The Oloolaimutia School—a kindergarten to grade eight school—in Narok County in southwestern Kenya remains the basis of Friends of Kilayo. The school is two-to-three hours south of the nearest town, Narok (population 40,000), and is five-or-more hours by van from Nairobi.

With over 1,400 students, Oloolaimutia school is typical of schools in this rural area of Kenya. Currently, 60% are boys and 40% are girls. However, in 2022 only 32 out of 107 students in grade eight were girls. Many children in surrounding villages do not attend school. Often, girls stop attending school as the barriers to do so mount. In addition to the cost of uniforms and books, barriers include the danger of being sexually assaulted when walking long distances from their communities, or being attacked by wild animals. Other barriers include responsibility for rearing younger siblings, and of being married off when they reach puberty in exchange for livestock and to relieve their families of cost of providing for them.

In 2012, the Oloolaimutia School became a boarding school for students in grade seven and eight. Boarding allows the girls to focus on their education and keeps them safe from the hazards of walking long distances to school. At first, boarding conditions consisted of thin foam mattresses on cracked cement floors. In 2017, a girl’s dorm was built by the Kenyan government, and girls in grade four to eight began boarding in bunks. The Masai Mara Project has assisted with boarding fees for girls, as well as bed nets, mattresses, and curtains. The Project has helped provide sanitary pads, and has sponsored the construction of a toilet “with a door” for the girls.

The Project supports young women identified as at-risk of leaving school, through the grades of that school and then through secondary school, college and university. The experience of the project to date has shown that even modest contributions can help girls from the Masai Mara, who would not otherwise be able to do so, stay in school. Girls from this school dare to dream of becoming teachers, nurses, doctors and pilots.

Friends of Kilayo has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Oloolaimutia School stating that we will focus on financial support for girls to stay in school until such time that the number of girls from this school going on to high school is equal to the number of boys.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” 

– Nelson Mandela