Maasai Education Center home

MEC

Welcome to the MEC family

Home away from home.

That is how our Maasai students describe boarding hotel college Maasai Education Center. Where you discover your potential at the heart of hospitality. Building a bridge from poverty to a bright and shining future in the hospitality industry on your ancestor’s ground; The Magnificent Maasai Mara.

Maasai Education Center – or MEC for short, is established just within Maasailand – in Oloirien (next to the Olipikkidongoi school) – Lollgorian – Kilgoris district.

Our Hospitality programme is internationally recognized and our student’s scores every year are excellent. In 2022 Maasai Education Center was the best hotel school in Kenya! The programme offers an inspirational environment in which students develop a strong base of knowledge and vision related to the local hospitality and tourism sector.

Maasai Education Center offers a full package and captures, therefore, all divisions of the Hospitality & Tourism industry; this vision was the perfect match were managers of hotel lodges are looking for!

Tourguiding

Housekeeping

Cullinary art – Food & Beverage

Front-office, marketing & management

Foreign language

Computerlessons

Conservancy

Entrepeneurship

Lectures in Agriculture

Lectures in Herbal Healing (naturalist)

Economy of Love Lessons; Inner Wisdom Lessons of the Maasai Culture

During the full-time, English-taught program, students learn to implement the multiple challenges business and organisations are facing, such as a quick change in demands of tourists in their expectations and experiences during their holidays, but also to implement the “old values of the traditions of the Maasai culture”. Weekly lectures of the Inner Wisdoms of the Maasai culture are given by a real Maasai “Olpiron”. In the end students are proud on their background again!

(the meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose in life is to give your talent to the world.)

Our Winning Concept

Hard work from our students pays off…. Last years, 90% of our students got a job at the tourist lodge where they did their internship.

Pick any safari lodge in the Maasai Mara or even in the conservation parcs in whole Kenya, and you will find one of our former students working there. From cullinary chefs in top lodges, till tourguides driving big jeeps explaining tourists the natural habitat of the wildlife, housekeeping students, office managers, herbalists. You name it and we provide it!

Our winning concept of the hospitality school? Building bridges! This welfare project began to help Maasai tribal leaders find ways to preserve their traditions whilst balancing the education needs of their children for the modern world. That’s why our school curriculum captures every corner of the hospitality industry. Not only tourguiding, but also housekeeping, culinary art, food & beverage, management, conservancy, entrepreneurship, ICT, agriculture, herbal healing studies and of course the cultural lessons of the Inner Wisdoms of the Maasai.

“THEY WHO KNOW ITS BACKBONE – ITS HISTORY –

KNOWS THE SOUL OF THE MAASAI COMMUNITY.”

We stimulate and learn youth to pay attention to “respect”. They understand their boundaries. If they say ‘yes’ today, it’s also a ‘yes’ tomorrow! They become strong and honest persons of the next generation, because they know the importance & power of the energy to tell the truth and stand for this truth!

Students also get lessons of the Inner Wisdom lessons that the meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose in life is to give your talent to the world.

Maasai Education Center (MEC) is deeply committed to the secrets of the Maasai culture, its wildlife, conservation and all its people. MEC is a hotel school who runs also a small luxurious hotel school lodge; Oreteti Mara Lodge (www.oretetimaralodge.com).

Learning by doing.

Before our students are going on internships in the professional field, they already have had their basics on our schoolcompound. Hotellodge managers see the big difference of our students; “they are very diciplined, true teamplayers and hard working”.

Maasai Education Center’s students appreciate the family based character of this school. With a maximum of 50 students, we offer quality above quantity. It is said, master and student walk their path side by side to share the best of eachothers knowledge, until the paths go separate ways. The high level of expertise of the lecturers including valuable feedback and committed guidance, makes this all happen.

Liked learning Environment

Maasai Education Center is also a very liked learning environment. Staff and students like the natural environment with fresh air and a lot of forest.

At this boarding school we offer full meals, most of the time with vegetables and fruits from our own bio schoolgarden. Milk, meet and sometimes vegetables are bought from our local neighbours.

The fact that the student have an “all inclusive” programme, parents don’t need to pay extra for renting a house, paying for transport, water or food like schools in big cities in Kenya like Nairobi, Mombassa or Kisumu. No, MEC is “just around the corner”.

“Rankings and accreditation”

Every student who left high school or college with D+ or C- and above can do the intake at MEC to get a ICM diploma (International recognized). Tourguide students gets a bronze tourguiding card. They can officially being registrated as a professional tourguides. MEC also offers drivinglessons. Apart from the diploma, also certificates are handed out for beeing the president of the students (man/woman). But alsof of the cleaning department of the schoolcompound, for the food department etc.

At the end of the day, our students reflect the quality of our institution. When they graduate, they take Hotelcollege Maasai Education Center with them wherever they go. Indeed, we continue to attract top-level students because we are committed to maintain the high quality of our programmes and facilities.

Intakes & duration of the Education

Join us now, call directly with our school principal Mr. Steve Kibagendi:

Phone number + 254 713 983 406

Email: info@maasaieducation2019@gmail.com

Intakes:

Beginning each December – College starts Januari

Beginning each May – College starts July

Each study department takes 1 year at MEC.

The whole staff of MEC try to arrange locally internships at one of the many lodges and conservancies in and around the Maasai Mara. Sometimes this internship is also abroard to Amboseli and even to Laikipia.

Word of the school principal

Mr. Steve Kibagendi, schoolprincipal

Word of the Directors

Mme Mariska Appelman, President Board of Directors:

“As the Board of Directors, we are extremely proud of the excellent results of our MEC program. This achievement was only possible as our entire community of staff, industry partners and students are committed to creating hospitable futures together.

“The meaning of life is to find your gift.

The purpose in life is to give your talent to the world”.

Our Local Heroes

Many of our students got the opportunity to get a job locally in the hospitality industry, conservancy area and offices.

We kindly want to introduce a few of the many students.

Hassan Bett

Age: 26 years

Homeplace: Lolgorian

Working at the lodge: andBeyond Bateleur Camp Maasai Mara National Reserve

What did you liked the most of MEC college?

The management was good. To keep everything going on. I liked the good performance. To keep also our culture alive. Mr Lenkoko does a very good job.

Suggestions to future students:

Locals. Be aware. Your future college is just around the corner! At MEC they make a change for your own future. You have us as an example: once the performance is good, people will follow.

John Shira

Homeplace: Mara Rianta (Maasai Mara)

Working at the Lodge: and Beyond Travel – KitchwaTembo Maasai Mara

Job: Tourguide-/ naturalist

Why did you choose Maasai Education Center (MEC for short);

“The college environment is a great place to learn. It’s like a national park. While you are sitting on your college chair, you see hundreds of different species of birds. When you have your bread breakfast in the morning and take your chai tea, you already spot all those animals. Having tour guiding lessons there, was a blessing”.

What is your opinion about the accomodation?

“Great! This boarding college host boys and girls. The boys sleep separately in a very big safari tent. It shows the students immedialtely the bigger picture where they are going to in the professional hospitality field”.

Belinda Lorna Siokino

Workingfield: Professional Tourguide

Lodge: Beyond Kitchwa Tembo Maasai Mara

Suggestions:

My father and mother worked very hard to get all their children well educated. And see now! I was the first lady student who got a job locally. First as a naturalist and now I drive guests around in the Landcruiser. I am so very grateful.

Paul Saruni

Homeplace: Kilgoris

Working at the lodge: Serena Maasai Mara

Job: Housekeeping

Why did you choose Maasai Education Center (MEC for short);

“I heard about this college by the radio Mayen FM and Sidai FM. Also local people told about this college. There are not many colleges in the district. It’s locally and a boarding school. An dit was not the most expensive!

I got a great lecturer: mr. Kiigen. He can give you great lessons on the level of Frontoffice operations. Also he learns us to be very creative. We could learn “on the job” because on the schoolcompound are also schoollodges (tent and stone lodges). With real rooms, bathrooms, showers, beds. So we learned it all-in real. That was great. Not only learning from the books. I also like it very much that the staff was such a good mentor. They also help the students with their internships.

After the internship, I got a job. At Mara Serena. I and my whole family are very grateful and proud.