Kakenya Ntaiya

Kakenya Ntaiya (born 1978)^[2] is a Kenyan educator, feminist and social activist.

Kakenya Ntaiya
Ntaiya in 2016
Born	1978 (age 45–46) Enoosaen, Kilgoris, Kenya[1]
Education	Randolph-Macon Woman's College, University of Pittsburgh
Known for	Anti-FGM work

She is the founder and president of the Kakenya Center for Excellence, a primary boarding school for girls in the Maasai village of Enoosaen.^[3] The first class of 30 students enrolled in May 2009.^[4] The center requires that parents agree not to subject their enrolled daughters to female genital mutilation^[5] (FGM/C) or forced marriage.^[6][7]

Early life and education

Ntaiya is the eldest of eight children.^[8] Maasai tradition and culture dictated that Ntaiya should be engaged around the age of five, undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) as a teenager, and then leave school to marry. Instead, she negotiated with her father that she would undergo FGM if that meant she could continue her education and complete high school.^[9]

Ntaiya holds an undergraduate degree from Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia. While a student there, she was the subject of a four-part series in the Washington Post titled "Kakenya's Promise".^[10] Ntaiya went on to earn a Doctorate in Education from the University of Pittsburgh, where she was the recipient of the Sheth International Young Alumni Achievement Award.^[2]

Awards

Ntaiya is the recipient of a number of awards that recognize her work to educate girls: Vital Voices Global Leadership Award (2011),^[4] CNN Top Ten Hero of the Year (2013),^[11] and the Global Women's Rights Award from the Feminist Majority Foundation (2013).^[12]

References

1. Henderson, Kara (2023-06-22). "How Pitt alumna Kakenya Ntaiya fights for the rights of women and girls in rural Kenya". University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
2. The Huffington Post
3. Kakenya Center for Excellence Archived 2014-10-24 at the Wayback Machine
4. "Kakenya Ntaiya | Vital Voices". www.vitalvoices.org. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
5. "My journey to start a school for girls in Kenya: Kakenya Ntaiya at TEDxMidAtlantic 2012". TEDx Talks. Youtube.
6. Toner, Kathleen (November 10, 2013). "Woman challenges tradition, brings change to her Kenyan village". CNN.
7. "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.
8. Black, Renata (2016-08-03). "Kakenya Ntaiya: Making Dreams of Education a Reality for Girls Everywhere". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
9. "Bound for Marriage as a Child, Now a Change Agent for Kenyan Girls". 2016-09-02. Archived from the original on September 4, 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
10. Argetsinger, Amy (2003-12-28). "Kakenya's Promise". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-04-26.
11. "Top 10 CNN Hero: Kakenya Ntaiya". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
12. "Global Women's Rights Awards 2016". feminist.org. Archived from the original on 2018-04-29. Retrieved 2016-09-06.