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Saving our Maasai girls
Leadership
Maasai Rescue Ministries is a grassroots initiative created and led by members of the Maasai community. Officially registered in Tanzania as Esipata Eselenkei—which means The Rights of a Girl—this Community-Based Organization (CBO) was founded by a board of Maasai Christian leaders and is directed by Pastor Mark Murenja.
Outside of Tanzania, the ministry operates under the name Maasai Rescue Ministries, represented internationally by Brenda Anderson, a career missionary affiliated with the Primitive Methodist Church, Abba’s Arms Ministry in the USA, and Alianza Solidaria in Spain and across Europe.
Our mission is to rescue girls in our tribe from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and forced child marriage. We are committed to offering girls the opportunity to grow up in safety, gain an education, and pursue a future of their choosing. At the heart of our work is the desire to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, helping each girl discover the dignity, value, and purpose she was created for as a woman made in God’s image.
GOD SEES THEM and HE CARES
Rescuing from FGM and Child Marriage
In traditional Maasai culture, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a deeply rooted rite of passage that marks the transition from girlhood to womanhood. It is considered essential for a girl to become “marriageable.” However, this practice is not only extremely painful but also dangerous—often performed in unsanitary conditions by local practitioners. Tragically, many girls suffer severe complications, including hemorrhaging and infections, and some lose their lives.
Forced child or adolescent marriage usually follows shortly after FGM. These marriages are typically arranged by fathers, with agreements made through the exchange of property—often cattle—with men who may be decades older, even the age of the girl’s father or grandfather. Once a girl is promised in marriage, her childhood ends. She must leave school, stop playing, and assume the full responsibilities of adult life—soon becoming an adolescent mother.
These practices are a violation of basic human rights. They rob girls of their health, education, and future. Driven in part by extreme poverty, families may feel compelled to marry their daughters early as a means of survival—receiving livestock as a form of bride price.
Maasai Rescue Ministries is working to change this reality. Our mission is to provide safe alternatives for at-risk girls by promoting education, empowerment, and dignity—while respecting and preserving the positive aspects of Maasai culture. We believe that valuing girls and protecting their futures strengthens not only individual lives, but entire communities.
Education Gives Hope
Changing a culture takes time—but we are seeing God make the impossible possible. Already, hundreds of girls are experiencing freedom, safety, and hope for a new future.
We invite you to join us—pray with us, partner with us, support our mission, or sponsor a girl’s education. These girls are just like your daughters, your nieces, the young women in your community. Get to know one of them.
Some are orphans. Others have been rejected by their families for bravely saying “no” to FGM and early marriage. Many come from deep poverty, where there are few—if any—options for a better future.
Yet despite their hardships, these girls are resilient, gentle, creative, and hard-working. They’ve grown up caring for younger siblings, tending livestock, collecting firewood and water, going hungry, and sleeping on the hard earth in small huts built by their mothers. They carry a quiet strength and a hopeful innocence that makes them both vulnerable and deeply precious.
By choosing to support one of these girls, you are helping to break cycles of violence and poverty, and building a bridge toward a brighter future—not just for her, but for her children and generations to come.
You will be truly blessed as you become part of her story.
The Rescue Center
The Rescue Center is a secure refuge—fully enclosed and guarded—where girls fleeing the threat of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) find safety, care, and hope. It’s a place where they can rest, play, eat, learn, and begin to heal.
Each year, around 300 girls arrive at the center seeking protection. Many come during peak FGM seasons in May–June and November–December, when traditional cutting ceremonies are most common.
The center is led by Pastor Mark Murenja and his wife, Susan, with support from dedicated volunteers from the local church. Together, they ensure the girls are cared for physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Volunteers prepare meals, provide clothing, lead small group discussions on health and safety, and disciple the girls in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.
Though the situation is serious, the environment is full of life and joy—much like a Bible school camp. The girls take part in fun activities, make friends, and begin to dream again.
Outside the rescue seasons, the center continues to serve the community by operating as a preschool and hosting various outreach and educational activities.
The Rescue Center is more than just a safe place—it’s a place of new beginnings, where vulnerable girls discover their value, their voice, and their God-given purpose.
Female genital mutilation continues to exist, despite the fact that it is a violation of girls’ and women’s human rights.
Every year 3 million girls undergo genital mutilation.
70 million girls and adolescents are at risk of being subjected to female genital mutilation by 2030. The objective of the non-profit association ESIPATA ESELENKEI (otherwise known as Maasai Rescue Ministries, a legally constituted Maasai NGO) is the eradication of FGM and Forced Child Marriage of Young Girls in Tanzania.
To address these challenges, we work for community empowerment so that local leaders are the ones who carry out the
care for girls, awareness raising and training of traditional and religious leaders, local authorities, and the community.
“If we don’t do something to help save our girls our understanding of the gospel is not very deep.” Pastor Mark Murenja.
“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:8–9 (NIV)
Maasai Rescue Ministries 