It’s crazy to think we only officially launched the Ololo Foundation a couple of months ago, as a platform for Ololo Lodge, Ololo Safaris and the Ololo Farm to come together and formalise our community and environment projects. It also now allows our guests from all around the world to get involved and support our work, as we wouldn’t be able to achieve as much without our incredible community that is growing every day!
The foundation has been engaging in a number of social and environmental impact projects in the local community. Over the last 3 months, this has included the following:
Greening Schools.
Ololo Foundation has established a tree planting program at Oloosirkon primary school, Tuala. This project includes teaching the students about seedling propagation and importance of conserving the natural environment. A worm bed has been installed and students are encouraged to bring food scraps and other organic material to feed the worms. Ololo Foundation will continue supporting this program through ‘Adopt a Tree’ initiative.
The plan is to extend this program across other schools in Kajiado County. Establishment of food forests will be a long term vision for these schools.
Classroom Renovations.
The school has 10 rooms which were not suitable for occupation due to poor construction. Ololo Foundation has been renovating these room for specific activities. This will include a double room for arts and crafts. A computer room will be established which can also be used for staff meetings, training etc.
School Feeding Program.
Many students are lacking in basic nutrition and this impedes the leaning process. Some parents are unable to pay for lunches provided at school. The Foundation is installing a kitchen in one of the old class rooms which will provide an early morning serving of soup as well as lunch for all students and staff. It is anticipated that this will improve the children’s health and concentration in class. There is expectation of more child enrolments at Oloorsirkon PS once the benefits of this program becomes apparent to the local Tuala community.
Sports and recreation.
Over 100 students have engaged in a sports program run by Ololo Foundation. This includes a holiday program where the kids have learnt life skills. The group has been able to attend and play in several rugby tournaments and this has also opened up opportunity for several student scholarships to be awarded.
A marathon run was organized in April for the students under the ‘Run for Nature’ banner. This event was held in Tuala town and attracted the involvement of the local community. It was also supported by the Office for Women, Kajiado County.
Farm Kids and Conservation.
A school holiday program was run at Ololo Farm for students to engage in and learn about tree seedling propagation, feeding and caring for animals, and nature based solutions for sustainable farming practices. They also learn about conservation of their environment. For the last two weeks of Term 2 many students were involved in a project to clean up Tuala town. It is proposed that plastic waste collected will be recycled and repurposed as fence posts which will be used to fence off the areas planted to tree
s within the school grounds. The kids were rewarded with a game drive in Nairobi National Park and bbq meal at completion of the program. Another group were taken on an excursion to Kitengela Glass factory where they learnt about recycling of glass and bottles into works of art. They will be encouraged to use recycled materials as the main items for their arts and crafts projects.
We are so grateful for everyones support, that has allowed us to grow these projects, and impact more lives.
If you’d like to get involved or support , then please email us at impact@ololofoundation.com.
Otherwise, if you’d like to make a contribution to our work, then you can make a donation here.
Kenya
