Education
84 pupils from poor backgrounds in the remote area of Mosiro ward in Narok East Sub County are a happy lot after a non-governmental organization offered them a full scholarship for their education.
The 77 girls and seven boys were on the verge of dropping school because their families could not afford to even purchase school uniform, when the Nashipai Maasai Community Projects came to their rescue. The founder of the organization Ms. Selina Nkoile, who was born and raised in the Mosiro area, said her passion for the community started when she was a little girl as she could see families struggling to make ends meet.
She confessed that she was one of the few lucky girls who managed to go through the formal education system, despite the numerous challenges she encountered in her education journey. “I founded the Nashipai Maasai Community Project in 2017, with the primary aim of renovating, rehabilitating and restoring Naningói boarding primary school where I attended my primary education,” she said.
She is grateful because her efforts have seen the school rise from a population of 30 girls in 2017 to 400 girls in 2023.
Ms. Nkoine decried the fact that girls in the area face many barriers to education including a patriarchal society that has traditionally not valued girls’ education as well as the practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriages.
The foundation is currently seeking funds to establish a Leadership Development Centre that will act as a safe house to give girls and young women opportunities to tell their stories. “The girls will also have a second chance to enhance their economic livelihoods through vocational and technical skills development like bead-work among others.
One of the beneficiaries, Ms. Priscilla Saiton, a student at Nyahururu girls secondary school said her dream to become a doctor was almost shattered but thanked Nashipai Maasai Development Project for rescuing her and paying all her fees.
“My parents are not educated so they did not see the need for education. I was almost dropping out of school to get married when this organization rescued me and revived my hopes in education, “she said. She praised Ms. Nkoine as a role model to young girls in Mosiro ward because she came back to the society to rescue the girls who were struggling to complete school.
The young girl called on the Maasai community to champion for the education of the girl child as she too can become a professional and contribute to the development of the society like the boy child.