Demanding Education for Impoverished Girls: TED Talk Blog Response

In her TED Talk, Kakenya Ntaiya, tells her story of bravery, sacrifice, triumph, and giving back. Ntaiya is a member of the Maasai tribe in Kenya. Their tribe follows strict gender roles: women are taught how to be wives and are often married by the time they are twelve. Men are taught to be fierce warriors, and the controllers of their wives and family. Ntaiya grew up watching her mother get abused by her father. She grew up working hard on her family farm, and always aspired to be a teacher. When she was thirteen she was to be married and pulled out of school. However, she made a deal with her father, she would undergo the sacred Maasai ritual of female circumcision in order to remain in high school. After going through with the ceremony she had to recover in bed for 3 weeks. On the fourth week she returned to school to get her education.

Ntaiya recalls the day a man wearing jeans and white sneakers came home to her village from the University of Oregon. He helped her apply to college in America, and she got accepted into a university. She had to convince 16 elders in her village to let her go to school. They granted her permission to go, on the promise that she would return to the village and help them. In America, she learned that the ritual she underwent when she was 13 was called "female genital mutilation" and that it is illegal in Kenya. She also learned that wife beating is illegal in Kenya. She realized how little rights women had in her village when it was her legal right all along to go to school, own land, and above all, demand safety for herself. Ntaiya painfully recounts the anger she felt learning these laws.

The last portion of her TED talk acts as a call to action. Ntaiya shows pictures of the school for girls she built in her village. This school not only educates girls but empowers them, by teaching them their rights. They also protect the girls from genital mutilation and forced marriage upon reaching puberty.

I was personally inspired by Kakenya's TED talk, as I think women's education is the best way to empower women all over the world. By teaching women their rights we help them find confidence in themselves to get out and change the world. The talk reminded me how lucky I am to have grown up in a country where going to school and college is the norm for girls. I naively forget that is not the case for many girls all over the world. People like Kakenya inspire me to make a difference in some small way.

Overall, Kakenya Ntaiya's TED talk is a great talk for educators to watch to remember the sheer power education holds. Without education Kakenya would have grow up to be a subordinate women in her village. Instead, she is working to change her village, and the country of Kenya. Education saved her life, imagine what it can do for our students at home? Ntaiya's story and dedication to education begs us to ask the question, how far will we go as educators to make sure every student has what they need to be successful and safe in our community?

Want to watch Kakenya's TED talk? https://www.ted.com/talks/kakenya_ntaiya_a_girl_who_demanded_school?referrer=playlist-ken_robinson_10_talks_on_educ#t-885304