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| Dear Friends of MGEF: Maasai girls must face many cultural and economic challenges to get an education. Only 48 percent of Maasai girls enroll in school, and just five percent of those who enroll will make it to secondary school. Most will be married off by the time they are 15 years old, and 90 percent will undergo genital mutilation.
MGEF is working to change these statistics by offering scholarships to girls who would otherwise not be able to go to school and by raising awareness in the community about the benefits of educating a daughter. Thanks to the commitment and support of many people, we are succeeding. |
| Redefining the Value of the Girl-Child
"To get a job and work is very important because I earn money, the money I use to help my mom." Simantoi Kilama, graduate of the Kenya Medical Training College, registered nurse and psychology student at the University of Nairobi
MGEF is educating girls whose families are either too  poor to afford to send their children to school, or who still subscribe to the traditional belief that the value of a daughter is in the dowry she will one day bring to her family when she marries.
Simantoi Kilama is the first girl in her family to go beyond a primary school education and MGEF's first college graduate. This past year she financed a new house for her parents. She regularly buys food for her family and uniforms for nieces and nephews, and she pays the family's medical bills. She is revered in her community, where neighbors tell her parents that they wish they had an "educated daughter like Simantoi." Simantoi's story is typical of all MGEF's graduates.
MGEF is committed to the complete education of our students and supports each one until she has the knowledge and skills to get a job in Kenya. After providing primary, secondary, and post-secondary school scholarships for nearly ten years, four of our students have graduated from vocational schools or colleges, and all are employed and economically independent. Seven more MGEF students will enter the workforce in 2010. All of our graduates provide financial support to their families, resulting in improved housing, nutrition, and health care, a continuous benefit that far exceeds the value of a one-time dowry. Their success and economic assistance to their families are changing the age-old oppressive beliefs about women. They are redefining the value of the girl-child. |
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Breaking Down the Barriers "My father sees my age and thinks only of marrying me off. I am not ready to be someone's wife, since I would like to achieve my academic satisfaction and change the living standard of my family." Timanoi Koyiah, University of Nairobi student
Anything is possible, and this year Timanoi Koyiah has proven it. Timanoi received a scholarship from MGEF in 2004 for her four years of high school, graduating in 2008. This September she was accepted to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Nairobi. Although ethnic records are not available from the University, we believe that Timanoi is the first Maasai woman to be accepted into this program. Timanoi is the eldest child in her family with two sisters now in primary school and one brother. Neither of her parents is educated, and her family lives in extreme poverty. The few cows they owned were lost to the drought this year, and her father would prefer her to marry.
MGEF is committed to ensuring an opportunity for economic independence for all of its students. At the close of 2009, 18 of 64 MGEF scholarship students were enrolled in vocational schools, colleges and universities, studying education, hospitality and tourism management, dental technology, international restaurant management, psychology, community development, business, and veterinary medicine. MGEF requires only that students choose a field with a viable job market in Kenya. |
| Providing Role Models "Let us do our best, because we are the role models that our society is hungry for." Caroline Kashinin, graduate of the Kenya Medical Training College and registered nurse, planning to get an MBA in the future
When Caroline Kashinin was a small girl,  women occasionally came to her rural hometown of Loitokitok (near the Tanzania border) to facilitate workshops for women. Caroline admired these women and asked herself "How do I get this power?" Only through education, she realized, and she begged to go to school. With a patchwork of scholarships, she completed secondary school. MGEF offered her the scholarship she needed to get her college education. Caroline is now a registered nurse working in a health clinic near her home. She is a role model.
There are only a handful of Maasai principals, teachers, nurses, or other professional women where Maasai girls live and go to school, and girls, who are typically undervalued, desperately need role models to give them hope. As MGEF students enter the workforce, they are becoming those role models.
Each spring, MGEF organizes a student gathering in Kajiado, bringing all of our students together from the far corners of an area the size of the state of New Jersey to hear successful Maasai women speak. Some of these speakers are MGEF scholarship students, either currently enrolled in colleges and universities or graduates of higher education, like Caroline, who are working, supporting themselves, and helping their families. At the gathering, women speak about the challenges they faced to get an education, and share how their lives, and the lives of their families, have changed because of it. This past year our guest speakers were Judith Pareno, a lawyer who is in private practice and the Treasurer of the Kajiado Community Development Fund, Winnie Shena, an officer from the Kenya Ministry of Health, MGEF student Caroline Kashinin, and many of our college and university students.
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| Making a Difference People are talking all over Kenya's Maasailand, because MGEF alumni are showing them that a Maasai woman with an education is a far greater asset to her family and community than a young Maasai bride with a one-time dowry of a few cows. Their families are now better off economically and respected in a way that was never before possible. In some cases, fathers that were formerly adamantly opposed to educating daughters are now ordering their sons to enroll their daughters in school.
None of this would be possible without the generous support of many people. On behalf of all Maasai and the Maasai Girls Education Fund, I would like to thank Aid for Africa, Green Park Foundation, Stiftung Kinder-Hilfe, The Tides Foundation, and the many individuals whose generous support and commitment to Maasai girls' education have contributed to our success, and the success of our students.
With gratitude and best wishes for the holiday season,
Barbara Lee Shaw |
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Submitted by Barbara Lee Shaw on 16 December, 2009 - 19:50
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