By Kasia Mychajlowycz

Out on the Serengeti plain, the Maasai Women Secondary School construction site is coming to completion, including its fence: as we wait for the plants to grow along the guide-wires and form a hedge, the boundary between plain and school yard is notional. This leaves the site open to theft and vandalism, but luckily we’ve had almost none of either thanks to our on-site security guard, Justin Long’olo.

Justin came to us and asked to work for us when he saw construction begin. He became an askari (the Swahili term for guard) two years ago, and so far says he enjoys the job on-site. He is the first to arrive and last to leave the site, keeping track of all our materials, locking them away at night, and counting them again in the morning after our night watchmen leave. When the MWEDO truck arrives, he is always there to open the gate for us and greet us with a smile and a “Mambo!” (Hello).

Justin lives in a village near to the site, with his wife Carolina, and four young children Yese, Johnson, Eliarusia and Isaya.