Cultural Conservation

• Utilize your organization skills & open mind to maintain a foreign culture
• Educate the Massai people on skills that will benefit their communitye
• Immerse yourself in the culture & beauty of Kenyae
• Volunteer abroad affordably & safely

Project Summary

Volunteer in the Cultural Conservation Project in the Massai region of Kenya and help locals preserve their noteworthy, unique and enchanting culture. Thanks to their distinctive clothing and traditions, the Massai are the most well known ethnic group in Africa, but they need your help to keep their customs alive. In order to carry out Massai cultural conservation, volunteers help to educate locals, teach business skills, build infrastructure and promote tourism for the Massai tribe. The tribe has suffered from poverty, droughts, disease and migration, but thankfully they attract tourists to Kenya, providing a small market for their goods and services. With education, community building, infrastructure and specific skills, the Massai can proudly live on their land and live productive and healthy lives without the thought of migration for survival.

Skills/Qualifications Needed

There are no specific qualifications needed to volunteer in this project. However, organizational skills, an open mind, a positive attitude, a flexible personality and an interest in foreign cultures will make the experience more worthwhile, both for you and for those you help.

Volunteer Responsibilities

As a volunteer in the Cultural Conservation Project in the Massai region of Kenya, you will immerse yourself into their captivating culture and have a true intercultural exchange. Daily activities will vary depending on individual skills and interest, but examples of daily activities may include:

• Teaching the Massai people about any specific skill you may have that would benefit their opportunities with tourism. For example, you can teach a specific artist skill that could expand their skill set to produce goods to sell to tourists.
• Engaging yourself into the local culture to understand its history and customs
• Working with locals to preserve and document their traditions
• Planning extracurricular activities such as dancing, singing, sports, talent shows, etc.
• Teaching locals about your own culture
• Supporting women’s groups
• Teaching basic business skills, especially related to the tourism industry
• Teaching English
• Helping locals understand the Massai culture, especially when there are language boundaries
• Strengthen local marketing strategies
• Work with community leaders to create community pride and inspiration

Room/Food/Supervision

IFRE manages living accommodations and meals within host families throughout Kenya (Massai Region) for the entire duration of the volunteer program. Host families are all carefully screened, well educated and have experience with host international volunteers. IFRE arranges clean, simply furnished, private (occasionally shared with fellow volunteers) rooms in nearby host families. Volunteers will receive three (3) local meals each day (occasionally, if volunteers are away from their host families during lunch, they may required to pack their own 'to go' lunches). Host families provide meals, which are typical of the Kenya (Massai Region) diet. While host families do their best to provide vegetarian options, IFRE requests that all volunteers requiring a specific or special diet inform our offices prior to arrival in country. If you have other needs for food outside of these meals, you are able to purchase snacks and meals at local restaurants and grocery stores. You will be sharing the house, kitchen and bathrooms with the family members.

Once the volunteer program begins, our local staff members maintain contact volunteers. We visit our volunteers every 2 weeks (if possible) and you are always welcome at the local office. We recommend volunteers stop by the office once a week if they are in the local area just to let us know how they are doing with their home stay and project. If your project is very far, then our local staff members maintain communication by either email and/or phone.