A girl who demanded school
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0:00 - 0:05There's a group of people in Kenya.
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0:05 - 0:09People cross oceans to go see them.
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0:09 - 0:11These people are tall.
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0:11 - 0:16They jump high. They wear red.
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0:16 - 0:18And they kill lions.
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0:18 - 0:21You might be wondering, who are these people?
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0:21 - 0:23These are the Maasais.
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0:23 - 0:29And you know what's cool? I'm actually one of them.
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0:29 - 0:34The Maasais, the boys are brought up to be warriors.
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0:34 - 0:37The girls are brought up to be mothers.
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0:37 - 0:39When I was five years old,
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0:39 - 0:42I found out that I was engaged
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0:42 - 0:45to be married as soon as I reached puberty.
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0:45 - 0:48My mother, my grandmother, my aunties,
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0:48 - 0:50they constantly reminded me that
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0:50 - 0:53your husband just passed by.
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0:53 - 0:58(Laughter) Cool, yeah?
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0:58 - 1:01And everything I had to do from that moment
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1:01 - 1:06was to prepare me to be a perfect woman at age 12.
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1:06 - 1:09My day started at 5 in the morning,
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1:09 - 1:11milking the cows, sweeping the house,
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1:11 - 1:16cooking for my siblings, collecting water, firewood.
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1:16 - 1:19I did everything that I needed to do
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1:19 - 1:23to become a perfect wife.
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1:23 - 1:26I went to school not because the Maasais'
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1:26 - 1:29women or girls were going to school.
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1:29 - 1:32It's because my mother was denied an education,
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1:32 - 1:35and she constantly reminded me and my siblings that
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1:35 - 1:39she never wanted us to live the life she was living.
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1:39 - 1:42Why did she say that?
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1:42 - 1:45My father worked as a policeman in the city.
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1:45 - 1:47He came home once a year.
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1:47 - 1:50We didn't see him for sometimes even two years.
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1:50 - 1:54And whenever he came home, it was a different case.
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1:54 - 1:56My mother worked hard in the farm
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1:56 - 1:58to grow crops so that we can eat.
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1:58 - 2:00She reared the cows and the goats
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2:00 - 2:02so that she can care for us.
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2:02 - 2:05But when my father came, he would sell the cows,
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2:05 - 2:07he would sell the products we had,
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2:07 - 2:11and he went and drank with his friends in the bars.
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2:11 - 2:13Because my mother was a woman,
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2:13 - 2:16she was not allowed to own any property,
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2:16 - 2:18and by default, everything in my family anyway
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2:18 - 2:21belongs to my father, so he had the right.
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2:21 - 2:23And if my mother ever questioned him,
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2:23 - 2:30he beat her, abused her, and really it was difficult.
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2:30 - 2:33When I went to school, I had a dream.
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2:33 - 2:35I wanted to become a teacher.
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2:35 - 2:37Teachers looked nice.
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2:37 - 2:39They wear nice dresses, high-heeled shoes.
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2:39 - 2:42I found out later that they are uncomfortable, but I admired it.
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2:42 - 2:46(Laughter)
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2:46 - 2:49But most of all, the teacher was just writing on the board --
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2:49 - 2:52not hard work, that's what I thought,
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2:52 - 2:55compared to what I was doing in the farm.
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2:55 - 2:57So I wanted to become a teacher.
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2:57 - 3:01I worked hard in school, but when I was in eighth grade,
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3:01 - 3:03it was a determining factor.
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3:03 - 3:06In our tradition, there is a ceremony
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3:06 - 3:09that girls have to undergo to become women,
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3:09 - 3:11and it's a rite of passage to womanhood.
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3:11 - 3:15And then I was just finishing my eighth grade,
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3:15 - 3:18and that was a transition for me to go to high school.
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3:18 - 3:19This was the crossroad.
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3:19 - 3:25Once I go through this tradition, I was going to become a wife.
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3:25 - 3:29Well, my dream of becoming a teacher will not come to pass.
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3:29 - 3:31So I talked -- I had to come up with a plan
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3:31 - 3:34to figure these things out.
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3:34 - 3:38I talked to my father. I did something that most girls have never done.
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3:38 - 3:41I told my father, "I will only go through this ceremony
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3:41 - 3:44if you let me go back to school."
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3:44 - 3:46The reason why, if I ran away,
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3:46 - 3:50my father will have a stigma, people will be calling him
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3:50 - 3:53the father of that girl who didn't go through the ceremony.
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3:53 - 3:57It was a shameful thing for him to carry the rest of his life.
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3:57 - 4:00So he figured out. "Well," he said, "okay,
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4:00 - 4:03you'll go to school after the ceremony."
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4:03 - 4:06I did. The ceremony happened.
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4:06 - 4:09It's a whole week long of excitement.
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4:09 - 4:12It's a ceremony. People are enjoying it.
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4:12 - 4:14And the day before the actual ceremony happens,
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4:14 - 4:17we were dancing, having excitement,
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4:17 - 4:21and through all the night we did not sleep.
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4:21 - 4:24The actual day came, and we walked out of the house
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4:24 - 4:26that we were dancing in. Yes, we danced and danced.
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4:26 - 4:30We walked out to the courtyard, and there were a bunch of people waiting.
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4:30 - 4:33They were all in a circle.
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4:33 - 4:35And as we danced and danced,
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4:35 - 4:37and we approached this circle of women,
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4:37 - 4:41men, women, children, everybody was there.
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4:41 - 4:43There was a woman sitting in the middle of it,
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4:43 - 4:48and this woman was waiting to hold us.
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4:48 - 4:51I was the first. There were my sisters and a couple of other girls,
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4:51 - 4:54and as I approached her,
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4:54 - 4:57she looked at me, and I sat down.
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4:57 - 5:01And I sat down, and I opened my legs.
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5:01 - 5:04As I opened my leg, another woman came,
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5:04 - 5:07and this woman was carrying a knife.
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5:07 - 5:11And as she carried the knife, she walked toward me
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5:11 - 5:15and she held the clitoris, and she cut it off.
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5:15 - 5:21As you can imagine, I bled. I bled.
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5:21 - 5:26After bleeding for a while, I fainted thereafter.
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5:26 - 5:28It's something that so many girls --
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5:28 - 5:32I'm lucky, I never died -- but many die.
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5:32 - 5:38It's practiced, it's no anesthesia, it's a rusty old knife,
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5:38 - 5:41and it was difficult.
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5:41 - 5:44I was lucky because one, also, my mom did something
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5:44 - 5:47that most women don't do.
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5:47 - 5:50Three days later, after everybody has left the home,
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5:50 - 5:51my mom went and brought a nurse.
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5:51 - 5:53We were taken care of.
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5:53 - 5:58Three weeks later, I was healed, and I was back in high school.
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5:58 - 6:01I was so determined to be a teacher now
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6:01 - 6:05so that I could make a difference in my family.
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6:05 - 6:09Well, while I was in high school, something happened.
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6:09 - 6:12I met a young gentleman from our village
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6:12 - 6:14who had been to the University of Oregon.
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6:14 - 6:20This man was wearing a white t-shirt, jeans, camera,
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6:20 - 6:23white sneakers -- and I'm talking about white sneakers.
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6:23 - 6:27There is something about clothes, I think, and shoes.
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6:27 - 6:30They were sneakers, and this is in a village
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6:30 - 6:34that doesn't even have paved roads. It was quite attractive.
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6:34 - 6:39I told him, "Well, I want to go to where you are,"
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6:39 - 6:44because this man looked very happy, and I admired that.
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6:44 - 6:46And he told me, "Well,
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6:46 - 6:47what do you mean, you want to go?
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6:47 - 6:49Don't you have a husband waiting for you?"
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6:49 - 6:52And I told him, "Don't worry about that part.
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6:52 - 6:55Just tell me how to get there."
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6:55 - 6:58This gentleman, he helped me.
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6:58 - 7:01While I was in high school also, my dad was sick.
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7:01 - 7:04He got a stroke, and he was really, really sick,
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7:04 - 7:07so he really couldn't tell me what to do next.
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7:07 - 7:11But the problem is, my father is not the only father I have.
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7:11 - 7:15Everybody who is my dad's age, male in the community,
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7:15 - 7:16is my father by default --
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7:16 - 7:20my uncles, all of them -- and they dictate what my future is.
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7:20 - 7:23So the news came, I applied to school
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7:23 - 7:28and I was accepted to Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia,
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7:28 - 7:32and I couldn't come without the support of the village,
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7:32 - 7:34because I needed to raise money to buy the air ticket.
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7:34 - 7:37I got a scholarship but I needed to get myself here.
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7:37 - 7:40But I needed the support of the village,
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7:40 - 7:44and here again, when the men heard,
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7:44 - 7:48and the people heard that a woman had gotten an opportunity to go to school,
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7:48 - 7:50they said, "What a lost opportunity.
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7:50 - 7:54This should have been given to a boy. We can't do this."
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7:54 - 7:58So I went back and I had to go back to the tradition.
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7:58 - 8:00There's a belief among our people
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8:00 - 8:04that morning brings good news.
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8:04 - 8:07So I had to come up with something to do with the morning,
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8:07 - 8:09because there's good news in the morning.
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8:09 - 8:13And in the village also, there is one chief, an elder,
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8:13 - 8:17who if he says yes, everybody will follow him.
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8:17 - 8:21So I went to him very early in the morning, as the sun rose.
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8:21 - 8:24The first thing he sees when he opens his door is, it's me.
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8:24 - 8:27"My child, what are you doing here?"
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8:27 - 8:31"Well, Dad, I need help. Can you support me to go to America?"
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8:31 - 8:33I promised him that I would be the best girl,
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8:33 - 8:37I will come back, anything they wanted after that,
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8:37 - 8:39I will do it for them.
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8:39 - 8:41He said, "Well, but I can't do it alone."
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8:41 - 8:44He gave me a list of another 15 men that I went --
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8:44 - 8:4716 more men -- every single morning
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8:47 - 8:49I went and visited them.
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8:49 - 8:50They all came together.
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8:50 - 8:53The village, the women, the men, everybody came together
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8:53 - 8:57to support me to come to get an education.
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8:57 - 9:01I arrived in America. As you can imagine, what did I find?
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9:01 - 9:05I found snow!
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9:05 - 9:08I found Wal-Marts, vacuum cleaners,
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9:08 - 9:11and lots of food in the cafeteria.
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9:11 - 9:14I was in a land of plenty.
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9:14 - 9:19I enjoyed myself, but during that moment while I was here,
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9:19 - 9:22I discovered a lot of things.
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9:22 - 9:25I learned that that ceremony that I went through
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9:25 - 9:30when I was 13 years old, it was called female genital mutilation.
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9:30 - 9:34I learned that it was against the law in Kenya.
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9:34 - 9:38I learned that I did not have to trade part of my body
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9:38 - 9:42to get an education. I had a right.
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9:42 - 9:45And as we speak right now, three million girls
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9:45 - 9:51in Africa are at risk of going through this mutilation.
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9:51 - 9:54I learned that my mom had a right to own property.
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9:54 - 9:57I learned that she did not have to be abused
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9:57 - 9:59because she is a woman.
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9:59 - 10:02Those things made me angry.
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10:02 - 10:04I wanted to do something.
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10:04 - 10:07As I went back, every time I went,
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10:07 - 10:10I found that my neighbors' girls were getting married.
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10:10 - 10:12They were getting mutilated, and here,
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10:12 - 10:15after I graduated from here, I worked at the U.N.,
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10:15 - 10:18I went back to school to get my graduate work,
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10:18 - 10:22the constant cry of these girls was in my face.
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10:22 - 10:25I had to do something.
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10:25 - 10:28As I went back, I started talking to the men,
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10:28 - 10:29to the village, and mothers, and I said,
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10:29 - 10:31"I want to give back the way I had promised you
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10:31 - 10:34that I would come back and help you. What do you need?"
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10:34 - 10:36As I spoke to the women, they told me,
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10:36 - 10:38"You know what we need? We really need a school for girls."
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10:38 - 10:41Because there had not been any school for girls.
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10:41 - 10:43And the reason they wanted the school for girls
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10:43 - 10:46is because when a girl is raped when she's walking to school,
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10:46 - 10:48the mother is blamed for that.
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10:48 - 10:52If she got pregnant before she got married,
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10:52 - 10:54the mother is blamed for that, and she's punished.
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10:54 - 10:56She's beaten.
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10:56 - 11:00They said, "We wanted to put our girls in a safe place."
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11:00 - 11:02As we moved, and I went to talk to the fathers,
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11:02 - 11:05the fathers, of course, you can imagine what they said:
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11:05 - 11:07"We want a school for boys."
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11:07 - 11:10And I said, "Well, there are a couple of men from my village
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11:10 - 11:13who have been out and they have gotten an education.
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11:13 - 11:15Why can't they build a school for boys,
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11:15 - 11:17and I'll build a school for girls?"
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11:17 - 11:21That made sense. And they agreed.
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11:21 - 11:25And I told them, I wanted them to show me a sign of commitment.
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11:25 - 11:30And they did. They donated land where we built the girls' school.
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11:30 - 11:32We have.
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11:32 - 11:35I want you to meet one of the girls in that school.
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11:35 - 11:37Angeline came to apply for the school,
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11:37 - 11:41and she did not meet any criteria that we had.
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11:41 - 11:44She's an orphan. Yes, we could have taken her for that.
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11:44 - 11:46But she was older. She was 12 years old,
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11:46 - 11:50and we were taking girls who were in fourth grade.
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11:50 - 11:51Angeline had been moving from one place --
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11:51 - 11:54because she's an orphan, she has no mother, she has no father --
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11:54 - 11:56moving from one grandmother's house to another one,
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11:56 - 12:00from aunties to aunties. She had no stability in her life.
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12:00 - 12:02And I looked at her, I remember that day,
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12:02 - 12:07and I saw something beyond what I was seeing in Angeline.
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12:07 - 12:10And yes, she was older to be in fourth grade.
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12:10 - 12:13We gave her the opportunity to come to the class.
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12:13 - 12:16Five months later, that is Angeline.
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12:16 - 12:19A transformation had begun in her life.
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12:19 - 12:21Angeline wants to be a pilot so she can fly around the world
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12:21 - 12:23and make a difference.
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12:23 - 12:25She was not the top student when we took her.
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12:25 - 12:27Now she's the best student, not just in our school,
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12:27 - 12:31but in the entire division that we are in.
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12:31 - 12:35That's Sharon. That's five years later.
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12:35 - 12:42That's Evelyn. Five months later, that is the difference that we are making.
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12:42 - 12:45As a new dawn is happening in my school,
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12:45 - 12:48a new beginning is happening.
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12:48 - 12:53As we speak right now, 125 girls will never be mutilated.
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12:53 - 12:58One hundred twenty-five girls will not be married when they're 12 years old.
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12:58 - 13:04One hundred twenty-five girls are creating and achieving their dreams.
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13:04 - 13:06This is the thing that we are doing,
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13:06 - 13:09giving them opportunities where they can rise.
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13:09 - 13:13As we speak right now, women are not being beaten
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13:13 - 13:16because of the revolutions we've started in our community.
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13:16 - 13:24(Applause)
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13:24 - 13:27I want to challenge you today.
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13:27 - 13:30You are listening to me because you are here,
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13:30 - 13:32very optimistic.
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13:32 - 13:36You are somebody who is so passionate.
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13:36 - 13:40You are somebody who wants to see a better world.
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13:40 - 13:44You are somebody who wants to see that war ends, no poverty.
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13:44 - 13:47You are somebody who wants to make a difference.
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13:47 - 13:50You are somebody who wants to make our tomorrow better.
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13:50 - 13:54I want to challenge you today that to be the first,
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13:54 - 13:57because people will follow you.
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13:57 - 13:59Be the first. People will follow you.
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13:59 - 14:04Be bold. Stand up. Be fearless. Be confident.
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14:04 - 14:08Move out, because as you change your world,
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14:08 - 14:10as you change your community,
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14:10 - 14:15as we believe that we are impacting one girl, one family,
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14:15 - 14:18one village, one country at a time.
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14:18 - 14:21We are making a difference, so if you change your world,
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14:21 - 14:23you are going to change your community,
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14:23 - 14:25you are going to change your country,
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14:25 - 14:28and think about that. If you do that, and I do that,
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14:28 - 14:31aren't we going to create a better future for our children,
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14:31 - 14:34for your children, for our grandchildren?
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14:34 - 14:38And we will live in a very peaceful world. Thank you very much.
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14:38 - 14:55(Applause)
- Title:
- A girl who demanded school
- Speaker:
- Kakenya Ntaiya
- Description:
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Kakenya Ntaiya made a deal with her father: She would undergo the traditional Maasai rite of passage of female circumcision if he would let her go to high school. Ntaiya tells the fearless story of continuing on to college, and of working with her village elders to build a school for girls in her community. It’s the educational journey of one that altered the destiny of 125 young women. (Filmed at TEDxMidAtlantic.)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 15:16
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for A girl who demanded school | ||
Morton Bast approved English subtitles for A girl who demanded school | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for A girl who demanded school | ||
Darren Bridenbeck (Amara Staff) accepted English subtitles for A girl who demanded school | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for A girl who demanded school | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for A girl who demanded school | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for A girl who demanded school | ||
Joseph Geni added a translation |