Safe Water Campaign

Committed to conservation and responsible tourism, Sanctuary Retreats strives to build long-lasting relationships with the rural communities in the areas in which we operate ever since we opened our first camp in Kenya's Masai Mara in 1999. By working closely with the local communities to determine their needs and improve their well-being, we identified two viable and self-sustaining projects in Kenya: The Safe Water Campaign and the School Feeding Programme.

In May 2022, we launched a major project in schools surrounding the Ol Pejeta Conservancy with the aim of preventing the spread of water-borne diseases. Due to restricted access to clean water, many children rely on consuming grey water found in boreholes and damns to survive. These waters are the perfect environment for parasites to develop and infect whoever is unfortunate enough to drink from the source.

With the help of our clients and philanthropy team, we were able to donate 33 LifeStraw water filters to 10 schools in the Ol Pejeta area during the first phase of our programme. Since the introduction of water filters in these schools, we have witnessed a decrease in the rate of water-borne diseases in the area, leading to more students being able to come to school on regular basis thus improving the school’s performance.

A LifeStraw water filter traps 99.9% of viruses, bacteria, parasites, protozoa, dirt, and sand from water. A single LifeStraw can serve up to 100 children for a period of 5 years. We hope to achieve our goal of donating these straws to 30 schools across the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. We already have a Safe Water project in 20 schools in Amboseli National Park and 42 schools in the Masai Mara National Reserve. The donation of a total of 294 LifeStraw in these two regions through the support of donors and guests from all over the world has enabled 54,374 students in East Africa to have access to clean water. Find out how you can support and contribute to our projects here.

School Feeding Programme

Across schools in East Africa, parents are not able to provide three meals a day for their children. Often, parents can’t afford to pack lunch for their children attending school. Therefore, leaving students in a state of hunger throughout the day, from the time they report to school at about 8 am to 5 pm when they depart for home. Some children walk an average round trip of 6 kilometres to and back from their homes, amidst disturbing weather challenges, preventing some of them to make it back in time for afternoon classes.

Sanctuary Retreats is currently supporting the construction of modern kitchens and the implementation of school feeding programmes, where children are provided with lunch at school. The schools that have these programmes in place have seen a significant increase in the children’s ability to concentrate in the afternoon, the school’s performance in exams has moved up the ranking system, fewer children have dropped out of school, and they have seen an increase in enrolment and the children at the school are better nourished.

Get in touch with our team to find out how you can donate and support our efforts in East and Southern Africa.