In this interview, Kakenya Ntaiya talks about the freedom she has found in education. Tracing her path back to childhood, Kakenya remembers her family hardships and the constricting nature of traditional Maasai values on her future. But Kakenya was not going to accept her family’s selection of a husband-to-be for her at age five; and she was certainly not going to let generations of ritual and multiple father-figures with a limited perception of her potential stand in the way of her own dream. Instead, Kakenya - with the support of her mother - rallied together the very community that resented her independence and convinced them to send her to college in the US. Now, less than a year away from finishing her PhD in international education, Kakenya is still dreaming - but this time, for her entire village.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFSqhkxcb3c
Interview by: Kate Cummings. Location: Enoosaen, Kenya. Partner: Vital Voices, 2009.