A Kenyan who co-founded a non-profit that provides water and supports the education needs of children from underprivileged Kenyan communities has a reason to smile after he raised Ksh46 million (USD350,000) during an overnight fundraiser in the US.
William Ngigiro Twala who served as a Masai guide and co-founder of the Olalashe Foundation had traveled to Palm Beach County in the US for the first time.
The foundation was looking to raise money to construct pipelines for distributing clean water and school buildings according to a report by the Palm Beach Daily News, an American publication.
Other projects the foundation targets to undertake include the purchase of desks and textbooks for needy school-going children.
The fundraiser which took place at an eatery was also spearheaded by Becky Conway who co-founded the foundation.
The foundation was created after an American national, Dris Ramdane, travelled to Kenya for a vacation in 2015 and saw the struggle some members of the Masai Community endured in getting basic needs.
In an effort to solve some of the concerns, a friendship blossomed between the tourist and Twala leading to the formation of the foundation.
"I started to go to Kenya in 2015 as an amateur wildlife photographer, and I met Twala. We became really, really good friends right away," Ramdane told the outlet.
“We started getting very close, I knew his parents his kids ... And I started to think, ‘What can I do besides just doing the (safari) tours and taking pictures? What can I do for the community?”
According to its website, the foundation was founded in 2022 'by a group of friends who share a love and passion for rural Africa and the Maasai Community.'
Since its establishment, the members have distributed 700 textbooks, 134 desks and prepared 77,000 plates of relief food for some of the community members who had been impacted by the drought.
Other projects included the distribution of 225,000 litres of water which saw 11,000 people access clean water and 1,300 students attend schools supported by the foundation.
During the same period, 46 permanent structures have been built.
Visa struggles
Twala told the outlet that the Palm Beach trip was his first in the US because his earlier attempt to apply for visa was denied by the US Embassy.
When he reached out to friends, however, he was connected to Delaware Senator Chris Coons who had connections at the Embassy after working in the relief sector in the 1980s.
He travelled to the US on March 3.
