APRIL 2018 KKOS 10TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR CELEBRATION & EVALUATION

Samburu Intrepids April 9-14, Sarova Mara April 16-24

Founding of KKOS: Wilson Lolpapit, a well-known Maasai Professional Wildlife Guide and his daughters, Hellen, now 23 and Sionta 19 will be there in person to lead off the KKOS Celebration. They were our first Kenyan Kids on Safari at age 13 and 9. They led an exciting “safari” across the Mara in 2008 to demonstrate the concept of the program to the camps and owners who became members of the Charter Group of Safari Camps. This included a “walking safari with Maasai” in their ancestral homeland of the Loita Hills where Wilson was building his home. See more about the 10 years since the founding in the Donateand For Kids’ Sake areas of our website.

Timing for this event couldn’t be better for KKOS which is at the crossroads of growth and fine tuning. Also, this is a landmark year for Kenya education with Secondary schools becoming free for all, plus the books required for study. There are also new commitments to all levels of education with the goal that will make Kenya the African leader in education by 2030.

Our main focus this April will be to bring all parties together in “festival-type” gatherings to evaluate while we celebrate our progress during the first 10 years in Kenya. Celebrating what we have accomplished in the last 10 years, but even more importantly becoming aware of what we haven’t done and what we need to do. View our Vision and Mission Statement, and “Who Are We?”

Kids who have participated in past programs will review select elements, evaluating them with teachers, educational administrators, Pastoralist community leaders and other stakeholders, including wildlife conservation groups and tourism. The resulting consensus on refinement of existing elements and additions will form the basis for expanding the program in Kenya, and, as Tanzanian Kids on Safari next door later in 2018.

Primary focus will be given to the role and benefits of KKOS school approved field programs that uniquely fulfill the educational needs of pastoralist children growing up with wildlife in communities bordering the wildlife reserves. Positive interaction between these children, wildlfe and safari tourism will help them to understand and support the world-view of Kenya’s wildlife conservation, and not just fear them as predators and competitors for pasture.

You can view some highlights of the kids’ own assessment of their experience on Kenyan Kids On Safari on Facebook and on the KKOS blog.

Hundreds of thousands of Kenyans, other East Africans and tourists from the around the world are coming to realize the benefits of KKOS through its programs and social media, with more than 90,000 being reached each week through Facebook during a program. Kids are giving back through their educational progress, interaction with tourists, wildlife reserve perimeter clean-up campaigns, and spreading the conservation message through their communities.