Waterlooville Maasai elder will climb Snowdon in full native dress and sandals to buy wheelchairs for disabled people
A MAASAI senior elder living 6,000 miles from home will attempt to summit a mountain in his native dress to raise money for eight ‘life-changing’ custom wheelchairs.
Boniface Mpario will take on 1,085m-tall Snowdon in Wales to buy the equipment for severely disabled people in his hometown in Kenya.
He and his family moved from Kirindon to Waterlooville in 2017 after the tragic death of his 31-year-old younger brother, following an illness.
And it is his late sibling's story that is spurring him on for his task on August 10, which he will take on wearing sandals made from recycled tyres.
‘My younger brother was born mentally disabled but he ended up being physically disabled when he grew up,' said Boni, who is in his 40s.
‘When I finally got a job, I got paid a bit of money so I bought a wheelchair for him.
‘It made it possible for him to be wheeled around the village and be part of the family rather than just sitting indoors on his own because he couldn't move around.
‘When he passed away, I decided I had to do something to help other disabled people, because the chair made a big difference to his life.’
Since 2017, Boni has already bought one wheelchair for a disabled mother and carer in Kirindon who has no use of her legs.
But he says others in the village, including children, still face daily difficulties as they are forced to ‘pull themselves through the dirt’ because of a lack of support from the government for their conditions.
‘Many children have no access to education because they can't drag themselves for two miles to school,’ he said.
‘But when they get these wheelchairs they will be able to go, and it will change their lives.'
Boniface, who fought off multiple bouts of deadly typhoid when he lived in Kenya, said the climb ‘will not be easy' in his recycled sandals.
‘They’re not made for climbing mountains, but the pain will be very small compared to what these disabled people face on a daily basis,' he said.
Subject to hitting his £2,000 fundraising target, Boni's wheelchairs will be transported, in part, via donkey from Nairobi to Kirindon.
To donate to his effort, go to tinyurl.com/y6syqq9p