Projects and Priorities

Girls unable to attend government boarding high school face a future of FGM (female genital mutilation) and early forced multi-wife marriage. Village elders do not see these girls as valuable or ‘set aside’ like scholarship girls. Within months, they go from cherished playmates and daughters to ‘otherized’ commodities without body autonomy or right to self-determination. We take a 3-pronged approach to weaken - and hopefully eventually break - the cycle of FGM and forced early marriage.

 

• Encouraging primary school attendance. Key to this is feminine hygiene products, the lack of which keeps many girls homebound and behind in schoolwork until some simply quit.

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• Providing scholarships for uniforms and books for girls able to attend government boarding high schools, as well as tuition and rent for some women able to move on to college or other higher education.

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• Community outreach to parents and elders addressing the dangers of traditional FGM practice, the possibility of a brighter future for their girls, as well as encouraging empathy and kindness in early education.  

 

Y​ou can help provide a girl with hygiene products, school uniform, or scholarships. 

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Accessibility to clean water is key to the survival and health of the village of Enkusero Sampu.

In 2020, sponsored by Beachpoint Church CA USA, we successfully brought a reliable and more convenient source of clean water to the village by funding a water storage tank.   Water that was transported by hand 2 miles away can now be stored and accessed from the tank on the outskirts of the village.   

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The next step is survey, plan, and pipe running water to the village center, which would free many women from the chore of carrying water buckets to be used at home, as well as make semiarid subsistence farming a real possibility.  (Please see Semiarid Subsistence Farming box below).

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This is a large and expensive project but essential for the village to face the future head on.  We are currently searching for support from global funders as well as establishing a donor-supported water fund.  

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The village of Enkusero Sampu’s residents engage in the traditional Maasai pastoralist way of life, they keep livestock.  Traditionally, as pastoralists, the Maasai moved as the cattle grazing conditions changed.  There is no farming tradition in Enkusero Sampu, and in the semiarid climate without irrigation and specialized assistance subsistence farming is difficult. The residents purchase much of their food (basic foodstuffs such as corn meal) from the nearest towns.  The rocky, hilly terrain is challenging to pass on foot, making food and basic services difficult to access without an all-terrain vehicle.

We tackle food insecurity by addressing three priorities:

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• Transportation to nearby towns - we have purchased a motorbike for village use.  At times we have provided a rental vehicle for emergency food deliveries.  As daily rates are almost ten times the rates in America, our ultimate goal is to fund the purchase of a used all-terrain vehicle for village use.  

• Emergency fund to purchase food when times get tough.

• Creating the possibility of semiarid subsistence farming capability (Please see box below).

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Food and water are bare necessities that the residents of Enkusero Sampu do not take for granted. 

• $1300 purchases another motorbike for village use - an alternate lifeline for family and medical emergencies, food procurement, entrepreneurial support. 

• $10,000 would purchase a used all-terrain vehicle for village use, significantly adding to the ability of residents to travel to town as well transportation of cargo, food, building supplies to the village. 

• Any amount to the emergency food fund would help families eat in these desperate times. 

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If you would like to help provide food security for the village residents, please click here.

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The only primary school in the region (currently serving 120 students) is staffed with dedicated teachers and a headmistress committed to providing a practical and equal opportunity education to all students.  Unfortunately the school has very little in material supplies.  Some children have bookbags that have been donated but none have any books to put in them.  The uniforms - one per child and worn every school day - were donated by Uniforms for Hope in 2020, but are now showing considerable wear.  The need is great.

• No books

• No desks 

• Few blackboards

• Lack of paper, pencils, chalk

• School uniforms 

• No school meals

• No running water

• No sports equipment or art supplies

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We ship supplies to the village every 4-6 months and have begun to ship books to build a school library. 

Please join us - a little can change a lot. 

• $10 -ships a book.

• $25 - purchases and ship a soccer ball and air pump. 

• $50 - supplies a class with paper and pencils for a year.

• $100 - purchases fabric for uniforms for 10 children.

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Traditional Maasai culture is pastoralist.  Their economy is based on cattle and sheep, which is under the ownership and control of men.  But the village of Enkusero Sampu is full of enterprising women who are eager to enter the economy with their own small businesses. Young, old, single, and married with children - these women wish to provide for their family's basic needs as well as covering their children's and sometimes their own education costs. 

• For $1000 a year, two women could support their families for a year by purchasing staples from the nearby town at wholesale and start up a grocery kiosk in the local market. 

• For $300, two women could use their manual sewing machines to purchased fabric and produce affordable clothing for the village at minimal cost - and double the initial investment to support their family and themselves. 

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Click here if you are interested in helping women who want to help themselves. 

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With water having been brought to a useable proximity, the village can now establish a community center where farming techniques can be learned and shared - ultimately with the produce of the community farm.

A 10-acre parcel of land central to the village has been purchased by Hope for the Future Africa Inc.  Next steps include obtaining transportation for supplies and purchasing and installing fencing (to keep out the giraffes!) 

The region's Ministry of Agriculture representative is on hand to assist and educate residents in the particular needs of the semiarid climate - bringing best practices in irrigation techniques and crop choices and making subsistence farming a viable project for the village.  A community farm would counteract food insecurity as well as create entrepreneurial opportunities. 

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Contribute to the community garden and help the village grow. First steps: Purchasing used all-terrain vehicle for transporting supplies.  Purchasing and installing fencing.

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