Education Programs
Western education provides Indigenous people, such as the Maasai, with tools to protect themselves and their land from the encroachment of agriculture, wage labor, and other aspects of modern development that threaten survival. However, where western education replaces traditional education systems, where for example, young Maasai men are forced to chose between secondary school and the depth cultural education received through warrior training, formal education becomes corrosive of the very society and culture that it has to potential to protect. If there is a single consensus emerging in Maasailand, it is that the surest way to end social, economic and political marginalization is by creating and implementing culturally competent educational opportunities in Maasailand. Education also appears to provide the best opportunity for the modernized world to learn from Indigenous people about aspects of their cultures, such as typically deep connections to the natural world and strategies for living sustainably. For all of these reasons, the work of the Maasai Community Partnership Project is focused above all on education.
Formal Education and Cultural Survival
The Kenyan education system includes eight years of primary school, four of secondary school, and four of university. Passage into secondary and university education is dependent upon passage of two standardized exams administered nationwide to students during the final years of primary and secondary school—these exams are offered one time only and failure blocks a student from continuing to secondary school. The country does not have sufficient schools for all of its children, and rural areas are particularly underserved. While primary tuition is now free, boarding schools are not, and all children must pay for uniforms, books and other expenses. Standardized curriculum promotes Christianity, English language to the exclusion of mother tongues, and is typically critical of pastoral lifestyles. All of this and more impose challenges on Maasai families desiring education for their children. In spite of these challenges, Maasai people are desperate for education, as an illiterate community that cannot read land contracts or political news cannot protect its own interests.
Children at Siana Primary School, Kenya
Maasai Education and Leadership Center
To facilitate this work, the MCPP established the Maasai Education, Research and Conservation Institute, located on 10 acres near the Talek River, adjacent to the Maasai Mara Game Reserve. In June, 2010, we completed construction of a library, office, classroom and media center complex. The overall camp plan is based on the design of students of the Ecosa Institute, Prescott AZ, and it makes use of local building materials. The center provides:
- Office space for the MCPP, the Maasai Media Center, and Women’s Empowerment Programs.
- Site of adult education activities, including HIV/AIDS and health education, and civic education.
- Space for culturally competent tutoring for Maasai children at the primary and secondary level, helping them further their education and ensuring the survival of their culture.
- Host space for seminars and conferences for teachers, students, elders, parents and elected or appointed officials to discuss and plan culturally competent curriculum and strategies for education in Maasailand.
- Housing for the Prescott College field studies program.
- Housing for our project’s growing research library, which will continue to be made available to Maasai communities and students, outside researchers, and Prescott College classes.
We plan to continue, with the construction of tourist accommodations and dorms for students and staff in the coming year, as funds become available.
Scholarships:
We have continued to link friends in the U.S. with other Maasai students needing scholarships. At present, our project is funneling scholarships to 5 university students (all boys,) 16 secondary students at Narok High, St. Mary’s Secondary, and Ole Tipis Secondary, (8 girls, 8 boys,) and 30 primary students (24 girls and 6 boys,) at St. Mary’s Academy, Olive Academy, and Siana Primary. We also were able to help with $6,500 in emergency scholarships in Narok and Kajiado for children in desperate need of gap funding. All recipients of these scholarships are completely without other options and would not be able to attend school without this assistance. Care is given to ensure that scholarships are given to children who are committed to their education, and that they are distributed widely throughout Maasailand, especially in rural areas.
Maasailand University
Ultimately, the challenge of creating educational opportunities in for the Maasai community that support cultural survival will only be met with the establishment of a university in Maasailand. We envision the University becoming a center for research into issues of Indigenous rights, cultural survival, environmental conservation, liberation history, and models of social change. The university will be the only institution of higher learning primarily serving Maasai students and the capstone to all of our other programs focused on culturally competent education. Our plan is to reach out to Indigenous faculty in other parts of Africa and the world to generate a ”think tank” rooted in an Indigenous perspective to imagine and implement solutions to our planet’s contemporary challenges. The Maasai Leadership University will provide a core curriculum relevant to Maasai leadership, education and cultural and environmental preservation.
We believe that with a clear vision, serious planning and the support of friends, we will achieve this goal in the next 6-10 years.
