Massage therapists donate time to support women in Africa

South Lake Tahoe entrepreneurs and small businesses will host the first Massage for the Masses Nov. 12-13, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to support Dolphin Anti-Rape and AIDS Control Outreach, a Kenya-based rape-prevention organization.

Elevate Wellness and Biospirit are donating their studio and spa space to host the event, and a dozen local massage therapists are giving their time to provide 25- and 55-minute massages.

Jennifer Gurecki and Julie Lowe are organizing the event. Gurecki has worked with Dolphin for five years and travels to Kenya regularly to provide technical assistance to the organization.

BioSpirit (530.541.5511, 1116 Ski Run Blvd.) will provide massages Nov. 12 and Elevate Wellness (530.541.9355, 1113 Emerald Bay Road) Nov. 13. Call one of the numbers to make an appointment.

Massage therapists include: Jennifer Webb, Rosemary Manning, Crystal Honeck, Ali Warren, Heidi Meiser, Nancy Gayner, Teresa Bertrand, Coco Maliya, Jennifer Ross, and Vickey Waldo.

The suggested minimum donation is $30 for a 25-minute mini-massage and $60 for a 55-minute massage.

Dolphin is a nationally-registered Kenyan nongovernmental organization that has delivered life-saving sexual violence prevention and self-defense education since 1998. For less than $1 per child, it provides Nairobi’s youth with innovative and life-changing strategies that can save their lives. Dolphin has empowered and educated more than 1 million schoolchildren and teachers. More than 250 children and adults have reportedly used the skills to stop sexual violence in their lives.

The HIV rate among women in Kenya is four times higher than that of men, and 25 percent of women and girls aged 12-14 report having lost their virginity by force, according to UNAIDS. In Nairobi, the capitol of Kenya, the women’s hospital receives an average of 18 cases of rape and incest each day.