The mission of The Butterfly Project is to rescue and provide victims of female genital mutilation, child marriage, HIV/AIDS orphans and poverty stricken youth free High School education, housing, food, and self-esteem programs that will enable them to become self-sustaining productive young women.

Girls will reside in the 2,500 sqaure foot Butterfly dormitory house equipped with beds, butterfly den, and a full kitchen. Three meals will be provided daily under the supervision of two trained house mothers. All Butterfly House staff will provide homework support, and spiritual support to project participants.


We aim to empower girls who lack educational opportunities and resources to achieve by providing them with the necessary tools that will prepare them to enter institutions of higher education while combating gender disparities among their peer group to eradicate poverty and foster systematic change.

THE NEED

According to the Center for Global Development, “One in eight persons of the global population is a young woman age 10-24, and young women represent one of the fastest growing population segments in developing countries. With these girls facing systematic disadvantages over a wide range of welfare indicators, including health, education, nutrition, labor force participation, and the burden of household tasks, investment in the welfare of girls is critical to achieving development goals.”

UNICEF estimates some 117 million school aged children world-wide do not attend school. In Sub-Saharan Africa 44-50 million children are not in school according to a UNESCO (2005) report. Attendance rates are lowest in Sub-Saharan Africa where only 57% of school aged girls attend school. Only 15% of these girls advance to Secondary School. Studies show that girls are less likely than boys to stay in primary and secondary school due to poverty, conflict, HIV/AIDS, early marriages, and sexual harassment.

Education and literacy levels widely differ for men and women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although the ratio of boys and girls remains equal within the primary school system, men greatly out number women in higher education. Since 1950, Article 2 of the first protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights obliges all signatory parties to guarantee the right to education. At the world level, the United Nations’ International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, guarantees this right under its Article 13, which states that “higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education.” Although these orders were mandated over forty years ago, gender disparities still exist in Sub-Saharan Africa. Seventy percent of illiterate persons in Kenya are women. The average monthly income of women is about two-thirds that of men.

The Machakos District of Kenya, which is located 50 miles East of Nairobi is primarily comprised of farmers, is hilly, semi-arid, and scarce of water. While June and July are officially considered the rainy seasons, precipitation is often elusive. This misfortune results in dry crops and food shortages in the area year round. Due to the lack of education, families are often left unemployed when their crops dry up because they lack skills, knowledge and experience in any other given field outside of farming. As the level of poverty rises, child labor in the region has become crucial for family survival. As a result, parents have continued to send their children, particularly daughters, into the labor market-mainly as domestic workers. They have also sought potential husbands of significant age differences to collect dowries (income for the child bride). These harsh means for survival create a pattern of literacy and poverty that persists throughout generations