Kakenya Ntaiya: A girl who demanded school | TED

Summary

This powerful script narrates the journey of a Maasai woman from Kenya who defied cultural norms and female genital mutilation to pursue education and become a teacher. Despite early marriage arrangements and traditional rites, she negotiated her way to school, endured physical and societal challenges, and ultimately founded a girls' school in her village. Her story is a testament to courage and the transformative power of education, inspiring change in her community and advocating for women's rights.

Takeaways

• 🌍 The Maasai people of Kenya are renowned for their height, agility, and traditional attire, and are known for their lion hunting practices.
• 🏃‍♂️ The Maasai culture traditionally raises boys to be warriors and girls to be mothers, with early engagements being common.
• 🕓 The speaker's daily routine from a young age was filled with chores and responsibilities, all aimed at preparing her for marriage and wifely duties.
• 🏫 Education was not a traditional priority for Maasai women, but the speaker's mother insisted on it due to her own lack of education and the hardships it brought.
• 👮‍♂️ The speaker's father, a city policeman, was an absent figure who would occasionally return to sell family possessions and cause domestic strife.
• 📚 The speaker aspired to be a teacher, viewing it as a prestigious and less laborious profession compared to farm work.
• 🎓 A pivotal moment in her education was the pressure to undergo a rite of passage that would transition her into womanhood and potentially end her schooling, which she negotiated with her father.
• 🩸 The script describes the brutal practice of female genital mutilation, which the speaker underwent as part of her initiation into womanhood.
• 🛑 The speaker's mother took extraordinary steps to ensure her daughter's health post-circumcision by seeking medical help, which was unusual in their community.
• 🌱 The speaker's determination to educate herself and her advocacy for women's rights were fueled by her experiences and the realization of her and her mother's rights.
• 🏛️ The establishment of a girls' school in her village was a significant step towards providing safe education and opportunities for girls, challenging traditional norms.
• 🚀 The impact of the school is profound, with girls like Angeline transforming their lives and achieving academic excellence, defying their circumstances.
• 🌟 The speaker calls for action and challenges the audience to be pioneers in making a difference, emphasizing the ripple effect of individual efforts on communities and countries.

Q & A

Who are the Maasais and what is unique about them?

The Maasais are a group of people from Kenya known for their tall stature, high jumping abilities, and traditional attire of red clothing. They are also known for their practice of hunting lions.

What was the traditional expectation for girls in the Maasai culture as described in the script?

In the Maasai culture, girls are traditionally brought up to be mothers and are expected to undergo a rite of passage to womanhood, which includes female genital mutilation, and to become wives at a young age.

What was the speaker's dream when she was young and why was it significant?

The speaker's dream was to become a teacher because she admired the appearance and perceived ease of the profession compared to the hard work she did on the farm. This dream was significant as it represented her desire for a different life than the traditional path expected of her.

What was the turning point in the speaker's life that allowed her to continue her education?

The turning point was when the speaker negotiated with her father to only go through the traditional ceremony if she was allowed to continue her education. This agreement allowed her to attend high school and eventually pursue higher education.

What is the significance of the morning in the Maasai culture as mentioned in the script?

In the Maasai culture, the morning is believed to bring good news. The speaker used this belief to her advantage by seeking support for her education early in the morning from the village chief and other influential men.

What was the ceremony the speaker had to go through to become a woman in her culture?

The ceremony the speaker had to go through was female genital mutilation, a rite of passage to womanhood in the Maasai culture, which involves the cutting of the clitoris.

How did the speaker's experience in America change her perspective on her culture and the rights of women?

The speaker's experience in America made her realize that female genital mutilation was against the law in Kenya and that women had the right to own property and not be abused. This new understanding motivated her to make a difference in her community.

What initiative did the speaker take to create change in her community regarding the education and rights of girls?

The speaker initiated the building of a girls' school in her community, providing a safe place for girls to learn and be protected from harmful cultural practices such as early marriage and female genital mutilation.

What impact has the establishment of the girls' school had on the community?

The establishment of the girls' school has led to 125 girls being protected from female genital mutilation and child marriage, allowing them to pursue their dreams and education, and has contributed to a cultural shift where women are no longer beaten due to the changes initiated.

What message does the speaker convey to the audience in the conclusion of her speech?

The speaker challenges the audience to be the first to make a difference, to be bold, stand up, and be fearless in order to create a better future for children and to contribute to a more peaceful world.

Outlines

00:00

👥 The Maasai Culture and Early Engagements

This paragraph introduces the Maasai people of Kenya, known for their height, agility, and traditional attire. The speaker, a Maasai herself, shares her upbringing and the cultural expectations placed on her as a girl, including early engagement and domestic responsibilities. It also touches on the gender dynamics within the Maasai community, with women being denied education and property rights, and the hardships faced by her mother due to her father's actions.

05:03

🎓 Pursuing Education Amidst Cultural Traditions

The speaker recounts her determination to pursue education despite the Maasai tradition of female genital mutilation and early marriage. She describes her negotiation with her father to continue schooling after undergoing the rite of passage and her experiences and realizations upon arriving in America, including the illegality of female genital mutilation in Kenya and the rights of women to own property.

10:06

🏫 Establishing a Girls' School and Transforming Lives

The final paragraph details the speaker's efforts to establish a girls' school in her village, overcoming initial resistance from the community. She highlights the transformative impact of education on the girls, including Angeline, who despite being an orphan and older than the typical student, excels in school and aspires to be a pilot. The speaker concludes with a call to action, urging the audience to be pioneers in creating positive change in their communities and the world.

Keywords

💡Maasais

The Maasais are an ethnic group inhabiting Kenya and northern Tanzania, known for their tall stature and traditional customs. They are central to the video's narrative as the speaker identifies as a Maasai and shares her personal experiences growing up within this culture. The Maasais are portrayed as having a significant influence on the speaker's life, shaping her early understanding of gender roles and societal expectations.

💡Warriors and Mothers

In the context of the Maasai culture, 'warriors and mothers' refers to the traditional gender roles assigned to boys and girls, respectively. Boys are raised to be warriors, while girls are expected to become mothers. This concept is integral to the video's theme, illustrating the societal pressures and expectations that the speaker faced from a young age, and which she ultimately had to navigate in pursuit of her education and personal aspirations.

💡Engagement

The term 'engagement' in the script refers to the early arrangement of the speaker's marriage, which is a traditional practice in the Maasai culture. This practice is highlighted as a significant factor in the video, showcasing the early life decisions that were made for the speaker and the cultural norms she had to confront. It also underscores the limitations placed on her freedom and the challenges she faced in pursuing an education and an alternative life path.

💡Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM, is a traditional practice that involves the partial or total removal of the female genitalia for non-medical reasons. In the video, the speaker describes her own experience with FGM, which is a critical part of the narrative. It represents a human rights issue and a cultural practice that the speaker later works to eradicate in her community, tying into the broader theme of gender equality and women's rights.

💡Education

Education is a central theme in the video, representing a pathway to empowerment and change for the speaker. The speaker's desire for education is depicted as a driving force behind her resistance to traditional norms and her pursuit of a different life. The term is used to illustrate the transformative power of learning and the importance of access to education for girls in the Maasai community and beyond.

💡Ceremony

The 'ceremony' mentioned in the script refers to a rite of passage into womanhood in the Maasai culture, which includes the practice of FGM. The ceremony is a pivotal moment in the video, marking a crossroads for the speaker between adhering to tradition and pursuing her dreams. It is also a symbol of the cultural challenges she had to overcome in order to continue her education.

💡Property Rights

Property rights, as discussed in the video, pertain to the legal right to own, use, and control property. The speaker's mother's lack of property rights is highlighted as an example of gender inequality within the Maasai community. This concept is tied to the broader theme of women's rights and the systemic disadvantages faced by women in traditional societies.

💡Determination

Determination is a key attribute of the speaker's character, demonstrated through her unwavering commitment to her education and her resistance to cultural pressures. The term is used in the script to describe her resolve in the face of adversity, from negotiating with her father to continue her education to advocating for change in her community.

💡Tradition

Tradition is a recurring theme in the video, referring to the established customs and practices of the Maasai culture. The speaker navigates the complexities of tradition, both as a part of her identity and as a source of conflict with her aspirations. The term is used to explore the tension between preserving cultural heritage and embracing progress, particularly in terms of gender equality.

💡Empowerment

Empowerment in the video is depicted as the process of gaining control over one's life and making independent decisions. The speaker's journey is one of empowerment, as she seeks education, challenges cultural norms, and works towards improving the lives of girls in her community. The term is used to convey the transformative impact of education and agency on individuals and communities.

💡Community Support

Community support is a critical element in the speaker's story, as she relies on the backing of her village to pursue her education and later to establish a school for girls. The term is used to illustrate the collective effort required to effect change, emphasizing the importance of solidarity and collaboration in overcoming cultural barriers and promoting gender equality.

Highlights

The Maasai people of Kenya are renowned for their height, jumping ability, red attire, and lion hunting traditions.

The speaker, a Maasai herself, describes the traditional upbringing of Maasai children, with boys as warriors and girls as mothers.

At the age of five, the speaker was already engaged and expected to marry upon reaching puberty.

Maasai girls are trained from a young age in domestic chores, preparing them for marriage and family life.

The speaker's mother, despite being denied an education, insisted her children attend school to avoid her hardships.

The speaker's father's absence and misuse of family resources highlighted the power imbalance in Maasai society.

The speaker's dream of becoming a teacher was influenced by the perceived ease of the job compared to farm work.

A rite of passage ceremony threatened to end the speaker's educational aspirations, but she negotiated with her father to continue school.

The ceremony involved female genital mutilation, a practice the speaker later learned was illegal and harmful.

Despite the physical and emotional trauma of the ceremony, the speaker's mother sought medical help, showing defiance of tradition.

The speaker's determination to become a teacher was fueled by her desire to make a difference in her family and community.

Meeting a man from her village who attended university in the U.S. inspired the speaker to pursue higher education abroad.

The speaker's journey to America was fraught with cultural shocks, from snow to the abundance of resources.

Learning about her rights and the injustices faced by women in her community motivated the speaker to take action.

The speaker established a girls' school in her village, providing a safe and educational environment for girls at risk.

The transformative impact of the school is evident in the stories of girls like Angeline, who defied expectations to excel.

The speaker challenges the audience to be pioneers in creating change, emphasizing the ripple effect of individual actions.

The speaker envisions a peaceful world where children can grow up free from the injustices she experienced.

Transcripts

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

There's a group of people in Kenya.

People cross oceans to go see them.

These people are tall.

They jump high. They wear red.

And they kill lions.

You might be wondering, who are these people?

These are the Maasais.

And you know what's cool? I'm actually one of them.

The Maasais, the boys are brought up to be warriors.

The girls are brought up to be mothers.

When I was five years old,

I found out that I was engaged

to be married as soon as I reached puberty.

My mother, my grandmother, my aunties,

they constantly reminded me that

your husband just passed by.

(Laughter) Cool, yeah?

And everything I had to do from that moment

was to prepare me to be a perfect woman at age 12.

My day started at 5 in the morning,

milking the cows, sweeping the house,

cooking for my siblings, collecting water, firewood.

I did everything that I needed to do

to become a perfect wife.

I went to school not because the Maasais'

women or girls were going to school.

It's because my mother was denied an education,

and she constantly reminded me and my siblings that

she never wanted us to live the life she was living.

Why did she say that?

My father worked as a policeman in the city.

He came home once a year.

We didn't see him for sometimes even two years.

And whenever he came home, it was a different case.

My mother worked hard in the farm

to grow crops so that we can eat.

She reared the cows and the goats

so that she can care for us.

But when my father came, he would sell the cows,

he would sell the products we had,

and he went and drank with his friends in the bars.

Because my mother was a woman,

she was not allowed to own any property,

and by default, everything in my family anyway

belongs to my father, so he had the right.

And if my mother ever questioned him,

he beat her, abused her, and really it was difficult.

When I went to school, I had a dream.

I wanted to become a teacher.

Teachers looked nice.

They wear nice dresses, high-heeled shoes.

I found out later that they are uncomfortable, but I admired it.

(Laughter)

But most of all, the teacher was just writing on the board --

not hard work, that's what I thought,

compared to what I was doing in the farm.

So I wanted to become a teacher.

I worked hard in school, but when I was in eighth grade,

it was a determining factor.

In our tradition, there is a ceremony

that girls have to undergo to become women,

and it's a rite of passage to womanhood.

And then I was just finishing my eighth grade,

and that was a transition for me to go to high school.

This was the crossroad.

Once I go through this tradition, I was going to become a wife.

Well, my dream of becoming a teacher will not come to pass.

So I talked -- I had to come up with a plan

to figure these things out.

I talked to my father. I did something that most girls have never done.

I told my father, "I will only go through this ceremony

if you let me go back to school."

The reason why, if I ran away,

my father will have a stigma, people will be calling him

the father of that girl who didn't go through the ceremony.

It was a shameful thing for him to carry the rest of his life.

So he figured out. "Well," he said, "okay,

you'll go to school after the ceremony."

I did. The ceremony happened.

It's a whole week long of excitement.

It's a ceremony. People are enjoying it.

And the day before the actual ceremony happens,

we were dancing, having excitement,

and through all the night we did not sleep.

The actual day came, and we walked out of the house

that we were dancing in. Yes, we danced and danced.

We walked out to the courtyard, and there were a bunch of people waiting.

They were all in a circle.

And as we danced and danced,

and we approached this circle of women,

men, women, children, everybody was there.

There was a woman sitting in the middle of it,

and this woman was waiting to hold us.

I was the first. There were my sisters and a couple of other girls,

and as I approached her,

she looked at me, and I sat down.

And I sat down, and I opened my legs.

As I opened my leg, another woman came,

and this woman was carrying a knife.

And as she carried the knife, she walked toward me

and she held the clitoris, and she cut it off.

As you can imagine, I bled. I bled.

After bleeding for a while, I fainted thereafter.

It's something that so many girls --

I'm lucky, I never died -- but many die.

It's practiced, it's no anesthesia, it's a rusty old knife,

and it was difficult.

I was lucky because one, also, my mom did something

that most women don't do.

Three days later, after everybody has left the home,

my mom went and brought a nurse.

We were taken care of.

Three weeks later, I was healed, and I was back in high school.

I was so determined to be a teacher now

so that I could make a difference in my family.

Well, while I was in high school, something happened.

I met a young gentleman from our village

who had been to the University of Oregon.

This man was wearing a white t-shirt, jeans, camera,

white sneakers -- and I'm talking about white sneakers.

There is something about clothes, I think, and shoes.

They were sneakers, and this is in a village

that doesn't even have paved roads. It was quite attractive.

I told him, "Well, I want to go to where you are,"

because this man looked very happy, and I admired that.

And he told me, "Well,

what do you mean, you want to go?

Don't you have a husband waiting for you?"

And I told him, "Don't worry about that part.

Just tell me how to get there."

This gentleman, he helped me.

While I was in high school also, my dad was sick.

He got a stroke, and he was really, really sick,

so he really couldn't tell me what to do next.

But the problem is, my father is not the only father I have.

Everybody who is my dad's age, male in the community,

is my father by default --

my uncles, all of them -- and they dictate what my future is.

So the news came, I applied to school

and I was accepted to Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia,

and I couldn't come without the support of the village,

because I needed to raise money to buy the air ticket.

I got a scholarship but I needed to get myself here.

But I needed the support of the village,

and here again, when the men heard,

and the people heard that a woman had gotten an opportunity to go to school,

they said, "What a lost opportunity.

This should have been given to a boy. We can't do this."

So I went back and I had to go back to the tradition.

There's a belief among our people

that morning brings good news.

So I had to come up with something to do with the morning,

because there's good news in the morning.

And in the village also, there is one chief, an elder,

who if he says yes, everybody will follow him.

So I went to him very early in the morning, as the sun rose.

The first thing he sees when he opens his door is, it's me.

"My child, what are you doing here?"

"Well, Dad, I need help. Can you support me to go to America?"

I promised him that I would be the best girl,

I will come back, anything they wanted after that,

I will do it for them.

He said, "Well, but I can't do it alone."

He gave me a list of another 15 men that I went --

16 more men -- every single morning

I went and visited them.

They all came together.

The village, the women, the men, everybody came together

to support me to come to get an education.

I arrived in America. As you can imagine, what did I find?

I found snow!

I found Wal-Marts, vacuum cleaners,

and lots of food in the cafeteria.

I was in a land of plenty.

I enjoyed myself, but during that moment while I was here,

I discovered a lot of things.

I learned that that ceremony that I went through

when I was 13 years old, it was called female genital mutilation.

I learned that it was against the law in Kenya.

I learned that I did not have to trade part of my body

to get an education. I had a right.

And as we speak right now, three million girls

in Africa are at risk of going through this mutilation.

I learned that my mom had a right to own property.

I learned that she did not have to be abused

because she is a woman.

Those things made me angry.

I wanted to do something.

As I went back, every time I went,

I found that my neighbors' girls were getting married.

They were getting mutilated, and here,

after I graduated from here, I worked at the U.N.,

I went back to school to get my graduate work,

the constant cry of these girls was in my face.

I had to do something.

As I went back, I started talking to the men,

to the village, and mothers, and I said,

"I want to give back the way I had promised you

that I would come back and help you. What do you need?"

As I spoke to the women, they told me,

"You know what we need? We really need a school for girls."

Because there had not been any school for girls.

And the reason they wanted the school for girls

is because when a girl is raped when she's walking to school,

the mother is blamed for that.

If she got pregnant before she got married,

the mother is blamed for that, and she's punished.

She's beaten.

They said, "We wanted to put our girls in a safe place."

As we moved, and I went to talk to the fathers,

the fathers, of course, you can imagine what they said:

"We want a school for boys."

And I said, "Well, there are a couple of men from my village

who have been out and they have gotten an education.

Why can't they build a school for boys,

and I'll build a school for girls?"

That made sense. And they agreed.

And I told them, I wanted them to show me a sign of commitment.

And they did. They donated land where we built the girls' school.

We have.

I want you to meet one of the girls in that school.

Angeline came to apply for the school,

and she did not meet any criteria that we had.

She's an orphan. Yes, we could have taken her for that.

But she was older. She was 12 years old,

and we were taking girls who were in fourth grade.

Angeline had been moving from one place --

because she's an orphan, she has no mother, she has no father --

moving from one grandmother's house to another one,

from aunties to aunties. She had no stability in her life.

And I looked at her, I remember that day,

and I saw something beyond what I was seeing in Angeline.

And yes, she was older to be in fourth grade.

We gave her the opportunity to come to the class.

Five months later, that is Angeline.

A transformation had begun in her life.

Angeline wants to be a pilot so she can fly around the world

and make a difference.

She was not the top student when we took her.

Now she's the best student, not just in our school,

but in the entire division that we are in.

That's Sharon. That's five years later.

That's Evelyn. Five months later, that is the difference that we are making.

As a new dawn is happening in my school,

a new beginning is happening.

As we speak right now, 125 girls will never be mutilated.

One hundred twenty-five girls will not be married when they're 12 years old.

One hundred twenty-five girls are creating and achieving their dreams.

This is the thing that we are doing,

giving them opportunities where they can rise.

As we speak right now, women are not being beaten

because of the revolutions we've started in our community.

(Applause)

I want to challenge you today.

You are listening to me because you are here,

very optimistic.

You are somebody who is so passionate.

You are somebody who wants to see a better world.

You are somebody who wants to see that war ends, no poverty.

You are somebody who wants to make a difference.

You are somebody who wants to make our tomorrow better.

I want to challenge you today that to be the first,

because people will follow you.

Be the first. People will follow you.

Be bold. Stand up. Be fearless. Be confident.

Move out, because as you change your world,

as you change your community,

as we believe that we are impacting one girl, one family,

one village, one country at a time.

We are making a difference, so if you change your world,

you are going to change your community,

you are going to change your country,

and think about that. If you do that, and I do that,

aren't we going to create a better future for our children,

for your children, for our grandchildren?

And we will live in a very peaceful world. Thank you very much.

(Applause)