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Isabel Mestres: Same Place. Same People. Grown Eyes. New Mission

Isabel Mestres/LinkedIn

Jul 22, 2025, 09:59

Isabel Mestres: Same Place. Same People. Grown Eyes. New Mission

Isabel Mestres, CEO of the City Cancer Challenge (C/Can), shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Four years ago, after a trip to Kenya, my husband and I wrote a letter to help our kids, then just 6 and 8, remember what they had experienced.

They were discovering the world, full of questions learning what it means to truly connect with people who live differently from us.

That’s when we met William Kikanae, Líder Masái, a visionary Maasai leader who showed us not just the beauty of their land, but the power of local, community-led change.

William built a safari camp 100% run by the Maasai, something rare in a region where most camps are foreign-owned, despite sitting on Maasai land. The camp’s income sustains a school (next door) for nearly 300 children, many of them girls. Thanks to partnerships in ethical fashion, over 5,000 women now earn a living. All of this built with the support of a beatiful woman Rosa Escandell, from within. Respecting tradition, while gently challenging it, not easy!

That trip changed us. We left with full hearts and a lasting friendship.

I could share hundreds of photos, but this one says it all: my daughter and William, both in tears on our last day.

Since then, William and his family have become family. He’s visited us in Barcelona, and we’ve continued working together to support his mission.

And now four years later, we were back.
Same place. Same people. Grown eyes. New mission.

Before I share what this second trip meant to us, I want to share the original letter, because it still captures everything I believe in: about travel, parenting, and what truly matters.

A second letter to my kids is on the cook. Because the journey didn’t end, it just keeps getting better.

Please take a moment to visit. And feel free to reach out to me if you’d like to learn more and offer this same life-changing gift to yourself and your love ones.”

Isabel Mestres: Same Place. Same People. Grown Eyes. New Mission