Tribal Marriage & Education Sponsor Project

In the Maasai Tribal culture, girls are sold at the local market each week with the cows and the goats. Once a girl hits puberty and has not already been “betrothed” to a man, she becomes a liability to her family so she is sold into marriage. Once a girl is married, by law in Tanzania, she is no longer allowed to attend school.

 

Traditionally, a man approaches a family with a promise to marry their unborn daughter. This provides “insurance” to the family and a dowry is paid usually by providing cows or goats. When the child reaches puberty, she is then married and becomes part of his family. They are a Polygamous culture. A man takes as many wives as he can financially afford. A rich man has many wives. We realise that respecting beliefs is vital to preserving a culture and its identity. However in some poorer and more dire situations, tradition is not observed and the child is betrothed for beer.

 

In January 2019 when our director, Tracy Pepper was in Africa she was alerted of the urgency of 16 girls about to be sold into early childhood marriage. There was a war in the Maasai village between the men and the women. The women were fighting to save their daughters, some as young as 10 years old, pleading with their husbands to let the girls stay in school. But the men refused, saying that school was unaffordable and they barely had enough food to feed the livestock. This is a dire situation.

 

Working with the Nuns of Kisekabaha, we managed to enrol the girls into local Secondary Schools on the promise that we would find the funding to pay for their tuition. These girls have studied hard and they are desperate to continue their education. They have dreams to become doctors, nurses, business owners. They are the future.

 

Education offers choice, and we want to see girls empower themselves. Ultimately, it’s about being able to chose the path we want. Many of these girls may decide to return to their village and help their community. If we don’t support them, they won’t get this chance.

 

If you’d like to sponsor one of our Maasai girls please contact us.