MAASAILAND ALUMNI REUNION
JULY 26-AUGUST 2, 2024
Supa Oleng!
It is hard to believe that 20 years have passed since Prescott College began collaborating in Maasailand! In that time, many people have come together to build the Dopoi Center, establish and train a union of Maasai guides, produce decolonizing research, and enjoy some significant land rights and conservation wins. The dream of what collaboration might mean came true along the way. It was made manifest by the trust extended by hundreds of people–students of PC and ASU, administrators and faculty, and many colleagues and supporters in the U.S., Maasailand and Kenya.
We are breathing gratitude at Dopoi these days, for so much care and commitment expressed through the years, and we have organized this reunion to thank you.
MAASAILAND
ALUMNI REUNION
JULY 26-AUGUST 2
Supa Oleng!
It is hard to believe that 20 years have passed since Prescott College began collaborating in Maasailand! In that time, many people have come together to build the Dopoi Center, establish and train a union of Maasai guides, produce decolonizing research, and enjoy some significant land rights and conservation wins. The dream of what collaboration might mean came true along the way. It was made manifest by the trust extended by hundreds of people–students of PC and ASU, administrators and faculty, and many colleagues and supporters in the U.S., Maasailand and Kenya.
We are breathing gratitude at Dopoi these days, for so much care and commitment expressed through the years, and we have organized this reunion to thank you.
Ceremony: August 1, 2024
A ceremony will be held at the MERC/Prescott College Dopoi Center, Maasai Mara, on August 1, 2024, and we invite you to participate in person or virtually. Due to space, in-person attendance is limited for now to alumni of the program and their families and a select few invited guests (children are welcome!) but the ceremony and a prior week of activities will be virtually accessible to our larger community, so we can all come together! Join us to receive the gratitude of the Maasai community and to learn about the vision for what is coming!
The Dopoi Center
We settled on the 10 acres of land that is now Dopoi in 2008, so some of you will remember the first years there before we had our own water, housing, or any kind of roof! Remember that kitchen? Today Dopoi has meeting and eating space for 300 people, lots of housing, electricity and internet. We have our own herd of cows! We exist as a Maasai community space for community organizing and research into land rights, Indigenous conservation, education and training, and to teach Maasai culture. The center is named Dopoi for Meitamei’s father, a community leader born in 1886 who lived to see the dawn of the twenty-first century.
The Dopoi Center
We settled on the 10 acres of land that is now Dopoi in 2008, so some of you will remember the first years there before we had our own water, housing, or any kind of roof! Remember that kitchen? Today Dopoi has meeting and eating space for 300 people, lots of housing, electricity and internet. We have our own herd of cows! We exist as a Maasai community space for community organizing and research into land rights, Indigenous conservation, education and training, and to teach Maasai culture. The center is named Dopoi for Meitamei’s father, a community leader born in 1886 who lived to see the dawn of the twenty-first century.
Gratitude
You may not not be aware just how much you continue to live in the hearts and minds of our community in Maasailand, and how many times a day we express our gratitude. Maasai culture requires that we honor that gift in ceremony, and that is the impetus for this reunion.
See Old Friends!
Dopoi Neighbors 2016
Our First Classroom at Dopoi 2008
The Year Pilot Brought A Drone!
ASU Joined the Community 2017
Nqon'gu Narok Village 2011
Water Project Presentation 2014
2024 Trip Itinerary
Click below to see the full 2024 Trip Itinerary
and for additional trip information.
2024 Virtual Itinerary
Coming soon!
2024 Trip Itinerary
Click below to see the full 2024 Trip
Itinerary and for additional trip information.
2024 Virtual Itinerary
Coming soon!
Wildlife!
Your drive will be led by Mara Guide Association guides who were taught through Prescott College’s certification program. Maasai guides know the wildlife in depth, as Maasai culture understands elephants, lions and other wildlife communities have rights to share the land. This understanding has led to a unique phenomenon, the ability of Maasai to co-exist with wildlife, and to negotiate use of shared resources. This coexistence forms the core of Maasai practice of conservation. Learning about the wildlife with a Maasai guide is pure joy, an opportunity to experience the possibility that human beings have been and can be again, part of the natural world.
Remember This?
Interested or Have Questions? Contact Us
Jane Ratzlaff
jane.ratzlaff@prescott.edu
(928) 350-4503
Mary Poole
mpoole@prescott.edu
(928)463-8321
Meitamei Ole Dapash
oledopoi@gmail.com
Kit Cabot
kitcabot@gmail.com
Finn Swanstrom Arnold
f.swanstrom-arnold@prescott.edu
© Prescott College