What Sisterhood Feels Like

Because of the generosity of our donors, Zuri Life was able to support a woman from Mfangano in giving birth safely at a clinic—ensuring she had access to skilled care, a clean environment, and the support every mother deserves.

Her beautiful daughter is now a joyful one-year-old, growing up surrounded by love and community on Mfangano Island. This story reminds us that even a single act of compassion can ripple outward—changing not just one life, but two, and echoing through generations.

We’re overjoyed to share that she is thriving—laughing, learning, and already brightening the world around her.

Thank you for making this possible.

Why We Teach: The Power of Sexual Education on Mfangano

Our founders, Addah and Grace, joined forces to launch a comprehensive sexual education and female empowerment course for 18 young women on Mfangano Island. With Grace’s background in biology and Addah’s cultural insight, teaching experience, and deep connection to the island, they co-created a program rooted in science, sensitivity, and trust.

This initiative isn’t just important—it’s essential.

The Landscape in Kenya: Why This Matters

Despite Kenya’s national mandate for sexuality education in schools, comprehensive sex education (CSE) remains incomplete, conservative, and largely ineffective. In most classrooms, content still centers on abstinence-only messaging, often presenting sex as dangerous or immoral rather than equipping young people with accurate, age-appropriate, and rights-based information (2, 3, 4).

Deep-rooted cultural and religious beliefs make open conversations around sexual health taboo, creating resistance from parents, teachers, and community leaders (5, 6, 7). Teachers often lack training, confidence, or even materials to effectively deliver CSE (2, 8).

As a result, many young women in Kenya face serious consequences:

• 15% of girls aged 15–19 become mothers
  
  

• High rates of HIV and unsafe abortions persist
  
  

• Many adolescents avoid health services due to stigma and misinformation (2, 6)
  
  

What We’re Doing Differently

On Mfangano, we focus on relevance, respect, and reach. Addah and Grace’s course was tailored to the local context, grounded in evidence-based practices, and delivered in a way that honored both science and culture. Young women were encouraged not just to listen—but to ask, reflect, and advocate for themselves and one another.

We believe that young women deserve more than shame and silence. They deserve the tools to make informed decisions, protect their health, and reclaim power over their futures.

And that’s exactly what this sisterhood is about.

With more support, we hope to expand this work and continue empowering women on Mfangano through honest, accessible, and culturally sensitive sexual education.

Thanks to generous support from our donors, Zuri Life was able to build an outdoor bathroom that serves the community on Mfangano Island. What may seem like a small structure has brought immense health, safety, and dignity to the lives of those who use it every day.

Why It Matters

In rural areas like Mfangano, the lack of proper sanitation is more than an inconvenience—it’s a health crisis. According to the World Health Organization, every $1 invested in clean water and toilets yields $4 in saved healthcare costs and improved productivity (1). Sanitary facilities help prevent the spread of waterborne illnesses, protect drinking water from contamination, and significantly reduce disease exposure for entire communities (1,2).

But the impact doesn’t stop with health.

More Than Sanitation: A Tool for Safety and Equity

Before this bathroom existed, community members—especially women, girls, and the elderly—had to resort to open defecation, often far from home. This created risks of violence, shame, and exclusion (3). A safe, clean, and accessible public toilet changes that.

It restores dignity.
It creates a space where everyone—including people with disabilities and children—can care for themselves with safety and respect (3,4).

A Ripple of Benefits

• Healthier families and lower disease rates (1,2)
  
  

• Improved school attendance, particularly for girls needing private spaces during menstruation (4)
  
  

• Environmental protection, through reduced contamination of soil and water (2)
  
  

• New jobs and community ownership, as locals take part in maintenance and hygiene education (5)
  
  

• Stronger local economy, as improved infrastructure draws visitors and boosts local pride (5,6)
  
  

This bathroom is a symbol of what happens when we invest in solutions the community truly needs—and a reminder that even the simplest things can change everything.

When Helen reached out to Zuri Life, she wasn’t just asking for help—she was offering a solution. Like so many women in rural Kenya, Helen understood exactly what her family needed. She just lacked the resources to make it happen.

With your support, we helped Helen send her two daughters to school by covering their school fees and uniforms. But when we asked what else would make a meaningful difference, she didn’t ask for more money—she asked for a fence.

Without a fence, Helen had to plant her crops far from her home to protect them from free-roaming animals. This meant she couldn’t manage the fields alone—and often had to keep her children home from school to help. It was a cycle that kept the whole family from moving forward.

With your help, we built that fence.

Now, Helen has a small farm right in her backyard, where she can grow food to feed her family and even sell the surplus. She no longer has to rely on her children to help her farm, so they can stay in school where they belong.

Helen’s story is a reminder that dignity begins with being heard. When we listen—truly listen—we support solutions that are sustainable, empowering, and rooted in the lived realities of the women we serve.

Your donation did this. And it can do so much more.