SHE Foundation - Sustainability, Health, and Education is a nonprofit formed to assist underserved communities around the globe with education, health, nutrition, and gender equality initiatives.
We are currently supporting a remote Maasai Community in Lenkobei, Kenya to build a climate-resilient school to fulfill the children's dream of education, and bring health and nutrition initiatives.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we also are working to facilitate donations of medical supplies to vulnerable populations worldwide.
The Lenkobei Maasai Community
Previously nomadic, the Lenkobei Maasai Community has taken up residence in a very remote area of the Rift Valley in Kenya, because of the strain recurrent droughts have put on their natural resources, ecosystems, and livelihoods. The closest town with electricity grid, water pipelines, schools, and medical facilities is located more than 18 miles (30 km away; an hour’s drive over a dirty, bumpy road).
SHE members have been collaborating with this Maasai community to foster health, food security, nutrition, gender equality, and women and girls’ education for several years. Girls who go to school can escape early marriage (as early as 12-years-old), from unwanted sexual relations, HIV infection risks, early pregnancies and forced labor and household work, including fetching and carrying large loads of water and wood from long distances. Increasing desertification in the Sub-Sahara is severely compounding the poverty of this community. That’s why our initiative also embraces climate resilience to provide a sustainable way forward for this drastically underserved community.
School Under the Tree Project
A dedicated teacher and community driver, Josiah Maninah, started a school in this Maasai Community under a tree and in a rented tin shack, which also serves as a community church. Despite the lack of facilities, the School Under the Tree has done a great job promoting girls’ education and access for poor kids and orphans. Since 2015, the school has grown from 14 to 81 students. However, the community desperately needs a permanent school to support the overwhelming need for education.
A German family education foundation has generously invested in the construction of the first phase of the "School Under the Tree" in collaboration with the Kenya Red Cross. The school has been designed in collaboration with the Maasai Community and draws on traditional and cultural knowledge and building materials. The goal is for the school to be in harmony with the surrounding ecosystem as well as support broader ecotourism community efforts. Architects from Italy and the United States are volunteering their time and expertise to design a climate-resilient school with natural ventilation, a water capture system, solar power, ecological toilets and protection from wildlife.
Join SHE so these Maasai children can fulfill their dreams!
Please join SHE Foundation Friends to ensure that these children are not robbed of their childhood, and that their education and life dreams are fulfilled. Your donation will support the building of the school, a kitchen, bathrooms, and additional education materials and needs of this community. Your contributions will become a legacy that benefits these children and future generations.
Contributions are tax-deductible and can also be made at PayPal Giving Fund or by writing a check to SHE Foundation and mailing it to P.O. Box 1733, Leander, Texas 78646.
Some donations will come with the opportunity to have your hand printed in the walls, or have a donated classrooms be named after you.
On behalf of the team at SHE Foundation, we thank you for your engagement and support. We thank all our friends, family, and extended community who invested in student scholarships, and hope you will be part of the next efforts to make the “School under the Tree” a reality.