By Erica Hellerstein | Project Leader
MADRE is helping support the Nanyori Shelter Network, a group of six shelters in Kenya that feed and care for hundreds of girls who have escaped the cutting mat and forced marriage bed. Created by the Indigenous Information Network, MADRE's sister organization in Kenya, these shelters provide support and powerful incentive for girls to attend school. Hundreds of graduating girls will become teachers, nurses, social workers and lawyers who elevate entire communities.
Below, read stories from Kenyan women about the positive impact of the Nanyori Shelter Network in their communities.
They call her “Gogo,” Swahili for grandmother
Pricilla Naisula Nangurai is the director of a school shelter in the Nanyori, or “You Are Loved” Network. Gogo has personally helped 702 young girls to escape harmful traditional practices including female genital mutilation and early forced marriage. The first girl brought into the shelter is now 25 years old and is currently studying medicine in Nairobi. Go, Gogo!
A remarkable little girl
“Rose” is 13 years old, but at age 8, she had the courage to run away from home to escape female genital mutilation and forced marriage. She found her way to Gogo’s shelter, where she’s been ever since. Rose is excelling in her studies at the shelter and wants to grow up to be a women’s doctor. Still, she worries for her two younger sisters at home. She wants to do anything she can to save them from being married before they can finish school.
A mother who wouldn’t give up
When Mary learned of her husband’s intention to marry off her young daughter, at first she felt hopeless. She remembered her own marriage at just 14 years old and giving up her dreams of becoming a teacher. She wanted to protect her daughter but couldn’t see an alternative—yet she wouldn’t give up. Then she found out about the Nanyori Network of girls’ school shelters. Mary brought her daughter there. Now, the young girl is safe and has the chance to learn. She, too, wants to become a teacher—and she’s well on her way!
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