Six years ago I volunteered at the Tasaru Girls Rescue Centre in Narok, Kenya. Now, I administer a college fund for girls from Tasaru so that they can develop job skills and find employment once they leave the center after high school in Kenya. Thanks for coming to my blog. I hope you learn alot about Maasai girls & the challenges they face and HOW YOU CAN HELP THEM after they leave the rescue centre!
mewalker99@yahoo.com
The rescue centre is home to Maasai girls who have been rescued from female genital mutilation and forced childhood marriage. They live at the center during holiday periods from their boarding schools where they are sent through secondary school.
Tasaru is located in Narok, Kenya about three hours west of Nairobi on the road to Maasai Mara. It was built in 2002 with funding from the UNFPA.
LOOK WHO'S HELPING...
Rekero, a safari camp in Maasai Mara, Kenya provides free computer training to the Maasai people. Including 19 girls, to date, from Tasaru!
Filmmaker Marvi Lacar provided her documentary about Tasaru for a fundraiser for the college fund. Available on Amazon.
MOUNTAIN HARDWEAR Sale in Steamboat Springs, CO benefitted Tasaru.
The Physicians for Human Rights chapter at UT Health Science Center San Antonio hosted a presentation from Mary Walker
Provided free gelato at 4th Annual Garage Sale Benefit in Steamboat Springs
Provided soup/salad for Valentine Fundraiser
The Women of Hitchcock Presbyterian Church, in Scarsdale, NY raised funds to put Janet Pere through teachers college in Kenya
Participated in Valentine's Fundraiser 2011
Invites Mary to speak every year and has donated money for a water tank at the centre
Ghost Ranch Saloon in Steamboat Springs, CO helped a girl from Tasaru get a bicycle
THE NADAS bought a bike for a rescued girl!
WORLD BICYCLE RELIEF helps Maasai girls learn to ride bikes!
A Maasai Girl and Female Genital Mutilation
Risk of HIV/AIDs, tetanus, and other infections at the time of the "cut".
Risk of death at the time of circumcision due to blood loss and shock.
Removal of clitoris and inner &outer labia.
Removal from school at the age of 8-9 yrs. to be married off to a Maasai man in his 40s-50s.
Lifelong psychological trauma.
Chronic UTIs after circumcision
Childbirth can be life threatening due to scarring after being circumcised.
A lifetime of hauling water and firewood & bearing children.
INVEST IN A GIRL, SHE WILL DO THE REST
The Tasaru Girls Rescue Centre in Narok, Kenya provides a safehouse and education thru secondary school for Maasai girls rescued from female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced childhood marriage.
If these girls can get proper job training, they will find sustainable employment in Kenya, and return to their communities to provide ongoing economic benefit to their families. As teachers, nurses, lawyers, or in other respected professions these young women will help bring an end to FGM and forced childhood marriage among the Maasai people.
A young Maasai girl has a ONE TIME value to her family when sold off in marriage. If this same girl can go to school, develop a job skill, and have an economic livelihood she will instead provide an ONGOING AND LONGTERM economic benefit to her family.
HERE IS HOW YOU CAN HELP THIS GIRL WITH HER EDUCATION and JOB TRAINING...
A donation of the following amount pays one girl's:
$10: MEDICAL EXAM required prior to college admission. $20: TOILETRIES for one term of college. $100: TRANSPORTATION, MEDICAL EXPENSES. $100: PERSONAL ITEMS needed when leave the center. $250: TEXTBOOKS for two-year teachers college program. $750: SCHOOL TUITION FEES for one year of teachers college.
Make a difference! Support a rescued girl.
FOR MORE INFORMATION and how to make a donation to assist a girl, please contact Mary at mewalker99@yahoo.com.
Mary with Kiserian and Sein at Tasaru
HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP- mewalker99@yahoo.com
Invite Mary to speak about Tasaru at a gathering at your home, church, workplace.
Share this website with someone who is interested in joining the fight to end female genital mutilation and forced childhood marriage.
Ask your friends and family to donate to the college fund in lieu of gifts to you.
Instead of gifts to friends/ family for xmas, birthdays, weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs- make a donation to the college fund in their name.
Tell someone influential and philanthropic about the college fund. Do you or someone you know serve on the board of a charitable cause that would entertain a funding request from this fund?
Organize a group of friends or coworkers to sponsor a girl's college education.
If you have successful grantwriting experience - share your skill with me.
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