What are you good at, and what will you do with it?

Most of us were asked that question at some point. Many of the girls at Maasai Girls Rescue Center in Karatu are hearing it for the first time. This year, a Swiss-based teacher named Daniela Neiss gave them a way to keep asking it every week.

Two decades of helping young people find their way

Daniela is a German national who lives in Switzerland. For about 20 years she has taught at the Zentrum für Brückenangebote in Basel. The school serves young people of 15 and 16 who have finished secondary school but won’t go on to university. Her job isn’t to teach one trade. It’s to help each student find the interests and strengths that are sometimes hidden, so they can choose a career they will succeed in and enjoy. “It is rewarding,” she says, “and when it is not rewarding, it is fun.”

A sabbatical, a new question, and an introduction

When Daniela earned a sabbatical, she spent it in Tanzania. She had trained as a doula, and she wanted to see what life might have looked like in another career. She supported mothers and newborns in hospitals in Arusha and Karatu. Along the way she discovered two things.

First, she found she is a teacher at heart. Before long she was training local clinicians. Second, she met Theresia “Teddie” Victor Mollel, founder of the Maasai Women’s Health Organization. Teddie saw that Daniela’s gift for building young people’s confidence could matter to the girls at MGRC.

“Each day another door opened”

After meeting founder Rick Morro and spending time with the girls, Daniela noticed something striking. The questions and doubts the girls carried were much like those of her students in Switzerland, even though the circumstances and consequences are vastly different.

Over three weeks, spending three days a week at the Maasai ecoVillage, she adapted the methods she has used for years. With girls of 13 and 14, she focused on confidence. With girls of 15 and 16, she helped them recognize their talents and interests. With the oldest girls, she worked on professionalism: how you present yourself, how you behave at work, and how you interact with others. She also spent time with MGRC’s teachers, who were learning this approach for the first time too.

A tool built to last

When Daniela returned to Switzerland, the girls didn’t want the conversations to end, and neither did she. Questions about self-awareness, responsibility, and choosing a path aren’t usually part of a school day, anywhere in the world. They take time and practice to take root. So, Daniela designed a tool to keep them going. A journal of sorts. A Life Skills Journal.

The weekly journal gives each girl the same simple page every Saturday. She uses it in a short coaching conversation with her social worker or mentor. She rates her own effort and independence, and she names what went well in school and what is still hard. She checks off the life skills she practiced, such as keeping a promise, solving a problem, or admitting a mistake. She also connects the week to her future profession and sets one clear goal for the next week.

Once a month, each girl asks a teacher, House Mother, or farm or lodge staff member for honest feedback. Daniela calls this the “Monthly Mirror.” At the back of the journal are Achievement Certificates. They aren’t handed out automatically. Each one records a real step forward, such as interviewing a lodge guest or leading an activity.

The journal also coaches the adults. Its questions guide staff through a good conversation: asking for examples, valuing effort as well as results, and helping a girl name a realistic next step. It builds Tanzanian staff capacity week by week, one Saturday at a time.

Still teaching, from 6,000 kilometers away

Daniela serves as a skilled, invited volunteer teacher. She gives her expertise pro bono, which helps protect MGRC’s promise that 100% of public donations go to the care of the girls. She stays in touch through regular WhatsApp calls. She is even helping the girls grow comfortable on camera, a skill they’ll use in this year’s holiday campaign. She plans to return to Tanzania in early 2027 to see how the journals are working.

“I believe the type of work I do, when taught early on, can make a difference,” she says.

Why this matters this holiday season

Daniela’s work shows what MGRC’s Education Fund is really about. Rescue is the beginning, not the product. A girl becomes independent when she has school, skills, and the confidence to choose her own path.

This holiday season, MGRC’s Education Campaign will build on what Daniela started. It will focus on tuition, vocational training, life skills, the computer lab, and a larger Learn & Earn, the program where 52 girls ran real teams during last June’s 30-day pilot.

Her education is her choice. Watch for our holiday Education Campaign, launching soon, where you’ll hear from some of the girls in their own words. As always, 100% of public donations go to the care of the girls.