Empower Maasai Girls in Kenya

Dear Friends,

I cannot believe summer is already here.   The first half of the year has flown by and I am so proud of what MGEF has accomplished in the last 6 months.   

As we have been reminded this year, there is still an urgent need to support girl’s education among the Maasai in Kajiado, Kenya.  As mentioned in the Spring Update letter, MGEF took on 19 new students in early 2016 in need of rescue from either early marriage or poverty and successfully enrolled them in school.  During my March site visit trip to Kenya, I visited the schools and met many of the new girls.   At one of the schools, I learned of four more girls who would be sent home due to lack of school fees unless sponsors could immediately be found.  In consultation with Tracey Pyles, President of MGEF, we decided to rescue these young women and add them to our scholarship student roster.  In early June, Lucy Ntayia, Managing Director of the MGEF office in Kajiado Kenya, was deeply concerned about the fate of three new MGEF applicants and we thus also accepted them to our scholarship program.  Overall, we have added an unprecedented 26 new students since January 2016 and, with deep gratitude to our supporters, have found sponsors for all but five of the new scholars.  MGEF now supports 118 scholarship students, 42 in primary, 39 in secondary, 32 in post secondary and 5 pending post secondary as they await their exam scores.   

MGEF was delighted to bring Lucy Ntayia to Washington DC as our guest of honor at our 2^nd Annual Fundraiser held on June 3^rd.   This exciting event brought together many old and new supporters of MGEF who learned first-hand from Lucy of the continuing urgent need to promote girls education among the Maasai, through scholarships and community workshops.  We are thankful for our friends and supporters who worked so hard for this event and provided auction items.  Some of most special auction items were the beautiful Maasai jewelry handmade by the parents of MGEF’s students, which Lucy brought with her to DC. It was not only a delight for the guest at the event but also very important to the Maasai community to feel they were able to contribute to their daughters, granddaughters or sisters education. The fundraiser was a great success, resulting in donations to MGEFs general fund, which provides us with the ability to rescue girls in need, and sponsorships for three college students and two of the recently added new secondary school students. 

Lucy is an incredible spokesman for her country and for the Maasai.  She talked about the many successes of MGEF’s alumnae, of which she is one, and of the progress of the girls still in school.  She spoke of the incredible difference she has seen taken place over the decade she has been at MGEF in Kajiado and of the work still left to be done.  She expressed her love and respect for Barbara Shaw, MGEF’s Founder and President Tracey Pyles mother, explained how grateful she is to be able to help carry on Barbara’s mission to improve the literacy, health and economic well-being of Maasai women in Kenya and their families through education of girls and their communities. 

Our scholarship students in Kenya are in school until their summer break in August.  Many will go home to their families but some must stay at school during the break for fear of being forcibly married off or undergoing Female Genital Cutting (FGC) while at home.  During my March visit to schools, I realized that these girls have become family and fortunately the ones who cannot go home benefit from having their other MGEF sisters with them.  These strong bonds of sisterhood are evidence of how MGEF is making a positive difference in these girls’ lives, beyond providing them with a formal education, by promoting a safe place for a community of strong, educated, and self-reliant Maasai girls and women.

Thank you all for your support.   None of this would be possible if not for the generosity and help from all of you.

Heather McKay