About Us

In 1999, after 8 years of service at Riverside Farm Institute (Zambia), Andrew and Deborah Aho , and Joshua Knowles moved to Kenya and registered Africa Mission Services (AMS) as an international non-government organization (NGO).  Although the mission of the NGO was to implement development projects within the Maasai community, a severe drought throughout the region immediately involved AMS in World Food Program’s drought relief effort.  That year, AMS  was contracted to provide food aid to the 410,000 residents of the Kajiado District, the majority of them Maasai. By responsibly providing food to a drought-stricken population, AMS quickly gained a reputation amongst the Maasai as an organization intent on meeting needs that matter most to them.

After the drought, AMS partnered together with the Maasai community, North American donors and short term volunteers to build primary schools, churches , and a clinic in the rural Maasai villages, as well as to implement clean water projects, provide medical services , health education, and facilitate evangelistic outreach.  To provide the necessary infrastructure, AMS first established a mobile camp by which to host short term volunteers who wished to experience the challenges and rewards of humanitarian service.  As the program grew and the doors opened for further expansion, AMS moved its community development projects to the Trans Mara District, just outside Masai Mara National Reserve.

Today, AMS is working together with Maasai leadership in improving educational opportunities for children, providing medical services for rural villagers and giving community households access to clean drinking water.  Financial support for both community development and AMS’s operating costs is generated by hosting short term volunteers, who generally participate in a community development project on average of 10 – 12 days.  These volunteers minister in various ways to the local community.. Building crews construct classrooms, dorms, churches and other facilities, while VBS teams visit primary schools, bringing Bible stories to life. Medical personnel treat illness and disease while evangelists present the gospel.  Everyone is involved, everyone ministers, and everyone makes a difference.  It is a time of giving, but it is equally a time of receiving, not only for the Maasai who benefit from the schools, classes and medical treatment, but also for the volunteers who befriend the community and in the process of ministering to the needs of others, discover deeper meaning in their spiritual experience.

Volunteers are hosted at Mara West Camp, a permanent tented camp overlooking Masai Mara National Reserve. This camp provides guests with comfortable accommodations in canvas safari tents, each furnished with a pair of twin beds, a night stand and electric lamp.  Bathroom facilities include flush toilets and hot showers.  The lodge is the center of the camp, where delicious meals are served three times a day and where after a hard day of work everyone gathers for worship under the stars followed by fellowship around the campfire or playing games around a table.

As the mission trip draws to a close, volunteers often spend a couple of days on safari in Masai Mara National Reserve.  A little bit of heaven, the park is home to elephants, giraffe, lions, zebra, wildebeest, gazelle, warthogs, ostriches and a great number of other animals and birds.  For many it is an once-in-a-lifetime experience; for others it has become an experience they try to repeat year after year.

Thus the AMS family is a growing number of volunteers around North America who have donated their time, energy and financial resources to ministering to the Maasai people of Kenya.  They are the life blood of the organization, bringing fresh enthusiasm, vision and resources to the ministry.  The AMS team, which includes Andrew and Deborah Aho, Andrew’s nephew, Joshua Knowles, and the Aho’s sons, Aaron and Dustin, wish to thank all those who have participated in AMS’s mission program and invite anyone interested in a future development trip to contact us at africamissionservices@gmail.com. Download our Development Guide Book.