What we do is to give them a home, sustenance, medical care, counseling, education and career skills to become independent young women.

Changing lives one girl at a time

Maasai Girls Rescue Center (MGRC) adopts young and at-risk Maasai girls, educate them, and teach them life sustaining skills for the betterment of their lives and their community.

MGRC began with one man rescuing one girl.

Our founder Rick Morro has saved the lives of children who were malnourished, diseased or injured since he arrived in Tanzania in 2012. First at a site in Longido, and now at Karatu, more than 50 girls are fed, sheltered, clothed and educated at local schools. They are nurtured with love and consistency by a caring staff and volunteers.

2021 launched opportunities to fulfill MGRC’s vision: developing a sustainable community to effect long-term change.

This social enterprise is unfolding now in the hills of Karatu, where a 15-acre site was purchased in January to build an ecoVillage. The girls are housed and fed at a leased former hotel less than a mile away pending completion.

The ecoVillage consists of an ecoFarm, ecoHomes for the girls and their house mothers, a preschool, a vocational training center, and ecoLodges for tourists. All revenue generated by the lodge will fund MGRC’s operation. The lodge also will provide career training, employment and commerce for the community and the girls.

Read about Nemoipo, our first student to pass Tanzania’s National Standard 7 test, a requirement for admission to secondary school. She is a role model for younger girls.

Girls who come to the center are either behind in their schooling or have never attended school. Some have significant medical problems and no way to get help. Their vision of their future is limited to what they see in their families and villages.

MGRC works to expand opportunities for the girls – and to broaden their vision of what they can do to make a living. With counseling and guidance, we empower them to make their own choices and assume responsibility for their decisions.

Girls and community members can get training at the ecoVillage in a variety of occupations related to the ecoLodge and ecoFarm on site — such as cooking, gardening, farming, skilled trades and tourism. Tourists staying at the lodge pay fees that cover MGRC’s operational costs so we are no longer dependent on donations.

MGRC also works with local schools, forging relationships with school officials and contributing support. After school, we provide tutoring.

It’s working! We started 2020 with six students in preschool, 24 in primary school and one in secondary school. We finished the school year with four in preschool, 45 in primary and one in secondary. Seventy-five percent of our girls are in the top 25 percent of their class.

Educational, social, emotional and career development will lead our girls to independent adulthood. This sustainable model is what makes MGRC different!