The One for One Commitment

Your Safari. Their Education.

Your safari enables us to do something wonderful. It’s simple. For every safari sold, we send a child to school.

An unimaginable number of African children do not attend school because their families are too poor to pay even the most nominal fee related to school attendance. Micato’s way of helping? A “One for One” commitment. We will match every safari sold with a payment of all school fees for a child in need.

School Beyond Reach
In principle, primary education is free in Kenya, as well as many other African nations. In reality, however, there are myriad fees involved, mandatory and otherwise, beyond the reach of masses of families. Parents are obliged to buy their child’s desk, pay for term exams, the wood for the cooking fire and their portion of the cooks’ salaries. There are also miscellaneous, but essential, purchases: school books, a set of uniforms, writing supplies and notebooks. In short, much more than families living in extreme poverty could ever hope to afford. Hence, their children stay home.

Deep Roots: Micato and Education
It started over twenty years ago with one little boy. He was about six years old, going from person to person in a Nairobi shopping centre with a note from his headmaster stating that he needed to raise 600 shillings—about $15—to buy a uniform before being allowed in school. He approached a Micato employee. She read the note and handed him the entire 600 shillings. Overwhelmed by such generosity, the boy gazed at the bundle of banknotes with tears streaming down his face and whispered, “God Bless You,” before dashing away.

That chance encounter sparked an insight: Micato was the perfect bridge between children in need and kindhearted safari travellerswishing to help. And thus in 1986, Micato’s nonprofit arm, AmericaShare, was founded.

Serving the Children of Mukuru
An estimated 100,000+ children do not attend school in the Mukuru slum near Nairobi. That’s a staggering 48% of all children, ages 6-13. Why? Extreme poverty, orphanhood, caregiving of
siblings, or public schools filled to capacity. AmericaShare and Micato have been working in
Mukuru for over 20 years. We constructed a thriving Community Centre there offering life-changing programmes for women and children. With these deep roots, we have a unique
ability to reach the poorest children and arrange for their schooling. In fact, for many years
we’ve operated an extraordinary boarding-school programme for Mukuru’s single and double orphans—children with essentially no one and nothing. Generous Micato travellers sponsor these children’s tuitions to quality boarding schools, complete with safe and loving homes for school holidays. In the process, profound and lasting bonds have been established.

A Safari Taken. A Child’s Life Changed.
Your safari makes it possible for us to create a wonderfully sustainable business of charity. It’s inspiring. Moreover, it’s simply the right thing to do. Every child deserves an education.We’re overjoyed to be contributing to this inalienable right.