Rescue Maasai Girls from Female Genital Mutilation

We are pleased to report that a State-funded dormitory is almost completed near Carole’s current rescue center in Kilgoris, Transmara, Kenya. See photos below.

Thank you for your support. You have just helped us save the lives of 72 innocent Maasai girls!

As you may or may not have read from past reports, Carole’s current rescue center was deemed unsuitable to house so many girls last August. Fortunately we had an oversight team on site when the eviction notice arrived. Our director immediately took the matter to the Kenyan Senate.

Without the new dormitory, Kenyan health authorities would have forced Carole to send home all 72 girls where they would suffer female genital mutilation and forced marriage at age 13.

Carole’s girls will sleep in the new dormitory when they are home from boarding school.

We are headed down to Kenya next month to collaborate with the Norfolk Hotel of Nairobi (a Fairmont property), on another delivery of supplies to Carole’s girls. Last August the Norfolk donated bedding and clothing to the girls and Norfolk employees purchased and delivered a one year’s supply of Maxi Thins. (See photos below).

During our visit to Kilogoris we will analyze the route between Carole’s rescue center and the new dormitory for any potential security risk. We will install a safety tower and hire a security guard if one is needed. The route between Carole’s rescue center (where the girls will eat) and the dormitory must be a safe one.

We are currently raising funds for a study tent that can be utilized by Carole’s girls when they return for their breaks from boarding school. Currently the girls mill around doing nothing during their two months off. A study tent with a large work table and solar lighting will help maximize this free time. If funding allows it, we will finance the services of a tutor to create study programs for the girls.

Transparency Report from A.K., Global Roots Lead Transparency Officer in Kenya.

The girls we support at Carole’s rescue center are spread out in different schools, some owned and managed privately, others by local education boards and yet others by religious institutions or church missions, their fee structures differ.

Some schools charge almost double what the other schools demand in terms of school fees.

Carole's solution has been to calculate an average figure to represent the amount of schools fees due for each girl and then quote a lump sum based on this calculation.

This is a very awkward system to manage and it has led to lots of headaches for our transparency officers in Kenya.

We have therefore requested Carole to obtain the fee structure from each and every school, so that we can compile a more accurate data base. We were informed recently by Carole that she does have a fee structure for many of the schools, so the exercise shouldn't take to long.

The next step will be to ask her to list the names of all the girls and the respective schools they attend. This way we should have a more accurate and transparent means to calculate her funding needs.

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Thank you for your ongoing support of Carole’s girls!!!!

We must now raise funds for boarding school fees in the fall. That's 72 girls X $500. Lots of work to be done.

We are also raising funds to create a Maasai Girl's Garden -- a sustainable way to protect more Maasai girls from abduction from school. Female Genital Mutilation and forced marriage.

We are happy to report program success! All of the Maasai 72 are protected and in school.

Here is a letter of thanks from Carole, the local humanitarian we support. 

APPRECIATION TO GLOBAL ROOTS!

Hello and happy New Year!

I want to express my sincere gratitude to Global Roots for your generosity. I really appreciate your kindness and immense support you have given me towards the girl child education and the stopping of FGM. The girls have found peace of mind and psychological stability. Through your support, girls have food, clothing, bedding and most importantly school fees. Together with Cindy, we are very grateful to see girls going to school who otherwise would have vanished in early marriages and barbaric practices of FGM. I was very happy to see teams from Global Roots our home and to know the actual challenges we are facing. - thanks so much!

We had difficulties in paying school fees, food, and clothing. But through direct Global Roots aid, the lives of our girls have been greatly uplifted.

Finally, let's appreciate the entire global roots- the founders, the staff, the partners and their families for the great job they are doing for the needy in general and to Naserian in particular. Thanks so much and may God bless you abundantly!

Carole

Program update:

We visited Carole's rescue center twice this year to deliver food, clothing, bedding and a year's worth of female hygiene products (Maxi thin pads -- thanks Fairmont Hotels!) to Carole's girls. Most importantly, we helped to pay thousands of dollars worth of boarding school fees.

Side project:

During our last visit to Carole's home we hired a young man named Kip who runs a very small internet cafe in Kilgoris to visit Carole's home once a week so that her girls can Skype with girls their age or a little older in the USA. There are clubs sprouting up across the USA to support Carole including one in Portland, OR (Lincoln High school), a prep school in Baltimore and a college chapter at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Project data:

Global Roots remains the only outside support for Carole's 72 Maasai girls.

There are 49 girls going to boarding school and 23 going to local public schools. Our transparency manager Anthony Kigondu will deliver the funds in two weeks that will make it possible for all girls to attend boarding school immediately. 23 girls currently attend day school and sleep every night in Carole's small home.

We don't like the idea of any girl going to day school because of the danger of walking there unescorted on a daily basis. Furthermore, Carole's home isn't large enough to sleep so many girls.

The girls are currently attending Christ the King Academy, Shartuka Girls Secondary, Enoosaen Girls Secondary, Kilgoris Girls Secondary and Sosio Secondary School. 

Anthony Kigondu is preparing a detailed report that will give us a full biographical sketch on the life of each girl -- where she goes to school, her debt there and when the next boarding school fees are due.

Oversight and transparency trip:

Global Roots transparency officer Anthony Kigondu is scheduled to conduct an oversight visit to Carole's home in two weeks. Traveling with Anthony is Lucy Odhiambo, Global Roots human resources manager, Kenya. 

While Anthony studies Carole's books Lucy will sit down with each of the Maasai 72 to ask several important questions. The most important questions: are you currently going to school, what is the name of it and how long have you been going there. Lucy will also compile a personal history about each of the girl that we support so that we are dealing with names and personalities -- not just numbers.

Anthony and Lucy's report will help prove that all documentation received from Carole's camp (including 49 copies of boarding school fees -- see attached) is for real.

The future

As Carole's only outside support, we must continue to raise funds for Carole's girls. Fortunately, a dormitory is under construction and beds will be given to Carole's girls when they are home from boarding school. We are monitoriing the constructon of the dormitory. 

Global Roots is busy setting up a scholarship program for the Maasai 72. The first girl who ran away from home to protect herself from forced marriage and Female Genital Mutilation is about to graduate high school and has no funds for college. Please see Ann (she is holding the muppet) in the group shot. Ann is the leader of the Maasai 72. Without her, none of the others would have found a home!

Ann is one of the bravest girls in the world.

• proof of boarding school payment (PDF)
  
• we have 49 of these receipts -- transparency! (PDF)