A girl who demanded school Kakenya Ntaiya
there’s a group of people in Kenya
people across oceans to go see them
these people are tall they jump high
they were red and they kill lions you
might be wondering who atmosphere for
these are they massage you know what’s
cool I’m actually one of them the
Messiah is 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 aunt is the
constantly reminded me that your husband
just passed by
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 five
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 Messiah’s women or girls
were going to school 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
whenever he came home it was a different
case my mother walked had in the farm to
grow crops that we can eat she read the
cows and the goats so that she can care
for us but when my father came he would
sell the cows you will sell the products
we had and he went and drinked with his
friends in in the bus 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 she 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 were nice dresses high heels shoes
I found out later that they
uncomfortable but I had my edit
but most of all the teacher was just
writing in the board not had work that’s
what I thought compared to what i was
doing in the family 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’s a ceremony that girls have to
undergo to become women and it’s a rite
of passage two women would 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 talk 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 there is on
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 figure out well he said okay
we’ll go to 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 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
walk out of the house that we were
dancing as 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 cycle 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 it was the fast they 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 she
carried the knife she walked toward me
and she held my the clitoris and she cut
it off as you can imagine I bled I blit
after bleeding for a while I fainted the
after it’s something that so many girls
I’m lucky I never died but many died
it’s practice it’s no Anastasia 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 on us we
were taken care of three weeks later I
was healed and I was back in high school
I will so determined to be a teacher now
so that I can 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 white t-shirt jeans um camera um
white sneakers and I’m talking about
white sneakers is something about
clothes I think and shoes after my
sneakers and this is in a village that
doesn’t even have paved roads it was
quite attractive
I told him well um I want to go to where
you are because this man looked very
happy and I had my at 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
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 uncle’s 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 women’s
college in lynchburg virginia and I 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 when they
man had and the people had that I’m
woman had gotten us 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 go back to the tradition they
believe in our 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 this one
chief for an elder who has if he says
yes everybody will follow him so I went
to him very early in the morning as the
Sun Rise first thing he sees when he
wakes opens his door his 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’d 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 other 15 men that I
went 16 more men every single morning I
went to visit
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
warmer the vacuum cleaners and lots of
food in the cafeteria hours in a bland
of 20 I enjoyed myself but during that
moment while I was here I discovered a
loan 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 at risk of undergoing through
this mutilation I’ll and that my mom had
a right to own property I learned that
she did not have to be abused because
she’s a woman those things may be angry
I wanted to do something as i went back
every time I went I found that my
neighbor’s girls were getting married
they were getting mutilated and here
after i graduated from here walking and
worked at the UN i went back to school
to get my graduate work the constant cry
of this girl’s was on 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 speak to their women they told me
you know what we need we really need a
school for girls day because they 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
bitten they said we wanted to put our
girls in a safe place as we moved
I went to talk to their fathers their
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 got an education why can they
build a school for boys in our met bill
the 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 half of that but she was
older she was 12 years old and we’re
taking girls who were in fourth grade
Angeline had been moving from one place
because she’s an offer and she has no
mother she has no father moving from one
grandmother’s house to another one from
auntie’s to auntie’s she had no
stabilities 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 our life Angelina wants to be a
pilot so that she can fly around the
world into a difference she was not the
top student when we throw cash now she’s
the best student not just in our school
but in the entire division that we are
in that Sharon that’s five years later
that’s a 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 125 girls will not be married
when they’re 12 years old 125 girls are
creating and achieving their dreams this
is the thing that we are doing giving
them opportunities that they can rise as
we speak right now women and not being
beaten because of the revelations will
at it in our community
I want to challenge you today you’re
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 were somebody
who wants to see the war and no poverty
you are somebody who wants to make a
difference you’re somebody who wants to
make our tomorrow better I want to
challenge you today that you be the fast
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 you
see 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’re going to change
your community you’re going to change
your country and think about that if you
do that and I do that and we’re 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
you