The Masai’s nomadic lifestyle does not lend itself to traditional schooling. However Shompole’s leaders recognize the necessity of formal education in adapting to, and hopefully surviving, a changing climate. School children often live with extended family members, or in the girls’ dormitory, in order to attend school in Oloika. But as resources necessary to support their cattle dwindle, pressure on the people of Shompole continues to increase.

Requirements

Students should have a satisfactory level of physical fitness in order to participate in manual labor and other physical activities, such as hiking and swimming.

Students and parents are required to complete all required World Leadership School forms, including the Application, Acknowledgment and Assumption of Risks, Indemnity Agreement, and the Medical Form. As part of the application, students must respond to a detailed questionnaire expressing their reasons for wanting to go on the trip.

Students should remain flexible to changing circumstances, delays and other hurdles that are common in Kenya. The specifics of volunteer work will be decided according to the needs of the community or organization shortly.

Risk Management & Safety
We strive to responsibly manage risks. Our itineraries minimize highway travel and maximize immersion in rural communities that we know well. We update our risk management protocols, integrate feedback into program design, and invest in safety and communication equipment. Despite these efforts, World Leadership School cannot guarantee safety nor can it eliminate the inherent and other risks of international student travel. For information regarding program activities and associated risks, risk management, and student and parent responsibilities, please contact us (303) 679-3412.