Maasai Girls Fund

Our goal is the elimination of female cutting and forced child marriage in one rural Maasai community, by 1. sending girls to the safety of school where they learn basic skills, and are treated as individuals with inherent dignity, and 2 .by improving the harshest basic living conditions of their home village.

Our strategy is to influence local chiefs and village elders to end female cutting and child marriage by offering to pay school fees for the all girls of their village, while helpingto relieve worst aspects of the oppressive poverty many Maasai live with. We do this through:

A. OPEN DISCUSSION and friendly connection. We Initiated sensitive, respectful and candid discussions with Chief Kelembu and Moses Saruni focusing on female cutting and child marriage and the long-term harm of those practices. These discussions expanded all of our understanding about the practices.

B. Arranging FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS with anti-fgm (female genital mutilation) advocates. Ex. We arranged meetings between Chief Kelembu, Moses Saruni, and chief Joseph Ole Tipanko, leader of a community of 5000 Maasai located several hours away from En'gong Narok. Tipanko had been educated by his wife about the realities and harm of female cutting, and as a result had become an advocate for their elimination. He inspired the En'Gong Narok leaders to change practices be sharing strategies he used in his community to reduce these practices, such as speaking directly to girls, using s schools to assure their safety, and addressing the inevitable resistance that often comes from change.

C. CONSISTENT COMMUNICATION We have been in frequent touch with Kelembu and Saruni, for several years, speaking several times weekly, by Skype, and WhatsApp. In addition, we have arranged to have representatives from the US to visit the village each year to assess our progress. We traveled there and spent a week at the village in January 2019.

D. FUND-RAISING We also work to grow our list of donors who are committed to our goals sustaining a particular girl through school. We have several, so far.

E. INCLUSION and TEAM work in all planning and projects. For example, the women of the village send us hand-made beadwork to sell in support their daughter's schooling.

F. Our local team documents all fund activity with photos and other records, allowing us to thoroughly record of our activity in the village.

Our motto could be: Doing a lot with a little. Our organization consists of 3 small, dedicated teams, working together - one in the US and two in Africa. Our teams are comprised of a program director and volunteers who are deeply committed to the goal. Our fourth capability comes from the donors without whom we could not achieve our goals.

Our US team includes a board of 8 individuals including a master level social worker, successful author, actor, local Rotarian members, and a former Mrs. Kenya.

The African team includes village chief, Benson Kelembu, and Moses Saruni, a young man who was born in the village, and formerly taught pre-K classes there. He works as an elephant conservationist and researcher, near the village. He receives a small stipend and money for transportation as he oversees and serves as an intermediary between the girls, and their schools, and helps plans and execute village infrastructure projects.

ACCOMPLISHED SO FAR: Our connection to the people of rural N'Gong Narok has been transformative for all concerned, villagers to donors. Female cutting and forced child marriages no longer occur in the village, and all school age girls now can become literate and knowledgable, as respected students. Home village improvements made with assistance from the fund have lessened extreme need. Since 2017, in addition to paying school fees for girls, we have improved life in N'Gong Narok by working with local leadership.
From 2017, to 2021:
1. installed 10,000 liter tank of clean water in village,
2. paid for construction of 2 animal troughs,
3. rented farmland and provided seeds for growing that have eased food insecurity,
4. provided the village with small solar lights that have stopped nighttime incursions by lions and hyenas
6. provided samples of solar cooker for women to use to lessen the need for cooking fires and cutting vegetation
7. created a women owned herd of goats for the single women and widows
8. provided reusable sanitary pad kits and sex education program for students
9. provided special COVID learning materials and sanitary items
10. Most recently, we have connected the current 4 Maasai high school girls with a group of New Jersey students who are in the process of writing letters of encouragement.

Note: In 2019, we expanded by adding another Maasai village, Natamuse, for which we sponsor 11 girls as students, and have provided a cistern to collect rain water