RichardAgler.com

Winter 2023–2024

Let’s start with Education news. This year we celebrated TAGS girls graduating from university, college programs, secondary, and vocational schools. We have students who are entering Early Childhood Education, the military, and professional trade. We have applicants to graduate programs in law and medicine!

Education is our primary function, not to mention the path to a life of fulfillment--so this is a lot to cheer about. Let's remember that these are girls who have been rescued from the streets or worse--and who are not going to let the opportunity they've been given slip away.

Quinter has long been one of TAGS’ success stories. She appears here on the 10th-anniversary video at the 2:17 mark. 

Now she has earned her college diploma and this has been followed by an attachment (internship) to Kenya’s High Court! This is what a CDTD staff member wrote to the TAGS Education Committee (Nairobi group) about her graduation: "When I see this, my heart overflows with a blend of excitement and deep emotion. What if she hadn't been given this chance? What if nobody had cared?  Yet, here we are, and it's all thanks to your steadfast support to TAGS that Quinter has graduated!  Your collective kindness has been the anchor in her journey, and tears of gratitude well up.  She's embarking on a new chapter, and it's your belief that illuminated her path. Let's join in celebrating not just a graduation but the profound impact of compassion and care we've all shown." 

TAgs owns a permanent home

Thank you and congratulations to all who contributed to make it possible. We’ll tell the full story in our next update but starting now, we are no longer subject to the whims of landlords! On the left is a video of moving day. Note the joy of the girls, especially at water running from the faucets and showers—it was not so easy to come by in the last home.

Team members are so important in keeping the Tali Fund, and the Talia Agler Girls’ Shelter running smoothly. As a member, your monthly support ensures that the girls and women of TAGS have what they need to move steadily from being victims, to survivors, to thrivers. Contributions of any size make a huge difference in their lives, providing food, utilities in their new permanent home, counseling, and school fees. The girls and young women have spoken up about how much they yearn for and value the chance to receive an education that will allow them to fulfill the dreams they have for themselves, and in many cases, for their children as well. Won’t you join the Team today? 

As a team member, you will have an opportunity to Zoom with Edith Murogo, the founder and CEO of TAGS, at 10am EST on Sunday, January 21, 2024! Hear first hand what is happening at TAGS as we enter the new year, and ask questions to learn more! 

In addition, Mindy will send all Team members 6 notecards with photos from our recent trip to Kenya. 

To become a TAG–You’re It team member, just check the “Make this a monthly donation” option on our Donate button and enter your monthly amount. Again, every donation, no matter how small, makes a big difference! 

We also invite you to share the TAGS’ story with someone else who you think might be inspired by our work–this is the “TAG” part! We’ll be happy to speak to anyone who would like information beyond what’s on our website. Help us spread the word!

Thank you for all you do for the Tali Fund and TAGS, and wishing us all a 2024 filled with peace and goodness.

As you may have heard, we had an incredibly successful trip to Kenya in August of this year. We led a group of sixteen from the US and Israel to see firsthand the work the Tali Fund has been supporting. We did a lot with the girls including teaching, dancing, drawing, singing, banjo playing, (click the video below for 22 seconds of smiles) listening, and more. And of course, we met with Edith Murogo and her dedicated staff. We went on safari and saw wild animals too. But any of the participants will tell you that the highlight was our interactions with the girls. 

It went so well that we've decided to try it again in 2025. So, wanna come?! The dates are August 11–19, 2025. More details will be available soon but for a rough idea of what it will be like, check the description of this year's trip. There is no need to make a formal commitment but if you even might be interested, let Rich@TaliFund.org know, the sooner the better. Space will be limited so don't let the opportunity pass you by. Karibu Kenya! [Karibu means welcome--and you will be!]

Fall 2023

We’ve redone our Video Gallery and made it easier to access.

Click the menu item “Video Gallery” on the left

oR just use this link here.

Its a great way to see some of the work we do and the stories we can tell.

spring 2023

Lots of news to report!

First of all, we are almost all the way there in paying for the TAGS’ new permanent home!

Now is the time to put us over the top! The next round of contributions will go towards owning the house free and clear. This will free us from the whims of landlords once and for all!

Please be as generous as you can. The impact on the lives of the girls is incalculable! Thank you!!!

mentoring the girls

through the uraia trust

Kenya's Uraia Trust, a grant-making organization, has recently added CDTD (TAGS' parent organization) to its list of recipients. Uraia and CDTD have created a mentoring initiative for girls and young women ages 18–35. These newly trained mentors will work with the girls of TAGS. It can only help them succeed. Welcome Uraia Trust! 

How does she do it? Take girls who have never been out of domestic circumstances, many who have never learned to swim or even stood in a lake, river, or pond, bring them into a Rapids Camp, and get them to jump alongside waterfalls? 

For the second time in as many years, our friend from the Florida Keys, the amazing Erin Shattuck, has come to TAGS and led the girls on a three-day camping journey and instilled in them self-confidence, purpose, and resilience. 

We are beyond moved by Erin's skills and commitment--that she chooses to share with the girls of TAGS.

This year's theme was "We are Conquerors." The girls engaged in swimming, rafting, devotions, sunrise walk, bonfire, the plunge, waterfall challenge and team building games.

The activities also helped the girls heal from trauma--especially the bonfire activity, during which they wrote all their bad past experiences on a piece of paper and threw them in the fire as a way of overcoming the past.

We thank you, Erin--and the girls thank you more!

local Fundraiser in Kenya | August 12, 2023

The TAGS Education Fund, a group of supporters in Nairobi, has scheduled its Second Annual 5K Walk in the Karura Forest on Saturday, August 12. Anyone in the vicinity is more than welcome to join us for the 5K jaunt through the scenic park! Below is a three-minute video with highlights from last year’s event. Note cameos by the American University students who are on the same semester abroad program as Tali was in 2006. Enjoy!

Just So You Know

CDTD/TAGS is currently receiving substantial support from the Tides Foundation, the Global Fund for Women, the International Organization for Migration, the Red Cross, the local county food bank, and the Uraia Trust, as noted above.

In addition, the International Labor Organization in Kenya is using TAGS as a template for formulating a series of standard operating procedures for how a proper Shelter should be run!

We are beyond grateful for the support and endorsement of our program that each of these institutions offers. However, each one makes grants within specific parameters. They have not contributed to the acquisition of the building or for the all-important school fees. This is just another way of telling us that the work of the Tali Fund is indispensable. Thank you!

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Our 2023 Africa Safari is fully subscribed!

Eighteen of us are scheduled to journey to Kenya this summer to see its world-famous wildlife and our friends at TAGS and in Nairobi.

There were several folks who were interested but unable to go this year for one reason or another. If you would like to add your name as possibly interested in a future trip, by all means let us know. There is no obligation and we'll keep you posted as developments unfold. 

You can use this email address <rich@talifund.org> Thank you!

Speaking of videos, check out this one with some of the highlights from 2022:

Now on to 2023!

First of all, the girls are back in school! After the Covid disruptions, everyone is grateful to return to the normal term schedule. Education, as we know, is the key to a future of opportunity. The primary mission of the Shelter program is to offer the girls, who have come through abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and more, that very opportunity. On the left are our eight KCPE graduates from 2022. Onward and upward!

Camp Connection returns

We are also looking forward to another edition of the Camp Connection, led by the incredible and irrepressible Erin Shattuck, later this spring. (See the June 2022 entry for what it looked like last year!) Erin and her supporters, in particular the members of Spirit and Truth Ministries led by Pastor Marlin Simon in Islamorada, FL, are the dedicated sponsors.

the Kenya Safari is now subscribed

Our Safari group is excited and looking forward to their August 13–22 journey. There may be room for more participants so if you are interested, don’t let any more time go by. No promises at this point but we’ll try our best to get you in. Here are the details. It will, literally, be wild. ;-)

New Year’s message from Edith Murogo, TAGS Founder and CDTD CEO

Dear Loved Ones,
We have come to the end of yet another year. Compared to others, this year was different, in spite of the impact of Covid-19 and its continued repercussions, 2022 has stood out as the most phenomenal year since our founding in 2012. The TAGS family, with thanks to generous GIVERS, moved to its own compound. We now have a beautiful building for the girls who call TAGS home! The new facility has a bigger capacity that can host as many as one hundred girls. The New Shelter also hosts the Maktaba Resource Centre which, when fully operational, will have a library, reading rooms and computers.

Our program has continued to grow beyond leaps and bounds! We have a thriving Educational Program that has propelled TAGS scholars to Universities, Colleges, Vocational centres, High School, and Primary school. This year alone, we benefited 104 students, with a total of eighteen candidates for higher education. Eleven of these will transition to high school while another seven have graduated to tertiary institutions of learning.

There are currently 150 girls enrolled in one aspect or another of our Shelter Program, including fifteen infants and children in our transitional safe house. This number will increase in 2023 as we are facing increased requests for support due to the continued impact of Covid-19 and drought occasioned by adverse climate change.

Three years ago, armed with learning and experience gained from TAGS, we innovated the National Shelters Network (NSN), a collective of Shelters and Safehouses working together to fight Sexual and Gender Based Violence of women and girls, boys, and men.  With the support of the International Labour Organization and the URAIA Trust, we were able to host the first National Shelters Conference, bringing together stakeholders drawn from both State and NGO actors. Since its inception, the National Shelters Network has coordinated over five hundred referrals for victims to access shelter and related services vital for their recovery and social reintegration.

It has been an exciting time for the Girls as they settle into their new home as most of the previous months have been spent in school. They have been involved in outdoor activities in the new home as it has a spacious compound that allows them to interact, relax and have psychosocial support in privacy. Among their most loved activities was writing letters to Santa.

We are grateful to our community of Supporters, Volunteers, Visitors, Funders, and Interns who have contributed to our success over the years. We are more confident to face the New Year because of your love and kindness. 

Be blessed without measure this festive season and the New Year 2023!!

Thank you, as always, for journeying with us.