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
- ^ a b The Huffington Post
- ^ Kakenya Center for Excellence
- ^ a b "Kakenya Ntaiya | Vital Voices". www.vitalvoices.org. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
- ^ "My journey to start a school for girls in Kenya: Kakenya Ntaiya at TEDxMidAtlantic 2012". TEDx Talks. Youtube.
- ^ Toner, Kathleen (November 10, 2013). "Woman challenges tradition, brings change to her Kenyan village". CNN.
- ^ "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.
- ^ You (2016-08-03). "Kakenya Ntaiya: Making Dreams of Education a Reality for Girls Everywhere". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
- ^ "Bound for Marriage as a Child, Now a Change Agent for Kenyan Girls". 2016-09-02. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
- ^ "Top 10 CNN Hero: Kakenya Ntaiya". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
- ^ "Global Women's Rights Awards 2016". feminist.org. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
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