Our Story

Ever since they arrived in Kenya in 2007, the Chapman family (founders and directors of Ololo companies) have had passion and commitment to supporting the local community through activities such as tree growing, sports training and mentorship. Eight months ago, the family launched the Ololo Foundation inspired by a few ideas from Craig and a small passionate team of five.

 

The foundation has a mission to champion sustainability and creativity in the community and has launched and intends to launch various projects in the immediate Tuala community at Oloosirkon Schools i.e., a local day primary and secondary school with a combined population of about 1000+ students who have to walk long miles along dusty and wasteful roads every morning and evening on empty stomachs, just to get educated as most of the parents can barely afford to pay a few hundred shillings a month for their children to have lunch at school. Sometimes, the students had to bring water along with them to the schools to water the gardens, drink or use in the kitchen.

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At the primary school, several classrooms have been abandoned after they were deemed unsafe to use, some with broken roofs and others with cracked walls. A few years ago, there was an incident where a classroom roof was blown away by the wind while the students were learning. The school has a large open field with minimal trees to act as shade, windbreaks or even act as aesthetics. Most of the children from the primary school end up at the bordering secondary school i.e., Oloosirkon Secondary, a mixed-day school founded with the goal of providing an opportunity for local underprivileged students who can afford high boarding fees and expensive tuition in most of the high schools.

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The two schools paint a picture of many local primary and secondary schools across Kajiado County and other counties, a semi-arid landscape in Kenya at high risk of frequent and severe drought and food insecurity, exacerbated by the current climate change crisis, high poverty levels and lack of awareness on the need to regenerate their environment.