Lesiamon’s story
Lesiamon stood -stick in hand and red blanket thrown over his shoulder just as any other
young Maasai would have done for hundreds of years, in the middle of a grassy plain with
herd of his beloved cows.
“this young lad scored the highest marks in his year group in his final primary exams” said
Pelua (our Kenyan director at RedTribe) as we drove past in our rusty old land rover.
Lesiamon came from the poorest of families living simply in a mud hut like any other Maasai
with his mother and father and 6 younger siblings. It was at this point we began to ponder…
how many other young Maasai with such huge potential are doing the same thing? Stuck,
with a dream pushed down to the bottom of their hearts, herding livestock with a sense of
impossible hopelessness knowing that the future would be only this.
It was at this point we decided that we must invest in these young lives. These young people
would be one of the most important keys to changing the future of this Maasai community
stuck in a cycle of poverty.
10 years later, after sponsoring Lesiamon through senior school and medical school, he is
now part of RedTribe’s team of Maasai who are helping to transform his own community.
A group of dentists have come regularly from the UK and helped to train Lesiamon and our
nurse to carry out essential dental treatments.
Maasai will walk for sometimes 2 days to receive this much-needed treatment at the
RedTribe clinic. He is also part of the RedTribe team helping to manage the crisis created
when Kenya locked down to reduce the spread of covid-19.
RedTribe has been focusing on supporting the most vulnerable members of the community
with food relief, handwashing facilities and education about the virus. This is so needed as
they are so isolated and local markets have since closed down – limiting their access to food
until the Maasai’s harvest matures in August.
You can donate to help in this crisis by clicking on the link below.