American billionaire Bill Gates has recognised Kenyan Kakenya Ntaiya as a hero, for her contribution towards improving the lives of women and girls in her community.
Gates honoured Kakenya as one of the “Heroes in the Field,” an initiative that he says, “seeks to recognise people who work to make the world better without fame or recognition.”
Kakenya has previously been named among the top 10 CNN persons of the year and Obama Foundation Africa Leader!
However, prior to her accolades, 13-year- old Kakenya Ntaiya was faced with a critical choice a girl her age should never have to make.
It was either to undergo the painful cut and become a wife at 13, or rebelling against ingrained and revered traditions of her Maasai community. Kakenya settled for the latter.
With the help of her villagers and scholarships, Ntaiya went on to earn her undergraduate degree and PhD in Education in the USA.
Ntaiya came back home and founded Kakenya’s Dream, a non-profit dedicated to girl child education and curtailing harmful traditions such as early marriage and FGM.
She collaborates with village elders who donated the land upon which she built the Kakenya’s Center for Excellence.
The school enrols pre-pubescent girls, who are at an age when parents are likely to start pulling them out of school for early marriage.
The institution provides housing, uniforms, books, and strong education, and in return, parents have to agree not to subject their daughters to FGM and early marriage while still in school.
Kakenya also runs programmes to sensitise Maasai boys and community members on the dangers of genital cutting and child marriage.
