Changing Traditions - Nice Nailantei Leng'ete at TEDxAmsterdam

Nice Nailantei Leng'ete, a 21 year old Maasai girl from Kenya, is a true agent of change in opening up the discussion in her Maasai community on female genital mutilation. Nice brings girls together to talk about their bodies and their rights. She realized that to make real progress she had to speak with the boys as well. Nice has been honored for her work with an 'oringo orok' -- a Maasai leader's talking and walking stick -- and a cultural symbol for leadership.

Hello, ladies and gentlemen.

I see life as a journey,

I dont know where it
is going to end yet,

but I know where it started.

It began 21 years ago,
in the highest mountain in Africa

that's mount Kilimanjaro.

I was born in a small village
known as Kimana.

I am only 21 years old
as you have heard before.

So, I was given my beautiful name
that's Nice Nailantei Leng'ete

and I know most of you are having difficulties
in remembering my name,

so, just call me
Miss Kilimanjaro.

(Laughter)

I want every girl in Kenya to become
the woman of our dream.

I would love to stay
in a place where women

or girls can speak freely
without being judged

and with that --
I mean, we'd like women

first being seen as human beings
and then as women.

I made the impossible possible
by doing two things,

that's talking to men,
which is not allowed in our community,

and I'm also changing female genital cutting
to alternative rite of passage.

Female genital cutting is there in our place
as you know --

When I was growing up I was tired
of seeing some of my girlfriends

dying when they bleed too much,

others are having difficulties
when they were giving birth,

and others were called cowards.

I was tired of that
and I wanted to make change in Kenya.

It began 21 years ago,

the youngest of three.

My father was called Paul,
he was a tall,

handsome and he was a strong
Maasai young man.

My mother also,
was called Alice

she was black,
dark with long hair,

I always remember her
for two things:

one thing is
that she was too generous

and also the love
she had for us.

It began 21 years ago --
I am sorry --

For you to know me well, I had to tell you
about my family a little bit,

for you to understand me.

My father had two wives,
he was a polygamist,

my mother being one of them.

And my parents [passed] away in --

in 1997 and 1998
and we were left orphaned.

Our secure home was a normal home,
moving from one family to another,

finding life being difficult.

I had to believe
not to belong to any family

[which] turned out
to be a blessing to rise.

Escaping two of my
painful things in life --

[forced] marriage
and female genital cutting.

For the first time we escaped with my sister,
at 4 am in the morning.

[Becasue] that's now the time
they do the [cutting.]

For the second time,
when we went back home,

we were beaten and we promised
not to do it again.

So, the other time,
I managed to escape alone.

but my sister was not lucky.

After that, I went to my grandfather's place
and I told him

to tell my uncle
they should respect my wish,

and then I told them: "I'm going to report them
to the government!"

And [then] my grandfather recognized
my determination and they respected my wish.

After that all we had gone through,

we toughened up and we knew
that we could make it in life.

After ten years we moved to a home,
with our elder brother

who was the one who was taking care
of me and my sister.

A great opening came up in 2008,

[when] I was taken for
a training with AMREF,

A pre-education training within the program called
"Nomadic Youth and Reproductive Health Project."

And now it was like
a change [for] me 'cause --

I've learned so many things about life risks

and also things about female genital cutting,
early marriages,

and I was happy because, when I was out
at least I could speak to my people.

And then after the training I saw that there was
a need for young people to be informed.

I had one question
that kept on bothering me

that was: "How could I mobilize my community?

Mothers, girls, elders and morans.

'Cause change must came from
the communities, from inside out.

Where to start?
At the top, of course.

I had to receive blessings
from my elders,

Elders are old men
in my community.

They are the ones
who make the decisions.

So, you first have to pass --

You first have to go to them
and then they give you blessings.

They are known [as those who don't] listen to women
but they could listen to me [kindly].

I also had to talk to mothers and girls,

It's hard for you to get to them,

so I used to look for them
during the market days,

so that I could get a good number.

I used to talk with them on
the importance of family planning,

importance of delivering [babies] in hospitals

and also the immunization of their kids.

We introduced something new,

that we thought it's [better]
then doing the female genital cutting,

that is the alternative rite of passage.

[When] girls [become]
women without the cutting.

After that, we also had to talk on things like
sexuality and health education.

We have a group
of girls from my community,

so we started a CBO,
a Community Based Organization,

and we are 20,
so main aim of the organization

is how we could empower other girls
from our community like us.

And the last 3 years, we were able
to rescue over 150 girls

and now they are in school,
they are not circumcised.

November this year, elders and women
denounced FGM in my neighbour community,

so we can see change
is really spreading.

It took time to the other group
to accept me.

The other group
is a special group because

they are --
It's hard for us, it's sad for us,

we need to talk with them,
those are Morans.

Morans are a group of men
who are mid-10's and 20's

whose work, normally,
is to stay in the bush.

They protect their community, and also they're
the ones who protect the lifestock.

And they are also,
the group which is at risk

because they are allowed
to practice [poligamy]

they are allowed to
have multiple partners.

So, they can have sex with every girl
they find in the village, because it's allowed.

And then I saw the importance
of talking to these men,

because these are our future leaders
and they are the ones

who are marring the young girls
we are talking with.

So, we used to talk to
them on the importance

of the condom usage
and having HIV test.

And then, one of the elders told them
that it is a matter of life or death,

so they had to choose it for themselves.

Few more joins with Morans and elders,
after one year they accepted me,

and I was given a "esiere."

Esiere is a black walking stick,

that simbolizes leadership.
I understand --

Now in my community, the elders and morans,
and mothers.

We work together to support
an alternative rite of passage,

Because for the young men,
I think, it is because they had the rumour

that uncut women,
we are more interested in sex.

But we know that for now.

My resolve to work harder led by example,
to be a change agent

has been further strenghtened
by the sudden death of my sister.

She died of malaria while I was spreading
reproductive health messages

to the community and the youth.

I've campaigned against
malaria in the village,

for every household to have
bed nets and great standard of water.

Please join me in bringing meaningful
change to my people!

Especially the girl-child in Kenya.

And I want every woman
to be the woman of our dreams.

One more last want for you
this morning is that --

You need someone's patience
for you to make change.

Thank you!

(Applause)