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Entito Rescue Center, A Long
Term Project
"Entito" is swahili for young
girl. Female Genital Mutilation
 is
performed on girls at 10 years old. (Read more on FGM here.)The Entito project is a long term project that will focus
on educating the young girls of the Maasai tribe. You can partner
with us to build a primary boarding school for 500 young
girls.Friends of Mercy
will inform our congregations and invite them to share our
Lord's mercy and love through their
gifts.
What struck me was
the knowledge that over 90% of the girls are "cut." I couldn't help
thinking about that as I met with the Maasai elders and
women.
Please look around this
page and the
general information page to learn more about
FGM.
Pastor Mark
Sell
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"If one member
suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice
together..."
1 Corinthians
12:22-26
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Girls
Need Education
When one considers that
over 90% of the women in the Maasai tribe are "cut," one realizes
that to curb this practice is to change their
culture.
The Maasai tribe is proud of
their tradition and culture. They are traditional warriors. The men
always
 carry a
stick that symbolizes the spear. The women wear beads.The tribe most often dresses in
the tradtiional red clothing.
The Kenyan government outlawed
FGM but the Maasai still practice it. In the recent years, due to
the HIV\AIDS epidemic, the tribe began to participate in the Kenyan
government and culture. They accepted medicine, education for boys,
and other assistance.
They are now ready to educate
their girls. It is our hope and prayer to open a boarding school
for 500 girls. Educating the young girls is the best chance to make
a difference in the practice of FGM.
More importantly, this project
will partner with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya. The
girls will also study God's Word and learn the Lutheran
faith.
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What is Female Genital
Mutilation?
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Female genital mutilation is a traditional practice of the
Muslims and the Maasai. Read more... WARNING - GRAPHIC
EXPLANATION Click here for general
information.|
The Tools of Female
Genital Mutilation?
 Female genital mutilation is
performed most often by an elder woman of the village. The person
who performs the cut will use and kind of a sharp
object.
 When you relaize that the "cut"
does not take place in any sort of a medically clean environment
the need seems even greater. Nor do they cut using a seditive,
anti-biotics, or any other medicine. Often they tie the girls legs
together to control the bleeding and rub herbs on the
cut.
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Maasai
Elders Donate Land to ELCK
Maasai Elders formed the Maasai
Education Committee and they decided to donate 60 acres of
land to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya to build the
Entito Rescue and Maasai Culture Center.
 This
decision was evidence that the Maasai are continuing to move
forward in their desire to work with other Kenyans and improve
their lives. The Maasai Education Committee was made up of elders
and, most importantly, women leaders of the tribe.On the 60 acres of land
(on the border of the Maasai
Mara), the ELCK will help the Maasai tribe build a
boarding school for 500 Maasai girls. The land will also provide a
place for a Maasai cultural center, a medical clinic, a small
compound to house visitors, and housing for teachers.
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Entito Rescue and
Maasai Culture Center
A $500,000 project to
further the education and preserve the culture of the Maasai tribe
has been taken up by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya in
partnership with Friends of Mercy and LCMS World Relief. The
current proposal is very detailed and ... Read
more...
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