The Jerri Savuto Rescue Center
for girls escaping forced marriages and FGM in the Pokot region of western Kenya
CONCEPT SKETCH ABOVE: The Rescue Center will have a central courtyard design with locking front doors to be a safe environment for the girls. It will house 44 girls plus a nurse and a matron, with counseling rooms, kitchen, dining and living areas, office, clinic, small chapel, library and study area, garden and security fencing. The Center will provide necessary security while utilizing simple local materials to save on cost. Sustainability is a priority; see the platforms for solar panels.
Click to Donate to help build the Rescue Center. Every gift helps!
Update from Kenya Methodist Women, January 2022
Greetings to the North Texas United Methodist Women!
We are thankful to God for a new year filled with possibilities.
We have received US $43,587 (approx 4.8 milllion Kenya shillings) to date
for this project. Methodist church in Kenya’s Women Fellowship have
contributed more so we have a total of 6.2 million Kenyan shillings.
We have acquired public land and will move our girls there once we are ready. This area is ravaged by this barbaric culture of FGM & forced early marriages. Right now, we are keeping girls under tight security provided by county government of Baringo. We thank God for this cooperation with the government.
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We have so far cleared the bushes as u can see on pictures (below). We started making bricks locally to bring down the cost of materials due to high transport costs. We have made 5000+ bricks so far and the process is ongoing.
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The rescue centre will be achieved with approximately US $120,000 so we are halfway already! We are overly grateful that this dream is becoming a reality because of your United Methodist Women 'love into action' for those in need of His love & compassion. Your acts of faith inspire our fellowship to fill the needs of these girls with the love of God by provision of a decent home for their safety, stability & progress.
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We will break ground in March 2022 when we have enough bricks to finish fencing & construction. As your Mission partners, we will give u further updates soon and comply with GBGM [UMC's General Board of Global Ministries] monitoring & evaluation policy. Your love as our sisters has filled us with so much joy. We are strong to deliver the Jerri Savuto Centre in the name of Christ! We confidently can do all things through Him who gives us strength.
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Please share our love with all our sisters in the North Texas conference.
With our love & prayers,
Pauline Ntombura, Leader
Women’s Conference, Methodist Church in Kenya
Progress Photos from Kenya
5000+ bricks have been made so far for the security fence.
Progress has been made clearing the land for the rescue center.
Who was Jerri Savuto?
Jerri Savuto was a passionate, love-filled woman of God who was a champion for women, children, and youth everywhere.
Jerri was a Missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) of the United Methodist Church for over 39 years. A native of Santa Fe, New Mexico, she was a registered nurse and a graduate of Texas Christian University. She and her husband, Bill, served together in New Mexico, Belize, Nigeria, and Kenya.
As an active member of United Methodist Women, she encouraged and mentored women around the world. While serving in Kenya she supported the Alternative Rite of Passage Programs that helped save girls from early marriages and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Jerri’s first mission experience was at the Navajo Methodist Mission School in New Mexico, where she was campus nurse and taught health courses and Bill taught math. While in Belize, Jerri established a successful national breastfeeding program. In the late 1980’s they served in Nigeria, where Jerri she did school and rural health nursing. The couple worked at Kenya’s Maua Methodist Hospital from 1998 to 2003 and she was a tutor in the hospital's RN program. Her responsibilities included teaching nursing students in the areas of anatomy, physiology, nutrition, pharmacology, medical and surgical nursing, pediatrics, and community health. When they returned to Maua in 2007, Jerri served as quality improvement and staff development officer and the hospital became a model for others.
While stateside Jerri and Bill were strong mission advocates and maintained ties they had developed with local churches. The couple was noted for their personal communications with so many. For a time they served as Missionary Interpreters for the South Central Jurisdiction (SCJ UMC), interfacing with annual conferences, districts, and congregations.
Jerri and Bill retired to North Texas to be near their daughter in 2012. Jerri continued to be active in UMW, and traveled to the 2014 UMW Assembly in Louisville and to Austin for the TX Legislative Event. She continued to share her missionary stories and her passion for the work of United Methodist Women, always encouraging a happy dance! She entertained us, made us laugh and inspired us. The world was blessed by her life which ended in late 2016. The Jerri Savuto Rescue Center will honor her memory and continue empowering girls with love and care.