I was having a chat with a Maasai woman over Lunch today. She has no education whatsoever and I was curious to know why she chose the path that she is on. Ann (not her real name) was circumcised at a very young age, her father only saw girls as wealth and nothing else. He did not take Ann or any of her other sisters to school. When she was first taken to her husband, she was so innocent and naïve that she thought it was a normal visit to the neighbours. Little did she know that was to be her home. She was married off as the fourth wife to an old man. He was so old that some of his children were almost her age. She is silent for some seconds as if in a deep thought. She then laughs and tells me, “I was so young, that when my husband came home and the rest of the children ran to meet and greet him, I always found myself wanting to run too. I was still a child; I didn’t understand what was going on. I cried many times and would ask them to take me back home. When I finally did understand, I feared him so much.
”One day I was making Ugali with him in the room and I completely forgot. I was so fearful because it had stayed on the fire for so long. He told me that it was already cooked and I should serve. The whole room burst into laughter. The scenario seems funny but I can imagine the agony she underwent. The time was just right for me to ask her a burning question, “How old were you Ann?” “What do I know about age?” she asks me. I try to push her into giving me a rough figure but she cannot. She just doesn’t know her age to date and is very genuine. She then goes on to say that she doesn’t even like to think of any other girl going through the same experience. It was unbearable at first until it became normal, but an abnormal normal. Ann is an anti-FGM advocate in Namanga division, Kajiado County.Maasai girls were not valued because they were seen as members of the family who are not permanent as they will move households and clans once they get married. In the Maasai community a girl is worth 4 to 5 cows and several sheep and goats. This simply means that girls are mostly seen as conduits to bringing bride wealth to their families. FGM and early forced marriages were common in rural areas. Education was delayed, that is if you were lucky to even go to school. Most men were unwilling to wait years to see a return from their education investment in a girl yet she could bring returns through dowry. Only 20% of girls were admitted to school, few finished primary school and even less transitioned to secondary school and universities. Most of the girls stayed at home and helped their parents with house chores and looking after the animals as they wait for the girl to become of age, at least what they assumed was good age for marriage.
Today, there is a great improvement in the community. The enrollment of Maasai girls to school stands at 48%, this came after the introduction of free primary education in 2003. The enactment of the anti-FGM act to law has seen a decline in FGM. The community has since resolved to an alternative rite of passage, where girls are taken through a comprehensive course of life-skills and community values and later graduate to mark the initiation to womanhood. At the graduation, the community elders bless the girls to go prosper in their education unlike in the past where they would be blessed to have many children. Women empowerment in the villages is also on the rise with education penetrating to the roots of the community and it seeing its fruits. The men has allowed women to engage in different economic activities of their choice. They have formed welfare groups where they raise money and upscale their businesses hence providing for the families and can even take their children to schools. Investing in girls is a must in a community where a woman does not have a voice or a place.
By Jedidah Lemaron, Kajiado County
Jedidah Lemaron is the Founder and Executive Director of the Malkia Initiative, which works to promote and enhance quality education for girls. Our main focus is on Mentorship, Menstrual Hygiene Management and re-admission of teenage mothers to school, she is passionate about Education, Youth, Girls, and Women. As a Maasai girl she works to change the lives of the community by exploring ways to engage the diverse group of actors including the Maasai elders, community gate keepers, role models, youth and women into finding even better solutions to close the evident gaps. She has worked on campaigns such as ‘Girls not brides’, and ‘Do not exchange girls with cows’ and ‘End FGM Now,’ among others.
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