Maasai girl preparing for marriage
Mary checking the girls grades at one of the
schools
Studying hard
In class at Emusoi
|
Few
Maasai girls have a chance to continue their education
beyond primary school level.
A report from the Tanzanian Ministry of Education
places pastoralist girls as one of the most
disadvantaged groups in the country with regard to
access to secondary education. Maasai live hundreds of
kilometers away from any large town with secondary
schools.
It is an area that is mostly arid and with wild
animals. Primary
school education can be under a tree or in one classroom
without textbooks so the educational standard is low in
Maasai areas.
Girls,
in the Maasai Culture, are not valued the same as boys
therefore they do not get the same attention from their
parents or teachers.
When a girl marries she’ll go to the homestead
of her husband so she is a loss to her father’s
homestead. But,
girls are viewed, also, as an asset for the family.
When girls reach puberty, their fathers arrange
marriages for their daughters, and are rewarded with
cows for the dowry. Fathers often bribe teachers to fail
their daughters or daughters are encouraged to fail. The
girls, then, can be taken out of school, circumcised and
are ready for marriage.
So, when the girl is about 13 yrs old she would
be given to her husband, who often is much older than
she and she could be the 2nd or 3rd
wife. Maasai value cows as a sign of wealth and the
bigger the herd the more prestige for the father.
Often,
mothers bring their daughters to Emusoi.
This is a risk for mothers who are beaten by
their husbands for this rebellion.
Some girls want to go to school and run away to
Emusoi. On
the other hand there are fathers who want their
daughters to get an education but sometimes only have
enough money for their sons.
Women
occupy a subordinate position in the authoritative
structure of the Maasai culture.
They have very little voice in decision making in
the family. They
have no inheritance and no say in whom they will marry.
Without education, Maasai girls will remain in a
subordinate position in their communities. Education
will give them skills to know their own rights and how
to defend them. Emusoi offers a chance for Maasai girls
to become educated and return to the community as
educated women or professionals who can then work with
the community to help bring about change and development
for them.
To
make this happen, Emusoi provides and a place to stay
and a year long pre- secondary prep course for Maasai
girls to help them further their language and math
skills to prepare them for high school. In all cases,
the Center facilitates the students to join first year
high school and supports them financially when families
cannot or will not support them in school.
The Center also acts as a link between the
schools and the families of the students or the entities
who brought the students to the Center.
The Center receives the term reports of the
students and monitors their progress in school.
When problems arise the Center contacts the
families as needed.
We see such a change in these students.
When they first come to us, they are so shy,
unsure of themselves, afraid to speak out and lacking
self-confidence. As they progress through our pre-secondary course, they begin
to believe in themselves and their horizons begin to
broaden. When
they go to secondary school, their development
continues. A
few of our students who have finished Form VI and are
waiting to be accepted in University, are helping us at
the Center as student matrons.
These provide wonderful role models for our
younger students.
|
| The
Maasai are a very traditional people who live in Kenya
and Tanzania. There are almost a million Maasai in
Tanzania, the majority of whom live in the Arusha and
Manyara Regions. They live in remote areas of the
Regions, far away from the larger towns. The Maasai are
pastoralists who herd cattle, sheep and goats.
Traditionally they do not farm, but they depend on their
animals for all their food needs. They live on the milk,
meat and occasionally the blood of their herds. They
move with their herds, seeking water and pasture for the
animals.
At present, their life-style is changing due to
decreasing herds, loss of grazing land and pressures
from the outside world. Although in the past, these
people saw little value in "western"
education, today more and more Maasai see the need for
education in order to help them defend their rights.
However, only about 20% of school age Maasai children
regularly attend primary school. Of this number only
one-third are girls.
Traditionally, girls are married in arranged
marriages soon after they reach puberty. The Maasai also
practice "female circumcision" which is the
core of the rite of passage from girlhood to womanhood.
The Maasai are polygamous with a man having 2 or 3 wives
or more. A girl-child is usually promised in marriage
from a young age to a man much older than she is. The
man will give a dowry of a certain number of cows to the
girl's family. When she is married, she becomes part of
the man's family. Because of this the Maasai see litle
value in educating girls because they will join another
family. Besides, they are not seen as needing education
because they will just stay in the village, raise
children and take care of the home. Some are also afraid
that education will cause the girls to loose their
traditions.
Few girls get a chance for primary education. Even
if they do go to school, the schools in the village are
very poor, lacking sufficient classrooms, teachers and
textbooks. Many classes are held under the trees.
Students may have to walk 10 miles or more to get to
school.
In Tanzania, only 18% of children finishing
primary can go to secondary school. There are very few
schools. It is very hard for Maasai girls to compete
with students from the towns for these places.
More
Pix |
