Donor vans arrive at Masai home

With friends again: John Walters was back in Samburu Masai country

A couple who have adopted a tribe of Kenyan Masai people have returned from a visit which included delivering two vehicles to their friends.

John and Margaret Walters have set up a cultural exchange between Wales' Afan Valley and the Samburu Masai.

The trip gave Masai warriors Mathew Laigwanani, 24, and Kaseti Lesengei, 31, the chance to put their newly gained driving skills into practice.

The pair learnt to drive during their most recent stay with the Walters.

The Walters, who run a garden centre business in Pontrhydyfen, near Neath, met the two warriors while on holiday on the beach in Kenya more than two years ago.

The couple have set up a charity, Celtic Cultural Exchange, to promote links between the two communities and the vehicles - a van and a pick-up packed with goods for the villages - were donated by well-wishers.

Well wishers donated more than 500 uniforms to the villages

Laigwanani and Lesengei had to learn to drive before they returned with the vehicles but the final part of their quest was not without its problems - and dangers.

The team was stuck in Mombasa for six weeks before they could clear customs, an experience which cost the Walters an extra £1,000 in charges and added three weeks on to the five-week expedition.

And when they finally made it in to the bush, in the Samburu district of northern Kenyan, Mr Walters, 62, had a closer shave with some of the wildlife than perhaps he would have liked.

On one journey, the vehicles became separated so the lead van stopped by the side of the road to let the second one catch up.

Mr Walters said: "We parked up and got out to stretch our legs. It was only later we found out that there were two Samburu elders killed there two days previously by a lion.

John Walters meets and greets in a Samburu Masai village

"You don't think of these things at the time, but it just goes to show the danger that they are in all the time."

Despite the delays and dangers, the group arrived in the villages with more than 500 pristine school uniforms for local children as well as equipment including sewing machines and a comuter.

The group were able to help return running clean water to a village whose water pump had been broken for months.

Mr Walters said: "There was a pump in the village, we changed some pipes and had the water going in about three-and-a-half hours. It was only a couple of washers."

The vehicles, a van and a pick-up came in useful almost immediately.

In addition to transport livestock to new pastures in the drought hit area, they have also been used in mercy missions.

"We took a couple of people to hospital there," said Mr Walters.

"We had a knock at the door one morning, a chap had come out of the bush to say his wife was sick.

Rugby ball

"I had to go up there and pick her up and take here down to the cottage hospital in a frontier town.

"We have virtually saved lives already, so the vehicles are doing good now."

But there was a less serious side to trip, as well.

The team took a rugby ball and introduced local children to Wales' national game.

Mr Walters said: "We are looking for a book of rules now or a video tape of some coaching so they can see how it's done properly."