How it Started

After eight years of working for “Tansania Lächelt”, a Swiss-based aid organisation for orphans and impoverished children in Tanzania, I handed over the leadership at the 2025 annual general meeting. I wanted to dedicate myself to the quieter aspects of retirement and finally have some leisure time. As every year, in June 2025 I went to Tanzania with some sponsors to visit the nine projects there and then enjoy a safari. For years, a Maasai community leader had repeatedly asked me for financial assistance, and the local chief has also asked for my support to combat the widespread practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) in his district.

Three days before our trip to Tanzania, Suzy Andricopoulos called me. She wanted to deepen her contribution to Tanzania Lächelt, already being a sponsor. I suggested that we could instead create a campaign against FGM under a different team structure. Suzy was immediately enthusiastic about the issue, wanted to get involved and during our conversation, I became convinced that together with Suzy, we could achieve a great deal against FGM. We immediately became a team and despite initial challenges, we began our work. Suzy created the beautiful name “Safiri-Elototo” and also gathered and organised a great deal of information and scientific reports on FGM. I was able to contribute my decades of experience with Africa and its people. FGM is illegal in Tanzania and can carry a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. We had, and still have, the assurance and immediate support of the Chief, the Council of Elders, the teachers, the local women’s groups, and key politicians to help us combat FGM. In-depth and extensive direct conversations with three circumcised women provided us with initial valuable, first-hand information that we used as the basis for developing the Safiri-Elototo concept.

Together with our team in Tanzania, we created our project, which was very well received by the Tanzanian public, likely because it was a collaborative effort. The response against FGM among the wider Maasai public is incredibly strong, and the motivation of our people on the ground is immense. The initial results of efforts on the ground are so positive and extensive, demonstrating that our approach is on the right track. The many girls we were able to save from circumcision thanks to our immediate campaign will likely be happy and grateful for the rest of their lives that Suzy called me in early June 2025. Urs’ goal is to end all female genital mutilation in Monduli by the end of 2028; Suzy hopes to see drastic reduction in rates and to see lasting change over the coming years. Together we are dedicated and motivated.

Urs and Suzy