Protecting children and wildlife in Africa

The Mama Zebra Memorial Fund started in 2003 and aims to provide children in Kenya’s Maasai territory with an opportunity to go to school, get a good education and proper health care. Up until 2024, the fund had received a total of approximately USD 800,000 in donations from a large number of generous donors. The raised means, out of which 99% go directly to the fund’s projects, have funded two elementary schools and two high schools for several thousands of Maasai children, as well as a medical station, wells for clean water, solar cell systems, and much more.

Our ambition is to also protect the habitat and the wildlife of the area. We produce films about successful projects to preserve the African wildlife for generations to come, where world-renowned scientists share their work and thougths. We have recently initiated a tree-planting project, and are planning to create a separate fund to support similar projects.

The Mama Zebra Memorial Fund is a politically and religiously independent fundraiser controlled by the County Administrative Board of Skåne, and has an authorized public accountant (ERA Auditors in Varberg). The fund is also registered in Kenya by the District Social Development Office in Narok and holds an account at the National Bank of Kenya.

The story begins in Africa

KENYA

An unimaginable ccident cost Sven’s wife and colleague Ingegerd Zetterlund her life when they visit Kenya in the summer of 2002. After several days in the Masai Mara nature reserve, where they had completed their work on a new book on wildlife and Maasai people, they move on to Mount Kenya, north of Nairobi. During a hike in the rainforest at the foot of the mountain, accompanied by a local guide and a Kenyan friend, they are suddenly and without warning attacked from behind by a raging elephant. The elephant injures Ingegerd so badly that her life cannot be saved.

TANZANIA

Linda has lived and worked abroad for most of her life, together with her husband Paul. They have spent the last seven years in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, East Africa when in May 2002, Paul loses his life in a tragic accident. A truck slips over on the wrong side of the road and hit Paul’s car as he is leaving his office in Dar es Salaam.

At the end of the year, the two of us met by chance in Örebro, Sweden. We had both been happily married for about 30 years, we each had three grown children, and had abandoned the security of our everyday lives in order to see and discover other countries and cultures. And suddenly, at almost the exact same time and at a relatively short distance from each other, we lost our life companions in East Africa. It is our firm belief is that there are two souls in heaven who brought us together.

Carried on together

We started the Mama Zebra Memorial Fund in memory of our spouses, Ingegerd and Paul, with the ambition to provide children in the Maasai area a better life. Now, we are also investing in projects that serve to protect the environment and wildlife.

Together, we started the Africa House in 2003, with the ambition of sharing some the many positive things the African continent stands for—the joy, the hospitality, the care for one another. The faith in the future, the fantastic craftsmanship and the unbeatable wildlife. We do this by opening up our African-inspired home to the public, with interior design from dozens of African countries, with pictures and self-produced videos about Maasai people and African wildlife, and with a shop full of African crafts and much more.

Sven is a nature photographer, filmmaker and writer. He has worked with advertising and marketing and has produced several award-winning animal books for children and youth together with his late wife Ingegerd.

Linda is originally a seamstress and designer. She comes from the island of Fanø in Denmark and, together with her late husband Paul, has lived and worked in Greenland, Spain, Norway, Australia and Tanzania. Linda is particularly interested in interior design, gardening and African cuisine.

A collaboration of trust

The Mama Zebra Memorial Fund has its headquarter in Hjärnarp, Sweden, and was founded and is operated by Sven Zetterlund and Linda Rasmussen. In Kenya, we have committees of about ten Maasai—one in Talek, Masai Mara, and one in Nkosesia, Loita Hills. These committees consist of representatives of the school, the city and the parents of the attending school children.

Our mission is to set up the buildings required to conduct school operations and healthcare. Once this is done, the responsibility for the operation is left to the respective counties. The Kenyan state is obliged to appoint teachers to the schools.

CAREFUL PREPARATIONS

We meet regularly with our Maasai committees in Kenya to discuss the fund’s projects, and at each meeting, they express their wishes for the future. Based on a list of priorities, we discuss what the next project should include, and after a mutual decision, the committees prepare a quote for the task. The committee is then responsible on site, reports to us on the progress of the project, and finally submits all receipts from the contractor. The accounting is done by the authorized auditor ERA Auditors in Varberg, and receives its final approval by the County Administrative Board in Skåne.

GENEROUS DONORS

The majority of the funds received, about USD 700,000 up until 2020, come from generous donors in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany and the USA. Our contribution is to invite a number of Maasai people to Sweden from time to time. We hold lectures as well as various other arrangements where the entire surplus goes directly into the fund. The airline tickets have been sponsored by KLM / Kenya Airways as well as private donors.