Kakenya Ntaiya

Kakenya Ntaiya (born 1978)[1] is a Kenyan educator, feminist and social activist.

She is the founder and president of the Kakenya Center for Excellence, a primary boarding school for girls in the Maasai village of Enoosaen.[2] The first class of 32 students enrolled in May 2009.[3] The center requires that parents agree not to subject their enrolled daughters to genital mutilation[4] or forced marriage.[5][6]

Early Life and Education

Ntaiya is the eldest of eight children.[7] Maasai tradition dictated that Ntaiya should be engaged around the age of five, undergo circumcision as a teenager, and then leave school to marry. Instead, she negotiated with her father that she would undergo circumcision if that meant she could continue her education and complete high school.[8]

Ntiaya holds an undergraduate degree from Randolph-Macon Woman's College and has a Doctorate in Education from the University of Pittsburgh, where she was the recipient of the Sheth International Young Alumni Achievement Award.[1]

Awards

Ntaiya is the recipient of a number of awards that recognize her work to educate girls: Vital Voices Global Leadership Award (2011),[3] CNN Top Ten Hero of the Year (2013),[9] and the Global Women's Rights Award from the Feminist Majority Foundation (2013).[10]

References

  1. 1 2 The Huffington Post
  2. ↑ Kakenya Center for Excellence
  3. 1 2 "Kakenya Ntaiya | Vital Voices". www.vitalvoices.org. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  4. ↑ "My journey to start a school for girls in Kenya: Kakenya Ntaiya at TEDxMidAtlantic 2012". TEDx Talks. Youtube.
  5. ↑ Toner, Kathleen (November 10, 2013). "Woman challenges tradition, brings change to her Kenyan village". CNN.
  6. ↑ "Kakenya Ntaiya exchanged female genital mutilation for an education, now runs school for girls in Kenya". The World Today. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 25 Feb 2015.
  7. ↑ You (2016-08-03). "Kakenya Ntaiya: Making Dreams of Education a Reality for Girls Everywhere". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  8. ↑ "Bound for Marriage as a Child, Now a Change Agent for Kenyan Girls". 2016-09-02. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  9. ↑ "Top 10 CNN Hero: Kakenya Ntaiya". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  10. ↑ "Global Women's Rights Awards 2016". feminist.org. Retrieved 2016-09-06.


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