Kakenya Ntaiya
Ntaiya in 2016
Born1978 (age 45–46)
Enoosaen, Kilgoris, Kenya[1]
EducationRandolph-Macon Woman's College, University of Pittsburgh
Known forAnti-FGM work

Kakenya Ntaiya (born 1978)[2] 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.[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. 1 2 The Huffington Post
  3. ↑ Kakenya Center for Excellence Archived 2014-10-24 at the Wayback Machine
  4. 1 2 "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.
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