Tracey Dolan—who co-founded Nurturing Minds / SEGA Girls School in Tanzania with her sister, Polly Dolan in 2008—will present an illustrated talk on the Modern Girl program, or “Msichana Kisasa” (MK). The event will take place on Thursday, September 27 from 4 to 5 pm in the Essex Community Church’s Fellowship Hall. Admission is free but donations are gratefully accepted. The Modern Girl program provides a safe space within the communities surrounding SEGA, in which girls ages 10-12, 13-15, and 16-18 form clubs and are mentored by SEGA graduates.

This year, as part of their foreign mission efforts, Essex Community Church and its United Methodist Women’s group have been sponsoring student Sophia Freddy Mbata, who is in Form II/grade 9.

In the MK Clubs, trained SEGA graduates facilitate peer mentoring and deliver key messages on improving self-confidence and communication skills. They also help their peers to increase skills, knowledge, and awareness with respect to girls’ rights, health, hygiene, and financial literacy.

Many girls in the MK Clubs, especially in the Iringa region, are not able to attend school, so the MK program provides a platform for girls to meet other girls of the same age. Ultimately, this program helps SEGA to expand its reach and presents SEGA students the opportunity to give back to their communities.  Currently 10 clubs across Morogoro and Iringa regions are led by 21 mentors/SEGA graduates, with expansion in progress to at least four other areas.

Through the MK program, Nurturing Minds in Africa is fulling its mission: “To educate Tanzanian girls who are poor, marginalized and at-risk of becoming involved in exploitative forms of child labor.”