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How One Woman Is Rescuing Girls from Early Marriages and Rebuilding Their Futures

In Shartuka, Narok County, school director Dorcas Tarus has turned her institution, Amazing Grace Academy, into a refuge for vulnerable girls, offering education, safety and a second chance at life.

In the quiet village of Shartuka, Narok County, stands a modest school whose walls hold stories of pain, resilience and transformation. Amazing Grace Academy, founded and directed by Dorcas Tarus, is more than just a school. It is a lifeline for girls escaping early marriage, teenage pregnancy and female genital mutilation (FGM).

Behind many smiles are stories of survival. One of them belongs to Betty Owino, a girl whose life was changed by Dorcas’s compassion.

Betty’s story begins in the Migingo informal settlement of Kilgoris town. When Dorcas first met her, Betty was supposed to be in PP1, yet she was not attending school. Her mother, a single woman struggling to raise eight children alone, lived in extreme poverty. Food was scarce, shelter unstable and hope almost gone. Her older siblings had already fled home, saying they would only return “when their mother stops giving birth anyhow.”

Left behind, Betty was frail, withdrawn and soon developed serious health problems that lasted nearly a year. When Dorcas discovered her situation, she could not turn away.

“I saw a child wasting away, not because she was lazy or stubborn, but because she had no one to care,” Dorcas recalls. “I decided to step in and take her in as one of my own.”

Dorcas began by nursing Betty back to health, ensuring she was dewormed, nourished and medically treated. Slowly, Betty’s strength and smile returned. “I watched her transform from a sickly, hopeless girl into a confident learner,” Dorcas says. “All she needed was care and a chance.”

Today, Betty Owino is in Grade 6 at Amazing Grace Academy. She is healthy, happy and dreams of becoming a nurse, inspired by the woman who once saved her life.

Amazing Grace Academy now shelters and educates dozens of girls like Betty, many rescued from forced marriages, early pregnancies, and FGM. The school provides not only education but also counseling, meals, healthcare and emotional support.

“The girls who come here have been through trauma,” Dorcas explains. “We remind them that their past does not define their future.”

Her work is rooted in compassion and practical solutions, transforming a school into a safe haven where learning and healing go hand in hand. With support from well-wishers, community leaders, and child protection officers, Dorcas continues to identify vulnerable girls and offer them refuge and opportunity.

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