Empower Maasai Girls in Kenya

Dear Friends,

The Maasai Girls Education Fund has had another incredible year! Here are just a few highlights of what your support has made possible in 2017. 

MGEF Scholarship Program:  MGEF sent 125 Maasai girls to school this year, and we celebrated an especially high graduation rate of 10 primary, 9 secondary and 2 post-secondary successful graduates!  MGEF scholar Caroline was admitted to medical school, and our first doctor, "Dr. Gloria” became the first female Maasai physician to practice medicine in the town of Kajiado. Two new university graduates have joined an ever-growing group of vocal, active MGEF alumnae, with degrees in Education and Business. And one exceptional but still unsponsored student, Susan, has just been accepted to the University of Nairobi Bachelor of Science Program in Agriculture. 

MGEF Life Skills Workshops: MGEF held 14 Life Skills Workshops (LSWs) for boys and girls in 2017, and another eight for elders and chiefs, reaching more than 13,000 Maasai to date in remote areas of Kenya where the Maasai culture is deeply embedded in old traditions. LSWs address the social customs and cultural beliefs that prevent Maasai girls from getting an education, and provide detailed information to help boys and girls make better life decisions that will reduce early marriage, teen pregnancy, the practice of female genital cutting and the spread of HIV. These workshops not only increase enrollment and success rates of Maasai girls in school, they allow us to glean valuable information so that we can debunk myths meant to control girls' behavior and prevent them from pursuing an education. In a workshop in Magadi, for example, the girls revealed that they had been taught that they would be become seriously ill if they did not engage in sexual activity.

The Lifeskills Workshops also deepen MGEF's presence in the community, enhance ongoing family and community support for education, and allow us to meet new determined young girls who are desperate for the opportunity to go to school. One young Maasai girl we met, for example, was attending Class 8 (primary school’s highest grade) for the third year in a row. She loves school and is ready to move on to secondary school, but simply does not have the financial means to attend the higher, costlier grade. This girl deserves a scholarship from MGEF! But we need new sponsors so that we can add girls like her to the MGEF Scholarship Program.  

MGEF Women's Business Training: MGEF conducted our tenth round of Women’s Business Training (WBT) Workshops this year. These workshops help rural Maasai women with little or no education start and sustain small businesses and become self-sufficient. We teach them how to develop viable business plans and provide them seed money to start up their ventures.  Their progress is monitored through a series of follow-up meetings.  Our Womens Business Training program has launched 300 women-owned businesses since 2010 and 279 are still going strong – a 93% success rate!

Despite this being a difficult year in Kenya, with drought, doctors’ and nurses’ strikes, and post-election political tensions, our students continue to persevere, and our workshops continue to reach those most in need. To send a girl to school, to start an illiterate woman in her own business, or to save a girl from the fate of early marriage and a life of physical labor is worth every dime and every hour MGEF has committed. These educated girls and empowered women are becoming strong female leaders of the Maasai tribe, impacting their community and all of Kenya. MGEF is proud of our accomplishments this past year. We have created a model that is working -- a model that integrates the Maasai community in full partnership. None of this would be possible without the dedication of Maasai women and men in Kenya. Nor would it be possible without the generous support of our many volunteers and donors. 

With gratitude and best wishes for the new year,