Minnetonka teenager singlehandedly organizes nonprofit and travels to Tanzania to coach girls in running

Track star Maya Mor is a longtime champion of women's sports and its connection to gender equality, which led to an idea: She could use running to empower girls in countries where gender barriers are prominent.

She contacted a girls' school in Tanzania and developed Girls Run Global, got it qualified as a 501(c)(3), assembled a board of directors, designed a website and gathered donations of running shoes and other supplies. Then, accompanied by three volunteers, she spent two weeks in Tanzania leading 70 extremely enthusiastic girls in a program combining running practices and enrichment sessions.

Oh, and did we mention Mor is 19 years old and graduated from Minnetonka High School a year ago?

She took a gap year after high school to recover from an injury and used it constructively, to say the least. In the fall, Mor will be attending Georgetown University, where she'll compete in cross-country and track while working toward a bachelor's degree in foreign service. Here's what she said about her experience (edited for clarity and length).

Q: Were you going to go to Tanzania anyway, like on a family trip?

A: I was considering going solo to East Africa to travel in Kenya and Tanzania. And while I was there, I wanted to do something positive, like volunteer work. Then I thought, oh, instead of doing something with another organization, maybe I could do something that really hits close to home personally.

From there, I was like, it doesn't hurt to send a couple emails. So I looked at schools in different areas in Tanzania and reached out to a couple and was like, "Are there any opportunities or any interest in partnering for me to bring out some running gear and give a couple of your students the opportunity to get involved in sports?" Because I know that that's not something girls frequently come across in Tanzania.

One of the schools, SEGA, [Secondary Education for Girls' Advancement] responded to me and said they were interested.

When I decide to do something, I go all in. So when they agreed, we started those initial conversations on what this could look like. From there, the more expansive concept of a full nonprofit organization developed on my end. Once I sent that email and heard back, there was no turning back. I was committed to it.

From there, I started learning about the process of starting a nonprofit organization, because it's a lot more than meets the eye. There's a lot of legal stuff and formal things that you have to go through. I put together a board of directors, with a couple professional runners and different professionals that I thought could bring good experience and perspectives to our organization.

Our board is made up of women that really inspire me. They're my role models. And yet they're working with me on a team, and I think it's what I envision Girls Run Global to be at its core, a community of women and girls who are committed to creating a better world, a more just world for women, but also fulfilling their own potentials and chasing their own ambitions.

I'm 19, and a lot of people might be a little bit wary of that. I'll fully admit I have a high school degree to my name right now and that's about it. I have no background or credentials that support me doing all of this. But I believe that if you're passionate about something and you have a vision, that age is not a limit, just like being a girl is not a limit.

We opened up enrollment for our first team, and I would have been thrilled if 10 girls had signed up, maybe 15 girls. I got the list back and 70 had signed up. I was like, that just goes to show that when given the opportunity, girls want to try new things and they want to challenge themselves. Ambition and drive are universally distributed across the globe. It's just a matter of who gets the opportunity to actually pursue that ambition.

From there, we began collecting gear. Local stores were donating in-kind donations, so we had a total of 120 pairs of running shoes. Through public support and in-kind or monetary donations, we were able to bring out a kit for each girl that consisted of granola bars, socks, shoes, sports bras, water bottles, backpacks, things like that. And so myself, alongside three volunteers, brought 12 duffels full of all that gear.

Q: Who were the volunteers?

A: One of them was my best friend, along with another girl from Minnesota, someone I've known for a while. She didn't have any running background, but ended up being exactly what we needed. The last girl was from New York. She had volunteered previously at the school.

So it was a younger group of us and I was a little concerned. But it ended up actually being terrific because we were able to form deep bonds with these girls because they were so close in age to us. We learned as much about their culture as they learned from us. And I think that's what it's all about. It's not us coming in and forcing our ideas and this sport on them.

The school serves primarily girls from very vulnerable backgrounds. In Tanzania, fewer than half the girls attend secondary school. The causes of that range all over, but your typical things are lack of transportation, having to work at an early age.

SEGA is a private school, funded by a nonprofit based in Massachusetts called Nurturing Minds. Almost all the girls at this school not only graduate from secondary school, but then go on to advanced secondary education and then to university. The school supports them in entrepreneurship activities. it was definitely a great school to be able to familiarize ourselves with Tanzania, learn more and understand its culture.

Q: What age were the girls?

A: They ranged from 13 to 19. Our goal was to meet the girls where they were, then build them up from there. Yes, you come in with a plan and a curriculum, and at the same time we let things grow somewhat organically.

We started off running, and these girls are beyond impressive. When I say these girls are some of the most special, incredible girls that I've met, I mean it. They are so bright and driven and resilient and every other positive adjective you could think of. And if given the opportunity, they really do have the power to change their communities and uplift their families and create the change that we all hope to see in the world.

Q: Had the girls had any running experience before that?

A: It was everyone's first time having a pair of running shoes, almost everyone's first time participating formally in the sport of running.

Q: Were you speaking English?

A: Yeah, the main languages are English and Swahili, so the girls are all fluent in English.

Some of these girls just took off. And I was like, OK, there's some talent here. There are girls that could take this far. Our goal was not to create Olympians. But to see how naturally talented some of these girls were was really exciting for me.

Running is an incredibly inclusive sport. Some are going to be faster than others, but everyone can participate. Everyone is pushing themselves regardless of where they're at and actual performance.

It's like that unique combination of individualism and teamwork, being able to push yourself, but also work in a group toward something bigger. And taking it one step further, it helps you develop important skills that translate into school, into lives and into professions. So [they are] building confidence, self-esteem, sense of purpose, resilience.

Our goal was not to just come in and lead practices. It was to introduce the girls to formal running, teach them how to structure training and lead practices on their own. Once we really feel like this first team is rooted and we're able to take a little bit of a step back from there, we'll look to expand to other schools. We're here to support but also give them the autonomy to lead themselves independently and not fully rely on us.

When we got home, we got on a zoom call with the girls, and I asked, "Has anyone been running?" And everyone just erupted with cheers. They're like, "We've been leading our own practices every day still." They loved it, they really loved it,

I've always had this profound belief that sport, and particularly running, can have this life-changing impact for the better. But to be able to see it and witness it concretely is another thing.

That just furthered the fire to continue growing Girls Run Global and taking it further and supporting more girls through this sport that, again, has changed my life and already positively impacted these 70 girls.