MaaSae Girls Lutheran School Information
In an effort to help the Maasai tribe of Africa, while at the same time bringing cultural diversity to its campus, Concordia College has developed a relationship with the MaaSAE Girls Lutheran Secondary School (MGLSS) in Tanzania.Since 2001, two graduates of the MGLSS have been chosen each year to study at Concordia through the college’s Maasai Scholarship Program. The intent of this program is to assist the students in gaining enhanced skills to take back to their homeland. Their majors include elementary and secondary school teaching, social work, church professions, business administration and environmental science.
About the Maasai
Tanzania is one of the world’s poorest countries where only one in five young people are able to attend a secondary school. In Maasailand, women influence the future because they care for the children and teach them the tribal traditions. With education, the Maasai will have the tools to adapt to the challenges ahead and to participate in the decisions that will affect them. Fortunate women attend a rural elementary school where they learn reading and writing and to speak Kiswahili, the national language of Tanzania. The most promising students are selected to attend the MGLSS, where all instruction is in English, their third language.
About the School
With the help of two ELCA missionaries and graduates of Concordia College, the Rev. David ’51 and Eunice ‘52 (Nordby) Simonson, the MGLSS opened in 1995 with its first class. Each year about 50 new students enter the boarding school, which is a project of the Diocese in Arusha Region of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. Women enrolled at the MGLSS depend on sponsors to pay for their education, with the majority of sponsor funds come from individuals and families who participate through Operation Bootstrap Africa, headquartered in Minneapolis.
Concordia’s Ties
Concordia’s Office of Church Relations maintains close ties with the MGLSS and its students. The Maasai Girls Choir from the school has performed on campus several times during its tours of the United States and the college occasionally sells Blue Mountain Coffee harvested from land owned by the school. A video about the Maasai Scholarship Fund is available by contacting the Office of Church Relations.
Contact Concordia’s Development Office to make a donation to the Maasai Scholarship Fund.
Missionary Newsletters from the MaaSae School:
September 2007
July 2007
June 2007
Office of Church Relations
