Beyond Safari:

A glimpse at the savannah and adjacent Acacia woodland and one would hardly imagine the presence of Maasai Educational Centre, a hospitality training college which was the first of its kind over a decade ago. The Style Hotel School is stylish indeed.

The school-cum-lodge is located at the Oreteti Mara Lodge in the

Maasai Mara National reserve. It was established in 2011 and has trained over 500 graduates to date. The institution boasts of a 95 percent employment rate in the over 50 lodges across the Maasai Mara National reserve. They aim to change the livelihoods of the community at large by providing a quality education in the hospitality field at an affordable cost.

This then is the 11th year of graduating students and both Mariska Appelman and Adri Hillegers, the co-founders of The Style Foundation, were there with me as I partook in so many proud student moments on behalf of Air Kenya. Mariska Appleman nicknamed “Nashipai’, meaning happiness, by the local residents, is a philanthropist from the Netherlands,

‘what originated as an idea from an Oloiboin spiritual elder’, she says ‘came into fruition after undertaking thorough research and deliberations. It was hard to make that decision to go ahead! I managed to source for funds from partners and later got a boost from the Dutch government to set up this institution – one that I really feel has been a game changer in the community.’

A bold step that has changed the lives of so many – local Maa and guests who benefit from the training. ‘We also run exchange programs with students from the Netherlands who come for internships to gain practical experience and to absorb the warmth and hospitality of a culture so very different to ours.’

‘And the future?’ I ask, as soon-tograduate interns mingle around us with a fervour of excitement.

Nashipai considers carefully. ‘We will maintain the number of students admitted per intake. We will do this in order to sustain the quality of education. Here every student is able to get internships and the manageable number helps us to remain a close-knit family.’

The environmental conservation agenda is also a top goal in this training lodge. Trainees will graduate today with knowledge of how to engage in tree planting activities, they will move into their future understanding why and how tree felling causes environmental degradation, how the interconnectedness of life means these activities take a toll on the ecology essential to human health and well-being. ‘There are plans’ Nashipai tells me, ‘to set up nine more ecological lodges!’ She does acknowledge that COVID-19 showed that this dependence on tourism for training, jobs and education is possibly unstable. With the reduction of tourist numbers in those years many students were unable to get enough practical experience. On a brighter note though, for most, the time lost was recovered after the pandemic receded.

Beyond the Founders Founders open doors but leaders allow people to walk through those open doors. Steve Kibagendi is pacing the floor excited and honoured for this, the 11th year of graduations. He emphasises that the learning is realistic and rounded: Culinary arts, tour guiding, hospitality, front office, computer applications, management, and a cultural program amongst others.

‘All of our trainees’ he tells me ‘come specifically from the Maa community. Those who score a mean grade of C at their O’level examinations can apply and look forward to diploma programs in various hospitality fields. The students sit for IBM examinations which is internationally recognised hence the graduates can work anywhere in the world…. Exciting, isn’t it?’

The excitement is definitely contagious.

My experience amongst these soonto-graduate trainees and their mentors was a learning experience in itself. I was amazed at how well culture is merged with education, something perhaps unique in Kenya? There is a 97-year-old tutor who teaches practical traditional knowledge on Maasai cultures, teaches traditional names of different trees species in terms of bee keeping and medicinal purposes. A leadership exercise is instructed and led by an Oloibon elder who is a Maasai spiritual leader. He instills knowledge on the seven stages of creating respect and wisdom according to the community. In this way traditional knowledge is preserved.

‘Of course, challenges exist’ the principal tells me thoughtfully. ‘There has been a low rate of enrolment, especially of female students. Then comes the times, like now, when applications are overwhelming and yet we can only accept 50 students per intake. Any more and the education drops in quality.’

I wondered how the students viewed their experiences, what would they have to say?

Eunice Njapit has completed a one-year diploma course in culinary arts and is jubilant. ‘It has been my dream to work in hospitality and to look back now on the successful admission, my internship, my leaders …’ she is slightly overwhelmed by the moment and stops mid-sentence. ‘I was lucky,’ she quietly added, ‘my family did not marry me off young, they believed in my future, in my education … now I can be a champion.’ And indeed she can aim high as already she has been offered a full-time position in one of the neighbouring lodges.

Jackson Rakwa is 23, suited and booted and ready for a beckoning future. To have scored a diploma in Culinary Arts is a very fine achievement indeed. ‘I entered wanting to be a tour guide,’ he said, ‘it is what I knew, and I discovered through the amazing training that perhaps culinary art was more for me. Others may never get to make those self-discoveries.’ Jackson too was heading into a secured job, this one with Abercrombie and Kent.