MCV recently launched another life-changing program to empower Maasai mothers and their families. We are renovating Maasai homes located on a sacred heritage site where 50 Maasai mothers live to care for the warriors and Maasai chief.
Maasai women are cooking over open fires which have deadly consequence. Air pollution from indoor cooking fires is the cause of a worldwide public health crisis; the smoke sickens and kills more than 4 million people each year, primarily women and children.
Our home improvements deliver triple dividends: decrease illness related to smoke inhalation, increase quality of life, and reduce environmental degradation. Our design uses approximately 60% less wood contributing to the conservation of nearby forests, decreasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and helping to mitigate climate change. We are saving women and children approximately 20 hours of labor a week, reducing the household chores of collecting cow dung to maintain walls and cutting trees for firewood.
Each home renovation costs only $500.
Donate today to reduce health problems and deaths from smoke inhalation for Maasai families.
Home Renovations Include
In the developing world, health problems from smoke inhalation are a significant cause of death for both children under five and women. The typical cooking fire produces about 400 cigarettes’ worth of smoke an hour, and prolonged exposure is associated with respiratory infections, eye damage, heart and lung disease, and lung cancer. With your generous donations, we will install new stoves and chimneys to reduce health problems and deaths from smoke inhalation for Maasai families.
- Reduce eye cataracts and lung disease due to improved ventilation
- Reduce the number of trees being cut to conserve the Amboseli ecosystem
- Reduce mother & children household chores by 20 hours / week to gain time for school & income generating activities
For the Maasai living without electricity, the impact of solar technology is unparallel. Not only will solar power protect forests, but it also improves the health of women and children who often get sick for inhaling fumes from smoky fires and paraffin lamps.
Being located close to the equator, Kenya has a huge potential for utilizing solar energy. Poverty can be defeated through solar energy by providing the following benefits:
- Light at night gives children the ability to study
- Saftey from wildlife & predators after the sun goes down
- Improved Household Health
- Promotes Local Environmental Conservation
- Charging electronic devices
The Maasai currently walk many miles to charge their cell phones. In Kenya people depend on their mobile devices for mobile banking to make payments, instead of using physical money.
Maasai homes are vulnerable to flooding when it rains. Our new design will provide a waterproof roof, solar lights, smoke-free chimneys and stoves, and a train Maasai communities on new sustainable building techniques.
Our design team sat down with the Maasai women and they requested that they wanted a home that didn’t require constant maintenance. Traditionally women make their homes with cow dung and local tree branches, however, dung requires constant repairs and is becoming scarce during the extended droughts, when the livestock are away for months seeking green pastures to survive the droughts.
Our new design will require less maintenance by utilizing eco-friendly local material to create a natural cobb mix from clay, sand, grass, water, and other organic material cemented onto a chicken wire mesh to sustain the walls long-term.
- Reduce mother & children household chores by 20 hours / week to gain time for school & income generating activities
- Train women on new building techniques that require less maintenance
With your generous donations, we will renovate homes to include:
MCV thanks our generous partner Amor Ministries for joining us to launch this new initiative to support Maasai families.
We invite you to travel with us and save-lives! To date we have 14 volunteers signed up to help provide critical improvements to the living conditions of Maasai families. Our volunteers will also enjoy a guided safari, participate in Maasai cultural educational workshops, and discover the Maasai way of life at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro in Amboseli National Park. If you want to join this service-learning trip or one in the future please email: hq@mychosenvessels.com.