My name is Edward Ernest Kutingala. Like the families comprising Ekenywa Village in the Arumeru District of Arusha, Tanzania, East Africa, I am a Maasai. Virtually all of the Maasai from my area are nomadic herdsmen who cannot afford to educate their children. In my village, most adults have not been schooled past the sixth grade and many have received no schooling. It is my dream, and that of my friends and relatives, particularly my cousin Justin Julius Kisota who has shared my dream for a school for the Maasai from the beginning, to educate the children in our village. It is our hope that, through a quality education, the students will be able to seek and procure good jobs and improve the standard of living for themselves and their children and also financially support their parents. My hope is to break the cycle of poverty through education.

Our dream for a school began in 2006 when Justin and I recruited an English teacher to work for three hours each day for a monthly salary of $80. We asked our fellow villagers to send their children ages 3-6 to a local church we used as a classroom. Sixty children showed up on that first day of school and from there, the dream has become a reality with the building of a school classroom. In November 2006, I was sponsored on a fundraising trip to the United States by Leonard Schlesinger (President of Victoria's Secret and Babson College) and was given funds to begin construction on a new classroom.

In January, 2007, we had our first graduates of the school- 13 children moved on to primary school. In April, 2007, the new classroom construction was completed and named the Maasai Joy Children's Centre.

In 2008, another classroom building was added, bringing us to four classrooms at the Maasai Joy Children's Centre with classes and teachers for pre-kindergarten through Grade 3. We have engaged the service of an architect who has drawn plans for a new 2-story building so that MJCC can continue to educate students through all of primary school. These plans have also been reviewed and approved by an architect from the United States. It is our hope that we can educate the children in Ekenywa Village and ensure they receive a quality education. The education they receive at MJCC hopefully will allow them to pass the Tanzanian national exam so that they can continue their education studies in government-funded secondary schools.

Our existence would not be possible without the generosity and support of our donors and visitors. Thank you for your effort and support and belief that education will make a difference in the lives of these Maasai children.