Olng’arua School and Community Education Project is run by Kitonga and Emma in Kenya and with the support of Jonny in Scotland. Nobody gets paid to work for DARE, it is a labour of love, passion and commitment, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
However we couldn’t manage all that we do here without the help of the very good friends of DARE, these are people who make regular donations, volunteer their time for us here, and abroad, and generally keep us going at times when it seems impossible that we can. These ‘Friends Who DARE’ are people we just couldn’t do without.
If you would like to become a Daring Friend please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.
Lipan Kitonga
Kitonga was born in a mud hut in the remote northern Kenyan bush and he grew up in an entirely traditional Maasai community. Determination, hard work and irrepressible enthusiasm took him from being a traditional Maasai warrior, herding cattle in the bush, to becoming the manager of Il‘Ngwesi Lodge, the first and most successful community run lodge in Kenya. Kitonga established the Ramiti le Maa Group which helps members of the northern Maasai community to set up business and development projects. He also volunteers his time and experience to several other local enterprise, development and conservation initiatives.
Kitonga is a wildlife safari guide specializing in walking safaris. He also organizes and leads trips throughout northern Kenya helping individuals and organizations access remote communities and get to the hard to reach parts of the north.
As a Maasai and a pastoralist, with an intimate knowledge of the region and its people, Kitonga’s role within DARE is invaluable; helping DARE to gain a better understanding of the environment and communities we work with. More than any of us he really understands what it takes for local communities to shape their own future and how the benefits can change lives. He understands this because he has lived it himself.
Kitonga can be contacted by email at kitonga@darefoundation.com
Emma Redfern
Emma first came to Kenya to do research for an MSc in Environment and Development with Edinburgh University. It was through her research that she met Kitonga and they discovered a mutual passion for northern Kenya and the issues that affect the lives of people living there.
Emma and Kitonga are now married and live together with their family in northern Kenya.
Emma is responsible for most of the photography on this site. You can see more of her work here….
Emma can be contacted by email at emma@darefoundation.com
You can also follow Emma on Twitter Follow @rememberthegoat
Jonathan Stevenson
Jonny has been part of DARE, and the work we do in Kenya, since the beginning. Based in Scotland he provides invaluable support and helps to manage things that would be very hard to deal with in the remote Kenyan bush. He makes regular trips to Kenya to support our projects. He is also the reason that we have any modern means of communication as well as our ability to operate it (though any failures in that department are entirely our own). The website is all his work and he keeps us connected with the world.
If you have any problems with the site, or simply can’t get hold of Kitonga or Emma because they have disappeared into the bush, you can call on him and he will do his best to help, advise or just sympathise.
Jonny can be contacted by email at jonathan@darefoundation.com