Maasai Culture Archives | Maasai Girls Rescue Center

portrait of Coco, MGRC cultural center guide

Preserving tradition: Welcoming our new Maasai Cultural Guide

November 15, 2024 Community and Culture, ecoVillage, Maasai Culture

We’re excited to announce a special addition to our community: a talented Maasai bead maker and cultural language teacher! Affectionately known as “Coco,” or grandmother, will play an important role in our newly established Maasai Cultural Center, a significant addition to our ecoLodge. This exciting project is designed to provide…...

Growing and Learning: Recent Activities at MGRC

September 19, 2024 Education, Growth and Reflection, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture

Soccer Success and Community Engagement MGRC recently hosted two exciting soccer matches, where our girls competed against local children’s centers. The girls had a blast participating in the games, thanks to the coaching of our dedicated employees, Ernest and Diana. Beyond soccer, they also enjoy other sports like netball and…...

Suzana and Esupat practicing for a cultural event.

Bridging Maasai tradition and tomorrow

August 3, 2024 Community and Culture, ecoVillage, Maasai Culture, Maasai Girls

The mission of MGRC is to rescue and transform the lives of at-risk Maasai girls. There are real problems for girls in Maasai communities such as forced marriage, FGM and extreme poverty. But there are beautiful and important aspects of our girls’ heritage that we don’t want them to lose…...

Neema’s story – A holiday reflection

December 20, 2023 Community and Culture, Maasai Culture, Maasai Girls

As Christmas approaches, we find ourselves reflecting on stories that remind us of the power of love, compassion, and the incredible impact a single act of kindness can have on someone’s life. One such story is that of Neema, an 18-year-old girl who came to MGRC in 2021. Neema’s history…...

Catching up with the MGRC girls

September 9, 2022 Community and Culture, ecoVillage, Guest Posts, Maasai Culture

Time is moving quickly in Tanzania, and somehow two months have passed since my last journal entry! But so many great things are happening here that I'm excited to tell you about....

An entrepreneurial approach transforming African aid

July 2, 2022 Community and Culture, ecoFarm, ecoVillage, Maasai Culture, Sustainability

Generous people around the world (with the U.S. being the largest donor) provide billions in aid to countries and causes in Sub-Saharan Africa. Much of that aid fails to effectively address long-term problems, and in many cases creates negative unintended consequences....

Baby Nosim

June 29, 2022 Community and Culture, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture

Recently, I received a call from a local social worker about a mother who had died in childbirth. He asked if we could help because the father was unable to care for the baby....

Momoi (center holding microphone) was able to use her language skills to translate her friends' testimonies at the Community Celebration. She speaks Maa, Swahili and English.

New career center expands options for MGRC girls’ future

June 15, 2022 Community and Culture, ecoVillage, Education, Education and Sustainability, Maasai Culture, Sustainability

If you ever wondered how much a life can be transformed with loving intervention by caring strangers, consider the remarkable journey of Momoi....

Challenges are what make life interesting

May 20, 2022 ecoFarm, ecoVillage, Growth and Reflection, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture

I am thrilled to share with you that the security wall is complete! Thank you to everyone who generously contributed to this crucial first step towards completing the ecoVillage....

Education is key at MGRC

April 24, 2022 ecoVillage, Education, Education and Sustainability, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture

Rainy season has begun in Tanzania, and we are already seeing new growth on the fruit trees we planted last fall. The girls are also growing and changing on what seems like a daily basis....

Social sustainability starts with well-being

February 18, 2022 Education and Sustainability, Guest Posts, Maasai Culture, Sustainability, Volunteering

I met Mary and her older sister Momoi in an impoverished area near the Kenyan border, where their grandmother was raising them because their parents were too poor to care for them....

Stitching our way toward economic sustainability

February 6, 2022 Community and Culture, ecoVillage, Education, Maasai Culture, Sustainability, Volunteering

Sayuni came to Maasai Girls Rescue Center three years ago when she was 10. Her mother brought her, saying she could no longer support her child. Then the mother left and hasn’t been back. ...

A Grassroots Alternative to Failed African Aid

December 11, 2021 Community and Culture, ecoFarm, ecoVillage, Maasai Culture, Sustainability

Generous people around the world (with the US being the largest donor) provide billions in aid to countries and causes in Sub-Saharan Africa....

Moving beyond survival: Namelock’s story

November 10, 2021 Community and Culture, Education, Maasai Culture

In 2014, before MGRC was founded, the village chief of where I was living asked me to help a girl with skeletal fluorosis, a condition that caused deformation of her legs....

Kindness, Life, Hope

November 1, 2021 Community and Culture, ecoFarm, ecoVillage, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture

It’s been a few weeks since I returned from the states and wrote a journal entry. Karatu continues to be good to MGRC....

Why support MGRC’s ecovillage?

September 1, 2021 Community and Culture, ecoVillage, Maasai Culture, Sustainability

The Maasai Girls Rescue Center’s ecoVillage is founded on the premise that the only lasting way to help people is to teach them how to help themselves....

Africa captured my heart

July 7, 2021 Community and Culture, Guest Posts, Maasai Culture, Volunteering

In the fall of 2019 Africa captured my heart. My Dad and I were fortunate enough to travel to Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, a trip we had been dreaming of for more than a decade....

Get back to where you once belonged

May 25, 2021 Community and Culture, Guest Posts, Maasai Culture, Volunteering

Guest post by Makayla Henwood Two years ago, I had the life-changing experience of volunteering at the Maasai Girls Rescue Center, which was founded by my grandfather, Rick Morro. Now I get to go back! I graduate this month from Apache Junction High School east of Phoenix, Arizona. Next month I…...

More than a safari

January 17, 2021 Community and Culture, Education, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture

MGRC is located within reasonable driving distance to several world famous National Parks. While people on the other side of the globe dream of one day visiting these amazing places, the girls here at the center never felt like this was an obtainable ambition for them. Even though the admission for…...

Nemoipo’s Continuing Education Journey

December 5, 2020 Education, Education and Sustainability, Maasai Culture

Before Nemoipo joined MGRC, she would walk six kilometers to school, one-way. Often her primary intention for attending class was to receive a single meal — a bowl of porridge — that was provided at the school most days. Her family was very poor, and sometimes there simply was not…...

Upendo’s fight for her education: Overcoming oppression and handicaps

November 13, 2020 Education, Education and Sustainability, Maasai Culture

Upendo came into our lives several years ago, when one of my coordinators told me about an albino girl who lived with her family in a small boma about 3 hours from the center. Being albino is extremely dangerous here. There is a belief among witch doctors that the body…...

To our “Prayer Warriors”

September 23, 2020 Journal Entries, Maasai Culture

With God nothing will be impossible. Luke 1:37 NKJV We are truly blessed at MGRC to have prayers coming from all around the world. Some of our girls are facing severe challenges or are in situations that could use extra support and encouragement. After we wrote about Bahati’s progress with…...

How MGRC helps to curb starvation

November 13, 2019 Community and Culture, Education and Sustainability, Maasai Culture, Sustainability

Many of the new girls that we take in at MGRC are suffering from starvation. Our waiting list is so long that I can only take in the most at-risk girls, so each case is extreme. This creates a unique challenge, because in order to accomplish our main goals of…...

How volunteering at MGRC impacted my daily life

October 15, 2019 Community and Culture, Guest Posts, Maasai Culture, Volunteering

MGRC’s founder, Rick Morro’s 16 year old granddaughter spent two unforgettable weeks volunteering at MGRC. These are her words on how the experience has changed her life. Now that I am home in Arizona and back to my usual routine of living a blessed life, I cannot stop thinking about…...

Life-changing experience, looking to the future, and my upcoming trip to the US

July 1, 2019 Community and Culture, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture

It is hard to believe that 2019 is half over. Many things have happened at MGRC, too many to list them all here. We now have 36 full time girls living at the Center, plus one girl who is here for protection during school break. She is not allowed to…...

Why I have to turn people away every week and how I plan to overcome it

April 19, 2019 Growth and Reflection, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture, Sustainability

It has been a very busy and interesting couple of weeks. MGRC is currently at capacity renting the LOOCIP hostel and facilities. The government brought four girls last week to us who they are protecting from forced marriage. Even though we are full, Sayuni who just had thyroid surgery is…...

Sayuni’s Story, Staying Busy & Planning for the Future

March 12, 2019 Community and Culture, Maasai Culture, Sustainability

I am behind in writing my blog. I could use the excuse that I have been extremely busy but there is always time to send information and keep people informed. It has been a very exciting year so far. We had several successful projects that will help our girls now…...

The New Beginning

July 2, 2018 Growth and Reflection, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture, Sustainability, The beginning of MGRC

The New Beginning The girls have just finished with a month-long school break. Each girl got a chance to visit with their families during the break. There was a few tears when some of the younger ones returned after being with their families. The girls all have adjusted to being…...

It is Just a Little Different

May 4, 2018 Growth and Reflection, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture, The beginning of MGRC

It it just a little different Well, it is just a little different. I have been here for over two years and I sometimes think I understand the differences in mine and the Tanzanian culture. If I learned anything, it is that I really don’t appreciate the real differences. I…...

Returned from Much Needed Vacation

April 5, 2018 Growth and Reflection, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture, The beginning of MGRC

Returned from much needed vacation I returned from a much needed vacation on the 3rd of April, a 30 day vacation in the States. It was great seeing family and friends. I was getting burned out with the constant grind of trying to help a people who have been conditioned…...

Challenges and new NGO partnership

February 6, 2017 Community and Culture, Growth and Reflection, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture

This week has been quite interesting. It had its share of highs and a few lows. Each day seems to present more challenges than the previous one. Perhaps I’m starting to feel tired or simply missing my family and friends. Despite having lived here for a while and believing that…...

A tough place to raise children

October 23, 2016 Community and Culture, Growth and Reflection, Journal Entries, Maasai Culture

It is the dry season in the area I am staying. It has only rained once in the last six months. The Maasai live off the cattle, goats and sheep they raise on their Bomas. Water is scarce, with a few run off dams still holding some water. This water…...