Rescue Maasai Girls from Female Genital Mutilation

Summary

We are raising funds to cover the boarding school costs for 72 Maasai girls who ran away from home to avoid Female Genital Mutilation and early marriage. Earlier this year we sent a team to build the girls a vegetable garden next to their temporary rescue center. During our visit we learned that boarding school fees are more important. If we don't come up with the funds, the Kenyan gov will order the girls to be sent home because their current rescue center is too small to house so many girls.

$28,000
total goal

$2,424
remaining

54
donors

2
monthly donors

3
years active

Challenge

Female genital mutilation (FGM) includes procedures that intentionally alter female genital organs for non-medical reasons and is a severe violation of the human rights of girls and women. In Africa, an estimated 92 million girls 10 years old and above have undergone FGM. Today, 93% of Maasai girls are mutilated. While many girls bleed to death after the procedure, those that survive FGM are subsequently sold by their parents into early marriages.

Solution

We must first pay the boarding school fees for the 72 girls we protect before we plant a vegetable garden. Eventually, the vegetables from our first Maasai Girl's Garden will be taken home by the girls who grow them and presented to their parents as a weekly family gift. Parents who take part in this program (ten years of free produce!) must agree to keep their daughters in school, not subject them to female genital mutilation (FGM) and not sell them into marriage at 13

Long-Term Impact

If no longer forced into FGM or sold into early marriages, young Maasai girls could become educated activists in their community and challenge the traditions that continue to violate their human rights. The Global Roots' Girls Garden will allow Maasai girls the chance to become knowledgable, healthy young women with the potential to change the future for girls in Kenya.