SEATTLE — Andrew Aho, touched by the plight of Maasai people, founded Africa Mission Services in the heart of the Maasai land in Maasai Mara in 2000. Originally intending to build a church, Andrew Aho quickly realized the need of the people.
The Maasai people were once a great warrior tribe with influence in the region. However, their pride made them slow to embrace development in the region, and by the time that Andrew Aho arrived in Kenya, the Maasai people had fallen behind in education.
In response to the overwhelming need of the people, Andrew Aho meet with the Maasai elder to see what they need most. The Elders of the Maasai Tribe responded that their greatest need was health care and education.
Africa Mission Services began building a school for the children there. It did not want to repeat the mistakes that other western developers had in the past. It developed a partnership with both the local Maasai people and the government in order to build the school.
This is how it works: Africa Mission Services comes in and builds the schools. The government staffs the schools with educators and supplies, then the local Maasai people oversee the schools. It is set this way so each party will play a part and be invested in the growth and sustainability of the project.
Africa Mission Services is run like a social enterprise with Andrew Aho conducting tours of the area to help raise money for AMS’s development projects. The project recruits volunteers from among the locals and around the world to help staff its mission.
Fifteen years later, Dustin Aho, Andrew Aho’s son, has taken over as president of Africa Mission Services. The organization has currently built five primary schools, one clinic and are breaking ground on a new secondary school.
Each primary school has about 500 students that attend the school. Each school has been equipped with a dormitory for the students to live in. The reason the dormitories were established on the Africa Mission campuses was to originally provide the girls a safe environment to learn.
One of the challenges the females faced while attending school was female circumcision. Female circumcision is widely practiced among the Maasai people. Culturally, it is expected that a woman should be circumcised. This practice, though, is normally carried on by the uneducated local people in the area.
Now, however, the female students can attend primary school without fear of circumcision. They typically live in the dorms until they finish school, at which point they are old enough to decide for themselves.
Recently they have expanded onto the dormitories and the male students live on campus as well. Education has continued to improve in the area, and the African Mission Services will be breaking ground on its first secondary school in the Maasai Mara region.
This secondary school will be a combination of a secondary school and trade school in order to empower the local people with skills that will help them gain employment in the future. The trades the school is looking to offer are carpentry, bookkeeping, construction and more.
These are only a few of the trades the school is looking to offer the students as the Maasai people continue their education. Ultimately, the goal of the primary school is to provide education to the students so they have a chance to compete in Kenya’s growing job market.
AMS has partnered with Ureach, who send volunteers over to the Maasai Mara mission annually. I had a chance to interview David Ryan Harris, the former director of the Jobs program and Ureach Global Missions.
When asked about his experience in Kenya Harris noted that he has “been there three times and that the best part of the experience was getting to experience a different world” from his own. He says, “Everything over there is different. The people live much simpler lives,” and that it reminded him “to slow down and focus on people rather than tasks.”
Harris also provided advice for those interested in getting involved in the Maasari Mara Mission. He said that “they should stop thinking about getting involved and do it,” remarking how much he enjoy his experience with the project. He also noted that, “the mission trip gives you a whole new perspective about the world.”
African Mission Services continue to fight for education and the health of the Maasai people of Maasai Mara. They have had immeasurable success in the region and continue making progress in the fight for education in the region.
The mission trip offer its volunteers a chance to contribute to the empowerment of the once great Maasai people. It is a chance to give, gain perspective and help in the fight against global poverty.
– Robert C. Cross
Sources: Aho, D. (2015, September 10). Kenya Mission [Personal interview], Harris, D. (2015, September 10). Kenya Mission [Online interview],
Photo: Flickr