To expand on education and mentoring, we began building training centers for our communities in 2018. We started with Bomet, where we built a training center next to the existing sewing center. Soon after, literacy classes begun with the women, led by Ivan, one of our students who graduated from school. 

In the spring of 2019, Scott and Becky Mackintosh’s team led the building of a training center in Nkareta. It is made using earth bag architecture, so hundreds of bags were filled with dirt and then carried to the building site. It took a year to build, with each expedition team contributing to the effort. 

In the fall of 2019, Marissa Waldrop set up the sewing center and began teaching the women how to sew underwear. Cindy Miller added the training on how to sew HopeSaCs. We hired a tailor to teach how to sew school uniforms, so that the women in the community could earn an income from the sales of the uniforms. 

The training center in Bomet also has a seedling garden, where vegetables are grown to transplant to the garden towers. We are working on creating a chicken brooder to provide chickens to families as well. 

The training center in Nkareta is a small farm, with cows, goats, chickens, and gardens with a goal of creating Business Boxes for Families out of them. 

Our big goal is to build the Emparnat Cultural Centre on the Maasai Mara, and this year we will complete a guest house where our teams can stay. We have plans for classrooms, a computer lab, a museum, and a large outdoor pavilion to provide a place for traditional Maasai ceremonies in the community.