Our Story
Tareto Maa (meaning "Help for the Maasai") is a non-profit organisation in Kenya, East Africa, whose objective is to empower the local community while eradicating the tradition of female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriages within the Maasai people. The organization is located in Shartuka/Kilgoris, Transmara District.
Tareto Maa was founded as a community-based project in April 2009 by Gladys Naing'olai Mühlböck whose aim was to support the children of her community and especially to spare girls from FGM which she had undergone herself. Together with members of the local congregation Gladys Kiranto started to shelter orphans as well as girls who had to run away from home to escape FGM and forced marriage.
Tareto Maa's core activities
FGM: Refuge and Campaigns
Tareto Maa Refuge has been a basic pillar for our fight against FGM, as it makes the project visible and "real" for the community – as people put it: "You are not only talking, you are really doing something".
If a girl is in danger, she can ask Tareto Maa for help. The Tareto Maa team will then try to convince the parents not to have the girl cut. In Maasai culture it is mainly the father who decides about this issue. However, if a father / a family refuses and casts out their daughter, Tareto Maa admits her to the refuge.
In close cooperation with other local stakeholders, Tareto Maa has been running behaviour change campaigns and we have seen positive results during the years. Since an initial community decision to abandon FGM was reached in December 2012, the number's of girls undergoing FGM have dropped massively in the local area. Today we are proud to say that there no FGM practiced in the area where Tareto Maa operates. Now the task is to strengthen the communities, and help even more children/families in need and to spread our work to other communities. Our fight still continues because there are still some communities that practice FGM and It's our mission to help those girls and their communities.
Education
Tareto Maa opened the Naitawang Riverside Academy school so that both girls from the refuge and children (girls and boys) outside of the refuge could benefit from a better education on-site. We have expanded the classrooms to five but need eight in total. Our aim would be to add one classroom each year and afterwards start with a secondary school.
Currently we have closed our school doors due to the heavy rains damages done the classrooms over the last years. All children of Tareto Maa & Naitawang Riverside Academy school have been temporarily send to trusted neighbouring school. Our top priority for the next 12 months is to get the damages renovated and open our school as soon as possible.
Training Center
Tareto Maa thinks beyond the primary school education of its children. Job opportunities through employment training and the acquisition of vocational skills are essential in securing their future and to promote a central message: That education is key in changing lives and can lead their family's and community prosperity.
Farming, hairdressing, tailoring, mechanics, computing and accountancy are key job areas currently being explored, via an educational centre.
The idea of the training centre is similar to the one that led to the foundation of the primary school: it is to give these children a future and providing services for the wider community.
Medical station
Tareto Maa wants to improve the health services to the children in the Tareto Maa Centre as well as to other members of the community. One important task is to provide vaccinations and general health advice.
Furthermore, we want to establish a medical clinic. At the moment, the nearest doctor is located 10km away from Tareto maa. That is 30min with a motobike and 1h with the car because of the rough roads. Many people die on the way before they reach the hospital.. Therefore Tareto Maa wants to expand the Center with a clinic/medical station to improve health and emergency aid for the people in this rural area.
Farming
By purchasing land and introducing farming (maize, vegetables, chickens and cows) we succeeded in nourishing the children in the refuge with fresh vitamins and proteins and reduced the need for outside food purchases.
Tareto Maa plans to promote sustainability and to offer educational training (for children in the refuge who want to become farmers as well as for members of the community) with new farming projects which could include a greenhouse, a tractor, beekeeping, further land for farming and consultancy with external experts on pilot schemes.
So our farming project intends likewise to extend the food supply of the Tareto Maa Refuge, to offer job prospects to young people and to improve the food supply for the whole community.
Meet The Team
Lucia Buchleitner
Management & Marketing
Eric Letaya
Management & Marketing
Gladys Mühlböck
Founder