KaKenya is a young girl from Maasai, Kenya that decided to continue in school instead of dropping out at 12 years old and becoming a teen mother. She told her father that she wanted to continue school. He agreed if she goes through her woman ceremony. During her woman ceremony, she endured the most painful genital mutilation. She was in pain for weeks, but she did attend high school. After graduation she received a scholarship to a college in Virginia. She is the first girl in her village to attend college and earn her PhD. Afterwards, she returned back to her community to help her people. She found out that it was illegal in Kenya to mutilate girls and they had the right to own land. She founded an organization called KaKenya Center for Excellence. Girls were able to go to school and not get mutilated anymore and gave them their self-worth back (KaKenya Center for Excellence, 2016). Loved this story!
In KaKenya’s story she realized that education
was important and would change her life for the better. Even though her mother
was not educated she instilled in her children that they should have a better
life than her. No matter what country you are born in education gives you a
better quality of life (KaKenya Center for Excellence, 2016).
The fact that the men in her society felt like
boys were better, KaKenya fought the odds and changed her life and the life of
woman in her village. I hated the fact that men thought her scholarship was a
waste because it did not go to boy. However, she found a way for her village to
get her plane ticket to the USA to go to college. I hope today the men in her
village are no longer sexist (KaKenya Center for Excellence, 2016).
KaKenya Center for Excellence. (2016).
http://blog.teacollection.com/kakenya-gfc#more-18989?utm_source=GFC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2016MarGiveBackEmail
Watch her story on TED:
https://www.ted.com/talks/kakenya_ntaiya_a_girl_who_demanded_school?language=en