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In Pictures: Kenya’s Maasai women

A look at how a conservation project is affecting the lives of Maasai women in Kenya.

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Many young Maasai girls today are seeking an education at an age when they traditionally marry. A teacher at the Nkoilale primary school says she has seen children as young as nine, running to the school, to escape forced early marriage and female circumcision.
Published On 10 Jul 2012
Girls traditionally had the role of looking after younger siblings, fetching water and helping with household chores. At the age of nine, it is not uncommon for them to marry.
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Twenty-year-old Nasirku Rakwa keeps her own goats. "Traditionally it is only the men who tend to the animals. Now you even get groups of women going out with the livestock," she says.
Many students at the Nkoilale primary school say they want to be teachers or doctors.
"I have God to thank that I married a school teacher" says Caroline Sigei. "For many years they have mistreated the women here, not letting them go to school. Now they are changing."
Nraposho Njapit has four children, all of whom are in, or will go to, school. "I think we are at a beginning of a period of change", she says. "The coming years are very important."
Nraposho(***)s daughter, 13-year-old Faith Njapit, attended a mother-daughter forum at her school, run by the outreach programme. "It taught my mother the importance of education" she says.
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Lorna Kiu (15) comes from a traditional Maasai farming family. At the age of 10, her parents wanted her to get married and circumcised, but she refused and went to school. "I remember it was a need for me to learn."
Bordering the Maasai Mara reserve, the Naibosho conservancy works closely with communities to protect the wildlife outside of the park.
Bordering the Maasai Mara reserve, the Naibosho conservancy works closely with communities to protect the wildlife outside of the park.
At the Koiyaki Guiding School, young Maasai learn the skills needed to work as guides for safari companies.
"Most of the camps were developed by muzungus [white men] - and also by Kenyan men" says a student at the school. The industry is typically male-dominated. This is now changing.
Christine Malaso Pesi(***)s family live on the edge of the Mara reserve, where they are cattle farmers. "I want to have my own family and be an ambassador for my community" she says. "I want there to be more women around the camps. Men and women are not equal - I want to help change that."
Grace Naisenya Ololchoki, the outreach programme coordinator says "as soon as you leave the tarmac road, women don(***)t have a voice, which makes their lives difficult for them".
Teaching women new skills, such as computer training, is giving them a stronger role in society, as well as broader opportunities.
Dinah Nkoitoi is in her nineties and says "I have seen a lot of change". She had ten children, but only her last-born received an education. "People are learning and I see this as a big improvement," she says.
For girls like six-year-old Tepena, a wave of change is sweeping through the plains of the Mara, growing up with an education and skills to build their communities.