Empower Maasai Girls in Kenya

Dear friends, 

The rain has finally come to Kajiado County, Kenya. This has given some relief from the three-year drought that has plagued the Maasai community, and in turn has helped ease the minds of our students and their families. Though the drought-induced high loss of livestock will be felt for some time, there is hope of a brighter future.  

MGEF has a robust roster for Term 2 of 2023 with 151 students – 42 primary, 50 secondary, 41 post-secondary and 15 applying to or waiting for acceptance to institutions of higher learning.

This spring, MGEF conducted seven Life Skills Workshops (LSWs) in the Central Division of Kajiado County. To date, over 17,000 Maasai children and adults have participated in these important workshops. The LSWs present information and teach participants about barriers to education among the Maasai, including traditional cultural practices such as female genital cutting (FGC), forced marriage and early pregnancy. The workshops were very successful with all of the schools asking MGEF to return when possible. Many of the students were surprised to learn of their legal rights under Kenya’s Children’s Act. This law gives children the rights to an education, food, shelter, play and protection against violence and harmful cultural rights. The children had many questions and participated enthusiastically in numerous discussions at the workshops about the Children’s Act.   

In May, we conducted our second annual Career Guidance Workshop for graduated secondary students. This workshop helps our students choose well-suited careers for themselves, taking into account their passions and their academic strengths. Many MGEF alumnae help facilitate the workshop. With the array of different degrees among the alumnae, the students have an invaluable opportunity to have one-on-one sessions with their older MGEF sisters who have experience in the fields they are considering studying.  

This month MGEF honors Barbara Lee Shaw, MGEF’s founder. June 12th would have been her 80th birthday. Barbara dedicated the last years of her life to MGEF. She was a visionary and a woman of action, she cared deeply about everyone, and always made the world around her better.

The Inspiration for MGEF in Barbara’s Own Words

In August 1999, Barbara Lee Shaw began a photography project to document Maasai culture. She spent weeks camping among the Maasai in Kilonito, Kenya, where she was captivated by their hospitality, dances, and humor. It is also where she discovered the irresistible charm of Ntanin, the little Maasai girl who would inspire the creation of MGEF.

I met Ntanin on my first day in Kilonito. She approached me shyly with her head bowed, inviting me to touch the top of her head. She then quickly retreated, with a big smile. I loved her spirit, her curiosity, and her courage. I knew I could never forget that little girl.

I sat on the ground with Maasai women neating their beads, and I walked with Maasai boys as they guided their cattle and goats to the dry “river” to drink water pumped from an aquifer. I witnessed the hard life of Maasai women, whose days were spent caring for their many children, walking several kilometers to get water, washing clothes at the aquifers, gathering wood, and milking goats and cows. Maasai women taught me to cook chapati over an open fire. They also taught me the movements of their graceful dances. The experience gave me great respect for the Maasai, who have minimal physical comforts, but have immeasurable wealth in their cultural dignity.

As I spent my days walking from village to village, I learned about the problems of the Maasai people—poverty, inadequate health care, and illiteracy, especially among the women. I learned about the almost inevitable fate of Maasai girls to never learn to read, write, or speak a language other than their own native Maa; to be circumcised at the age of twelve or thirteen and married to a man her father chooses; to have many children regardless of her ability to provide for them; and to be dependent her whole life on a man and a family she did not choose.

I hated to think of such a fate for Ntanin.

Before Barbara left Kilonito, she persuaded Ntanin’s father to allow her to pay for Ntanin to attend school along with her young friend, Sempeyo. 

Back in the US, Barbara shared her captivating stories and others wanted to sponsor the education of Maasai girls too. Their conviction that increasing literacy among Maasai women in Kenya would have far-reaching benefits for all Maasai made the creation of MGEF in 2000 inevitable. 

Thanks to your support, MGEF and Barbara’s mission has continued to serve the Maasai community in Kajiado county Kenya.