MAYOO founder Jonathan has been visiting the UK this October to raise funds and awareness for the charity.
Jonathan’s travels took him to the South West, where he recorded three radio interviews including with Steve Yabsley for BBC Radio Bristol! The interview is available to listen to here until November 22nd 2019. Jonathan’s segment is 35 minutes into the show.
Jonathan is back again in the U.S. again on another outreach trip to raise awareness for MAYOO. He will be traveling from April 7 – 28th in Philadelphia, New York, and San Francisco in search of new sponsors and supporters of MAYOO.
The first stop was Philadelphia, where Jonathan and his partner Wilson, gave lectures at Villanova and Cheyney University with the help from Corey — a long time supporter of the MAYOO project.
After a quick trip to New York to see old friends, raise donations, and sell jewelry, Jonathan will be traveling to San Francisco to continue his efforts. He hopes to find new sponsors for many of the girls at home. Below is a photo of the girls holding letters in the hopes of finding a sponsor to go to school.
If you would like to support Jonathan on his mission trip in San Francisco, or if you would like to sponsor a girl, please contact Maasaiyouth@yahoo.com.
Jonathan undertook another successful fundraising and outreach trip in London in November with the help of MAYOO friends and new partners, including the Fulham Boys School, King Alfred’s school, St. Mary’s Redcliffe, and Ujima Radio.
The primary purpose of the trip was to secure new sponsors for girls at the Safe House and to raise awareness about issues facing the Maasai community. Jonathan gave lectures at schools and events, and spoke on Ujima Radio. We are very thankful to the many hosts that wanted to learn more and support the Maasai community:
Through the events, MAYOO was able to secure 8 new sponsorships for girls in need at the Safehouse. Janet, Sarah, Mereso, Lorna, Alica, Sylvia, Ann Napanoi, and Emily are extremely thankful to their new sponsors for funding their education. Pictures of the girls can be seen below:
Following the incredible success of Jonathan’s trip to Boston and New York in October 2015, a new pipeline has been built for the young girls at MAYOO’s Safe House.
The Safe House is a place where girls under threat of early marriage and FGM can be safe and live a life where they have a choice about their own future. The project is proving successful and has now expanded to include other younger people under threat.
Now, thanks to our patron’s generous donations and Jonathan’s tireless fundraising, we have 80 rescued girls that can now drink clean, safe water! It is an incredible feat, one that might seem simple to the outside world but will dramatically improve the lives of rescued children.
MAYOO and its director and founder, Jonathan, want to say a huge thank you to everyone who helped us complete this project. Our thanks spreads across the world and we find happiness in the knowledge that people all over the world care about our mission to bring safety, happiness and a prosperous future to vulnerable young girls.
Ashee oleng!
A long pathway is dug across the land to reach the Safe House.
Local children and Safe House girls help! This is a project that has happened because of team work.
Our new water tanks.
Now that we have water we can wash our clothes properly and give the Safe House a good wash!
Jonathan has safely arrived for his second trip to America! This time however, following the huge success of his last trip in November 2015, he has brought with him friend and fellow MAYOO member John Dackson Ole Lekoiya with him.
The Maasai duo will stay in America for a month to fundraise to build a new water pipeline to the Olosho-oibor village.
The Dominguez family welcome Jonathan and Dackson.
Jonathan and John spoke to the University of San Diego. At this event they focused on another project of MAYOO; to protect young girls from FGM and early marriage. They told the audience of the problems caused by gender inequalities. Even though it is a very hard problem to overcome, they were also able to show their successes. MAYOO has built a safe house that keeps 80 girls safe whilst providing them with food, accommodation, clothing and education. It is an incredible achievement but it is not finished yet! Events like these raise vital funds that keep the safe house operating whilst also teaching people from all over the world about the serious problem of gender inequalities.
Jonathan taught the students of Albert Einstein Academies about Maasai culture and the problems that face the community of Olosh-oiboor because of their lack of a reliable water source.
The fantastic children at AEA also helped sell Maasai Jewellery. All the money made goes to MAYOO’s support for widows in the community and to continue our help and protection of the girls in the safe house.
Jonathan and John spent many hours and days in both the elementary and middle school classrooms at AEA, sharing with students about the Maasai culture and it’s people. Students learned about the lack of access to clean water. The students asked excellent questions and became knowledgeable about the Maasai.
March 18th was the Walk for Water day! With the Albert Einstein Academy, students continued to raise awareness of water access by walking three miles, at points experiencing what it is like for the Maasai to walk whilst carrying the heavy burden of water containers.
In the morning Jonathan and John performed a ceremonial Maasai dance to kick off the the Walk for Water day. The students loved watching the dance and were impressed at how high they could jump. Some even joined in!
The students all wore a T-shirt they designed for the walk with something blue. These Walk for Water t-shirts were sold to the learning community and all the profits went to the MAYOO Water Project.
The efforts of AEA students and parents to raise both awareness and funds was inspirational and a great success. Students took action and made posters, created donation jars, sold t-shirts and collected money before and after school and even ran a lemonade stand! The combined efforts of the students, with the support and guidance of their amazing teachers and parents, helped us to meet and exceed our water project goal. Our goal was $2,200, but we raised an $2,700! Extra funds raised will go to the purchase of beds for the MAYOO safe house for girls.
“While the AEA community has given to our community, they have given us as much and more! As we have taught about Maasai life, they have taught us and blessed us with new friends. We are especially grateful for opportunity to develop intercultural understandings between the Maasai of Kenya and the learning community in San Diego. The experience of MAYOO and the Albert Einstein Academies has helped students, teachers and parents to recognise our common humanity and shared guardianship of the planet and each other, helping to create a better and more peaceful world. Ashe Oleng”
Jonathan Saoyo Simel
Following a successful round of fundraising in the United States it was time to put the money to use back in Ingarooj. Yesterday marked a monumental day for the Ingarooj community as the water piping project began. Elders of the community met the day before to agree on a centralized spot to pipe to. The next day the pipes were delivered and members of the community came together to help the technicians with the digging process!
Community Digging Team!
GPS map of prospective pipeline, total distance 1.5KM
A happy Jonathan with the new pipes and tank!
Literally everyone was helping out!
The water technician unravels the new pipe
The first two pipes being joined together
It takes a lot of hands to fuse the joint!
First joint completed!
“Mzugu hands are too soft”- William
Beautifully laid pipe
Community Members begin filling the trench.
After day 1 approximately 14% of the pipe has been laid, at this rate the piping would be completed in 8 days, much faster than our original approximation of 14 days! We will keep you all posted as the pipe gets closer to completion. Thank you all so much for your incredible support in helping to get this project underway, we are so excited to see the fruits of your incredible generosity!
Ashe Oleng!
After 5 weeks of successful campaigning for MAYOO, Jonathan Saoyo Simel returns home to Kenya full of optimism for the future of his project. He admitted in his last week, that he only expected to sponsor a couple girls and hoped to complete maybe one community water project, now after everything is finished he laughs unbelievably, and says “this trip is like God sent me.” That sentiment pretty much sums up how we all feel at MAYOO, to be blessed with such overwhelming generosity, love and support by our respective communities. With so much support we were able to complete all of our objectives and more;
In addition to these advancements to our projects we also were able to forge new connections to assist and guide MAYOO as we continue to develop. In the longterm, these alliances with new friends, organizations, and partners will be invaluable as we continue to establish a legitimate infrastructure here in the United States.
Right now we are proud to say that Jonathan has already started one piping project and that Steve Pasinski will be there in a week to oversee the transition of Safehouse girls and initiate their sponsor communication. Therefore, soon we will have plenty of pictures, videos and updates so that you can see the beneficiaries of all your wonderful support.
Until then we want to personally thank everyone who attended an event, purchased local Jewelry, donated to our projects, sponsored a girl, expressed interest and ultimately welcomed Jonathan into your world. Special thanks goes to Sherry Anderson & Janet Biondi who hosted Jonathan and were instrumental in fundraising to complete these projects. Also to the Pasinski & Hackett family who were generous long-term hosts. Thanks again for all the support and we look forward to developing this great connection with Massachusetts in order to continue to ensure security, health, and opportunity for the next generation of Maasai youth!
MAYOO has had a very busy past couple of weeks and would like to take the time to thank the our new sponsors and welcome the new members of the MAYOO family! We are excited to announce that MAYOO has received 16 new sponsors! Thanks to your incredible outpouring of support the following girls will now be able to receive a full education and know that their future is secure!
Lorna Njeri
Thank you Marah Flemmer for sponsoring a second girl your generosity is amazing!
Monica Silato
Thank you Deb Vivian!
Rose Naisalei
Thank you Sheila Hopkins!
Leah Rimas
Thank you Flora Hackett and Paul Cadenhead!
Veronica Nairaintoi
Thank you Jody Meyer!
Martha Naserian
Thank you Glenn Wood and Denise Clinton!
Helen Saayon
Thank you Chub and Nicole Whitten!
Sarah Kironua
Thank you George and Rue Sherwood!
Margaret Kosiantet
Thank you Dominique Favazza!
Linzy Naserian
Thank you Amy and Jake Borgman!
Ann Risianoi Nteiyer
Thank you Sue Brengle!
Abigail Natasha
Thank you Paul and Cathy Schweizer!
Grace Sipilon
Thank you Frances Steele!
Faith Nasieku
Thank you Mary Biondi!
Margaret Mashipei
Thank you Sherry Crockett!
Nancy Naisiae
Thank you David Karam!
Thank you all for your big hearts! More video and photo updates will come as MAYOO returns to Kenya! We will keep you posted!
Ashe Oleng!
Jonathan with new sponsor Jody Meyer
After a frenetic second week at SJP and Ipswich fundraisers, MAYOO picked up right where it left off for the third week. By scheduling meetings with our prospective sponsors for at-risk Maasai girls, we were able to meet individually and have an in-depth conversation about our program and their girl. This was a great experience for Jonathan who was able to get to know these generous people further as well as share more about himself in a welcoming environment.
Our second school event to raise awareness was at Winthrop Elementary School, where we had the great opportunity to talk with the fifth grade. Thanks to Sheila Mcadams and Kathleen O’Reilly we were able to come in and teach the fifth graders more about the Maasai way of life; they were able to learn Maasai words, handle Maasai jewelry, and of course carry water like a Maasai! We were lucky enough to have the most polite and attentive fifth graders I’ve ever met who had more questions than any group we’ve had thus far. Thanks Winthrop!
After the talk at Winthrop, it was off to NYC where we hoped to secure some good contacts for the organization as well as show Jonathan the big city life! After an overwhelming introduction through Times Square, where Jonathan’s eyes actually looked like big apples, we went to World Connect for a meeting. World Connect is an amazing charitable organization that helps develop grassroots locally driven projects around the world. We ended up having a very constructive meeting discussing how our project came to be as well as our future dreams for MAYOO. WorldConnect is a great resource of information for start-up charity projects so we are very excited about potentially utilizing that resource to aid our project down the line.
The following day we had lunch with non-profit expert and independent writer, Pippa Biddle, who has a lot of experience with start-ups and charity work. She was a great connection who gave us advice on going forward as well as other contacts in Kenya that could be potential partners. After that meeting it was time to show Jonathan more of one of the greatest cities in the world, so we wandered around and saw the sites before he had to head back the following morning.
This past week Jonathan has been staying in Cape Cod with future volunteer, Janet Biondi, who was kind enough to host Jonathan and set-up events before she sets off on her trip to Africa this winter. They had an extremely busy week as they did MAYOO work through a private fundraiser, church service, other social events, as well as last nights successful event at an African Restaurant who were very supportive to the cause. Thanks to all their hard work in Cape Cod they were able to find long-term sponsors for 5 more girls as well as almost a $1,000 for water-piping!
Janet & Jonathan
So, as we enter our last couple weeks with founder Jonathan Simel in the United States we are excited to complete the projects he set out to accomplish. This coming week he will be with Sherry Anderson in Holliston, MA, then he will come back to the North Shore where have some final events planned at Zumis Coffee Shop in Ipswich and a farewell party in Nahant. We hope you will be able to join us at some point to support MAYOO and the work we are fighting hard to get done!
For more information regarding the Zumis event see details below:
Taken from St. Johns Preparatory High School Newsletter:
“For the Love of Service
How did two former Prep classmates from Ipswich and Nahant find themselves in Kenya helping to bring water to a Maasai village? It is a journey of service that began at St. John’s and brought Stephen Pasinski ’10 and Tristan Hacket ’10 together to work on the same project. They were on campus this week to share their story with students.
They are helping their Kenyan friend, Jonathan Simel, with his efforts to provide a safe house for girls in his village, as well as a water project to obtain clean drinking water for the people in the community. Joining with the Maasai people, and working with Jonathan’s grassroots Maasai Youth Outreach Organization (MAYOO) project, they are focusing on the issues facing many of the young girls who have no support system. Visit the MAYOO blog here.
The three friends discussed the importance of the initiatives. They began by sharing the Massai names given to them by Jonathan’s family: Steve is Lemaiyan, which means “blessed one,” and Tristan is Saruni, which means “the protector. Jonathan, who was dressed in traditional Maasai clothing, described life in his village – both the beauty of the culture and the challenges.
In an interactive demonstration, Steve and Tristan asked students to take turns carrying a large jug of water on their backs, in the same fashion that Maasai women do when they walk 45 minutes to the only clean water source. Hunched over under the weight of the water jugs, students moaned and groaned as they tried to walk down Xavier’s hallways. All agreed that there was no way they could walk with that load for 45 minutes.
The exercise really brought to life the challenges facing the Maasai people, who struggle to have clean drinking water. Tristan said that an estimated 801,000 children younger than 5 years of age perish from diarrhea each year mostly from drinking contaminated water in developing countries. This harsh reality struck the students, knowing many Americans take for granted their clean, readily available water.
In the face of steep challenges in Kenya – little education, poor diet, inadequate sanitation – Steve and Tristan are inspired to continue to try to make a difference.
In addition to the clean water initiatives, they are working with MAYOO to find sponsors for at-risk girls so they can live in a safe house and receive an education. Steve and Tristan have raised enough money to educate and house seven girls in the safe house, and Jonathan has arranged sponsors for an additional 30 girls.
Giving Back
Steve and Tristan’s love of service began in their junior year at the Prep, when they each went on a service trips through Campus Ministry; Stephen went to Haiti and Tristan went to Jamaica. These trips made such an impact on the two young friends that this week they hope they may have inspired future humanitarians.
“I encourage you to get involved with Campus Ministry on campus,” Steve told students. “I came out of my service trip experience with a greater understanding of how big of an inequality gap exists in the world today.” Stephen and Tristan both attribute their motivation to service from the Prep’s Campus Ministry and specifically getting to know campus minister, Mr. Lawrence Molloy. They immersed themselves in the services programs that St. John’s provides, including PULSE and Social Action class, among others.
After the Prep, they attended different colleges; Stephen went to George Washington University, while Tristan went to the University of Vermont. Post-graduation, they joined forces to continue their passion for service and adventure. Stephen is now set to join the Peace Corps in a health volunteer position in either Ethiopia or Rwanda. Tristan is applying to work with international humanitarian organizations here in the U.S. with a focus on crisis-relief.
Tristan sums up his passion for service, “When you are completely immersed in such an impoverished community it is difficult to ever remain optimistic. However, you eventually learn that if human beings have a deep-rooted sense of solidarity and community then they can still find happiness in the most adverse of settings.”
Steve said to the students in Mr. Molloy’s Social Action class, “ You are more than capable of making a difference. It is all in the action.” For more information on their efforts visit their Crowdrise page. “
Thank you St. Johns Prep for your incredible support
Ashe Oleng!
Maasai Youth Outreach Organization 