Right here, Right now

With warm wishes,

Twende!

Robert Lange

February 2026

Selela celebration

As I imagine these Maasai villages decades from now, I see them becoming very different. The region’s electric grid will be much more widespread and houses will be more comfortable. We certainly hope there will be safe water access near the people.

The Selela event celebrated what our work is really about: a better life right now. If life is better in ten years, what impact would that have on five-year-olds today? Regardless how improved conditions may be in ten or twenty years, their entire youth is going to be like it is right now. They don’t’ get to live their youth later, when things are better.

 For kids breathing in smoke in dark mud and grass huts, for kids drinking unsafe water, development is not about decades away. We want to make a better life accessible for them right now.

We work along three life-improvement sectors in Selela with many benefits provided directly from the Maasai Stoves & Solar Project. At the celebration, We distributed enough metal roofing material for fifty houses, given cost-free to households living with the most financial stress.

Although this doesn’t solve long-term issues, it means fifty women and their kids can build three-room rectangular houses in the traditional mud and stick method. They’ll have a bedroom, sitting and family room, and space for storage. A small separate hut for cooking with the ICSEE chimney stove can be built. In fact, now a week later, the houses are already under construction. With their new rectangular house, rain collection will be possible. 

Collaboration with the Vijana Assembly

Founded and led by our friend, Mbayani Tayai, the Vijana Assembly acquired funds for water infrastructure for Maji Wells. While our roofing material went to the poorest households, Vijana Assembly provided 5000- liter water tanks, rain- gathering gutters, and plumbing for 25 households that were able to pay half the cost. These families already have the rectangular houses that, together with this equipment, make it possible to collect rainwater.

Improving life today



The village people are thrilled with these donations and immediate improvement. Is this rain collection going to be adequate in the Rift Valley, in the face of frequent drought? It will help. We see the importance of addressing today’s needs as best we can. With these improvements, this generation is raising happier and healthier kids—right now

Trees for all

At the celebration, we distributed small saplings to the people to plant in locations of their choice. Our program with the Planeterra Foundation supplies and plants tens of thousands of trees in the Rift Valley. These hardy trees are raised on our Plant Nursery from local seed and given free for planting to settlements and institutions.



Combined benefits

With 50 nicer homes and an additional 25 with rain-gathering and water storage capability, and lots of newly-planted trees all around, the benefits are clear. There is a lot to celebrate!

A new dairy

We are creating a small dairy in Ngarash, the residential area just south of Monduli town. It will become a business for local women.

The dairy property includes a building for storing the cow fodder that we produce in our Rift Valley factory. Starting the dairy with just two mature milk cows, the women can sell milk while also making a profit from selling the fodder in and around Monduli town. 

We visited a couple of small thriving dairies in the area to research what is needed for success. We are in the process of designing and building the necessary structure.

Why a dairy? It is not only a venture but also an adventure. It fits our land and can grow, not only as a business but also in our imagination,as an exciting innovation. 

International Collaborative activities have their intrinsic benefits, with the important side impact of maintaining excitement and optimism for the people.

Let us all grow. Let us work together for a better life-- right now!

Support these actions!

For a better life for rural Africans, and a cleaner environment for all

International Collaborative for Science, Education, and the Environment

Office of Programs and Development

30531 Abington Court

Laguna Niguel, CA  92677  USA

1-508-735-9176

www.internationalcollaborative.org