Many people in the Maasai community consider the particular challenges faced by women and girls to be their top priority, and we are committed to supporting their efforts. Maasai women are especially disadvantaged in their access to formal education and other opportunities to develop leadership in the world outside of Maasailand. Because such a miniscule percentage of Maasai women have received formal education, and therefore they do not speak English, Swahili and other more widely used languages, Maasai women are as a group even more excluded from participating in decisions that impact their lives—made by the Kenyan government, NGOs, education policy makers, for example—than are Maasai men. For this reason, our project is dedicated to following the lead of Maasai women and supporting their visions.
Leadership Development
One of the Maasai community’s top priorities has been to support women students who, against the odds, have succeeded to prepare themselves for university education. For the past several years much of this effort has been directed to supporting the education and vision of Sekeyian Yiaile, a young Maasai activist whose passion is the education of Maasai girls. Sekeyian is currently finishing her Master’s Thesis at Prescott College, a detailed study of a health organization in Maasailand, suggesting ways in which NGOs can work more effectively with Maasai communities. Sekeyian has established an all-girls school in Lemek, which has a beautiful facility, trained teachers, and 180 children in grades 1 and 2. With the assistance of MERC, she has developed her own base of on-going financial support and her work is thriving
Siana Primary School
The project also provides scholarships to girls, and other institutional support, to Siana, a model Massai primary school that seeks to instill pride in Maasai students and give them high quality educations. Siana emphasizes girls’ education.
Research to Support Maasai Girls
Two summers ago, a Prescott College student, Jane Cabot, conducted research into Tasaru, a large “safe” house located in Narok, funded from the V-Day campaign, an American-based, but absentee, NGO. Following interviews with Maasai girls who had fled Tasaru, Jane found broad evidence of corruption in this program, and of sexual abuse of the Maasai girls living there. This tragedy significantly increased the mistrust of the Maasai community in regard to girls’ education. Following release of our report, V-Day has, we are glad to note, initiated an audit to investigate and correct the abuses.
Collaboration with WEB
In response to the findings about Tasaru, and in support of more positive efforts, the MCPP is facilitating a partnership between the Full Gospel Church in Narok with the Women’s Empowerment Breakthrough (WEB), a feminist student initiated Prescott College organization that works to educate and empower teenage girls in Prescott. The Full Gospel Church takes in run-away Maasai girls, finds them scholarships and provides safety, while helping them re-establish ties—on their own terms—with their communities. This exemplary program is completely Maasai led. This year, WEB began bringing Prescott girls to Maasailand to develop relationships with Maasai girls and to support their educations.
New Directions
The MCPP is currently building the Women’s Leadership Program office at our center near Talek, to provide Maasai women with resources and opportunities to pursue their visions.
