About Us
Our mission at Coins for Change (a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization) is to rescue Maasai girls in Kenya from female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriage.
We Have a Solution. And it works.
By tackling the root causes of FGM and early marriage with solutions that address long term needs while acknowledging immediate critical needs, and by working closely with the Maasai community, we can bring an end to FGM and early marriage, and give Maasai girls real hope and opportunities for a better future.
- Alleviating poverty
- Sponsoring Girls' Education
- Community Workshops
- Safe House
- Become a part of something bigger!
Alleviating poverty
Most Maasai live in extreme poverty, on $0.35 a day.
The Maasai maintain a traditional pastoral lifestyle, depending on their livestock for nutrition and source of income. In 2009, Coins for Change identified a new breed of goat that produces 4 cups of milk per day: 4x as much milk as the traditional East African goat.
Over 1,000 goats have been donated to Maasai families and villages through Coins for Change. Every year, Coins for Change buys the Galla goats’ offspring from a Maasai village and gives another village 20 goats. Learn more…
Sponsoring Girls’ Education
School enrollment amongst the Maasai is very low, around 20% for girls. Sponsoring a Maasai girl’s education changes her life, and her family’s.
It ensures she stays safe from female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriage, and gets a good education and three meals a day. The knowledge and skills she gains at school enable her to build a healthier and more prosperous futures for herself, her family and her community.
Through Coins for Change, over 50 children have been sponsored to quality boarding schools Learn more…
Community Workshops
Widespread and permanent renouncement of female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriage comes about through a process of positive social change. Community workshops focus on driving this process.
At Coins for Change, we believe that solutions led by the community are more likely to be effective and have lasting social impact. Social norms change definitively when a community sees the benefit of changing, and not when they are punished for not doing so.
Community workshops focus on shifting the social norms that sustain the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriage, and establishing new social norms. We are now scaling up our efforts and need your help! Learn more…
Safe House
Almost 90% of Maasai girls undergo female genital mutilation (FGM). Every day, Maasai girls are forced into FGM and early marriage.
Too often, girls run away from their homes when they are in imminent risk of forced FGM or early marriage, and child brides run away from their husbands because of physical or sexual abuse at home.
When Maasai girls and women in the Amboseli region of Kenya feel endangered, they go to Chief Mary Kahingo. The Gregoire SafeHouse provides them with a safe harbor until the dangers they face have been mitigated and they can safely return to their homes. Learn more…