Before receiving a sponsorship, each Maasai girl is interviewed by MEET staff members in Kenya to assess their intent, dedication, & focus to pursue an education.
Recent MEET Graduates
Sanaipei
Sanaipei has finished a computer skills program and is currently taking classes in tourism.
Konana Grace
Grace is making plans to continue her education.
Antonella
Antonella wants to attend plumbing school in the near future.
Beatrice
Beatrice plans to attend cosmetology school.
Halima
Halima plans to attend a computer skills program.
Eunice
Eunice plans to attend a computer skills program.
Our Very Own Liz is Doing GREAT Things
MEET Kenya team member Liz Silakan recently spoke at the UN in Geneva about indigenous people & their fight for equality and human rights.
She later spoke throughout Germany about the struggles Maasai women & girls face regarding Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) & being able to attend school. She also took the opportunity to tell others about what MEET is doing to support Maasai girls.
MEET feels very lucky to have such an empowered woman helping our girls in Kenya. She provides them with a very positive role model.
Mali Ole Kaunga's Visit to the PNW
MEET Founder & President Gina Rodgers recently had the opportunity to meet with Mali Ole Kaunga on his visit to the Pacific Northwest.
Mali founded & leads the Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) IMPACT (Indigenous Movement for Peace Advancement & Conflict Transformation). He was in the Seattle area working with the Quinault Indian Nation.
Gina & Mali discussed ways to help MEET improve donations & how IMPACT will provide more services to Maasai girls in Kenya.
He hopes to add an additional person at the IMPACT office who will work directly with MEET on raising funds in Kenya & provide the girls with more direct support.
MEET board members welcome this new idea & look forward to adding to our MEET Kenya team.
Currently, Liz Silakan is the only person working with MEET in the IMPACT office.
As MEET sponsors more girls, more local help is needed.
It is always rewarding when the US & Kenya MEET teams are able to meet in person.
Hopefully this will happen more often in the future.
MEET currently sponsors 13 girls to attend school.
To date, MEET’s support has enabled three girls to complete their secondary education.
The future looks bright & MEET hopes to provide even more girls with school sponsorships.
Congratulations
We Congratulate our Newest MEET Graduate
This Maasai girl stood strong during the school closures in 2020 because of COVID and kept studying. Even when Kenya forced students to attend school with few breaks or vacations for two years she did not give up. She plans to attend classes this fall to develop her computer skills.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Why this year is so Important?
Among the world’s best bargains is helping an underprivileged Maasai girl go to school and receive the transformative power from an education.
Supporting education is particularly important in 2021 because the coronavirus pandemic forced millions of girls to return home when schools were closed last March. The United Nations estimates the pandemic may push 13 million girls into a child marriage.
Even in the Laikipia area around Nanyuki, Kenya many young Maasai girls had to choose between being hungry or marring an older man. This is illegal, but the government in Kenya is unable to stop this practice under the the current dire conditions.
A girl’s only chance to survive this disaster is to attend school, but this is not easy. All secondary schools require a $400-500 yearly tuition fee to cover the cost of educational and boarding costs. This is simply impossible for many Maasai, and especially the girls who no longer have a father or loss both parents. The only jobs available pay only a few dollars each week.
Maasai Education and Empowerment Today (MEET) is excited to have the funds to support 12 girls for 2021, but we wish we could support more.
Below you can read a letter written recently by a young woman that MEET supports. You will read in her own words the conditions that she and others are currently living under.
Source: Nicholas Kristof from the New York Times, “ Choose a Gift Than Changes Lives” November 22, 2020
Results of COVID-19 on the Young Maasai Girls
COVID-19 has been a very difficult time in northern Kenya. Families have struggled to find ways to feed their themselves. This has forced some parents to force their daughters into marriage with an older man who provides the family with a large dowery in animals. This is illegal in Kenya, but hard to maintain and report. Young brides are forced undergo FGM (cutting) before marriage which is painful and will make child birth difficult. A few do not survive this procedure.
Thankfully all 10 girls that MEET supports will return to school this January. The need is high and we would like to help more girls. If you can help, please donate any amount this holiday season. This is a gift that will never stop giving.
I recently heard the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Carmen Yulin Cruz say, “Help a child, and you touch everyone they touch.”
This is very true for our Maasai girls. They are the shinning hope to a better future for their family.
To learn more about what is happening in Kenya. Read the following article about the Samburu in Kenya. The photos are incredible. This tribe is near Laikipia where our 10 girls live. The Samburu and Maasai share the same language Maa, and customs.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/10/opinion/kenya-covid-child-marriage.html?searchResultPosition=1
COVID 19 & the Maasai in Lakipia
Thankfully, currently Kenya's Lakipia region does not have any COVID 19. To help prevent the virus, the Kenyan government closed all schools & livestock markets in the region.
Unfortunately, these closures caused a new problem for the Maasai as their rural communities face possible hunger & starvation.
Forced Early Marriages
Child bride.
A few weeks ago I looked at my Instagram feed & came across the above image.
I immediately knew the people were from the Samburu tribe who are closely related to the Maasai. They share the same tribal language (Maa) along with many of the same customs.
The picture was taken by National Geographic photographer, Lynn Johnson.
I requested her permission to use her photograph for this blog post which she graciously allowed.
Here is what Lynn wrote to accompany her photo.
The November issue of National Geographic magazine discusses the state of women in the world today. Many women are rising up, fighting back, and succeeding in business and science. But this child, married at 13 years old, will remain invisible most of her life. She is flanked by her new husband and his best man. According to UNICEF, worldwide, one in three girls are married before the age of 15.
Just like the Samburu, early marriage among the rural Maasai is a serious problem faced by many girls.
They fear their parents will force them into an early marriage to a man who is anywhere from 10 to 40 years older than them.
Fathers and sometimes uncles receive a large dowery of cows and goats for these arranged marriages.
If it hasn’t happened yet, the husband will also demand the girl to undergo FGM (female genital mutilation).
If you have ever wondered how you might help one of these girls avoid this fate, the best way is supporting a charity that helps girls get an eduction.
MEET is exactly such an organization!
All the young women who I met in Kenya who finished secondary school were able to choose who they married; but also, when they married. (see my previous blog post below)
Helping a young girl avoid early marriage & continue their schooling will not only improve her overall life; but also, greatly benefit her future family’s well being.
Sincerely, Gina Rodgers - MEET President