Planting Seeds of Empowerment

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Sanjoy and Oyaya work with Paulina
to update the KWGP database.

"I wish every woman could be in the KWGP [Kimokouwa Women's Goat Project] and be able to experience the sweetness of having your own money," says Penina, one of the original members. We are gathered in the Women's Banda in Kimokouwa with the women in the program, and many who are waiting to join. The program, only beginning its third year, is already making a big difference in the lives of its members.

I promised an update and can give you some details today. The program began in October 2010 with 15 women each receivng 2 female goats. These are the statistics to date: the women are caring for a total of 59 goats; 11 males have been sold during the past year, 10 females have been given away, 17 females are pregnant, and 12 goats have died (2 eaten by a cheetah). Four women have paid for memberships and are awaiting goats, as well as a number of interested women who have not yet paid. 

Grandmothers have milk
for the young children in their care.

TEMBO staff believe that close monitoring of this project by Oyaya and Sanjoy contributes to the success this KWGP is enjoying, including weekly visits, phone calls, and veterinary care. The husbands are not interfering and staff feel this is because TEMBO included them in the program right from the beginning. The men see these goats as “the women’s goats.” 

At a general meeting, a number of the women shared how they are using the money from the sale of goats. Uniforms have been bought for school, iron sheets have been added to houses, and food has been purchased for the family. Two women talked excitedly about soon finishing the payment of their ‘debt’ – giving away 2 first born females to a new woman in the program. 

The founding KWGP group members.

 For most - or maybe all - of the women it's the first time they have ever had money of their own to spend. Sixty thousand shillings, or about $45.00, may not seem like a lot but it is a huge amount for a woman in rural Tanzania. With luck, the women might end up with 2 or 3 females delivering one or two goats a year. In between there is milk for the family. Oyaya and Sanjoy say the women are having no problems selling their goats. Most of the time they don't even make it to market before they are spoken for.

Self esteem is a very tangible by-product for the KWGP women. You can see it in their eyes and hear it in their voices. This is empowerment on a very small scale that has the potential to spill over into other areas of the women's lives. We hope it is just the beginning of great things to come.

Acknowledging Courageous Girls

14 year old, Malala of Pakistan is a courageous young girl.

It's astounding, really, that just as the UN declares October 11 as the first ever Day of the Girl Child, a 14 year old girl in Pakistan is singled out by the Taliban on a school bus and shot in the face. Her name is Malala Yousafzai and her crime was wanting to go to school so she could realize her dream of becoming a doctor.

From the brave diary of a seventh grade school girl in Pakistan my thoughts turn to so many young girls I know in northern Tanzania who are choosing education to change their lives. Who knew going to school could be so life threatening? Malala, our thoughts are with you.

Secondary School Girls in Tanzania.

T is one of the girls living in Longido who also values education. She came to the TEMBO Guesthouse to see me last week, telling me she has been working so hard to prepare for an interview that would determine whether or not she would get a second chance at secondary school education. Why should T get a second chance, you might wonder. What did she do with her first chance?

It's not what T did; it's what was done to her but a man of an unknown age. T, who is still a child barely the same age as Malala, was forced to have sex and, as a result,  became pregnant. In the public school system in Tanzania this is not just a game changer. It's a game ender. Pregnant girls, or girls who have had a baby, are not permitted back into the government school system. Ever. There is only one very expensive option that very few girls like T will ever be able to access: private school. Fortunately, T was sponsored at a government school by TEMBO first time around and she will be the second time around, too, at a private school that understands only too well the situation she is in.

Young girls see a very different world for themselves,
one where girls have a voice and can make choices.

"I have been working so hard," T tells me with a wide smile and big bright eyes. Her English is unusually good for a girl her age. She listens carefully and actually understands the meaning beyond the words. That's why T is a good bet for future success. We're sitting with two young women from The Netherlands having a cold drink as the sun is setting. The young women have been in Longido for 3 months working with young child mothers like T.

The challenge girls face in Africa and the East is daunting. It is going to take people all over the world working together to make progress in reversing this horrible situation that robs girls of their right to be children and forces them to be child mothers. That is exactly where T was headed. And like Malala, T only wants to go to school.

Maasai leaders in Longido are taking a huge step outside of their cultural traditions in allowing their daughters and granddaughters to go to school. I urge them to take another giant step outside of their cultural norms - one that will no longer condone the actions of men wanting to engage in sexual activity with young girls like T.

Thanks to the UN for drawing our attention to the plight of millions of young girls. And thanks to courageous girls like Malala and T for risking so much to show many others the way.

An Elder, Guardian, and Protector

Treats for the children are part of every visit.

October 3, 2012. Today I met an old friend and I was aware we would not have many more meetings. Paulo is a Maasai elder in his upper 80’s living in Kimokouwa. His health is failing. I have known him for more than 14 years. He is the first person I met in 1998 when I visited his boma It's one of the villages area where TEMBO Trust now works.

As I rode out on the back of Lesaloi’s motorbike I was imagining the meeting. I could picture the tree outside Paulo’s boma that I sat under 14 years ago this past July. That day was my introduction to the world of the Maasai. It was startling and it was exciting. TEMBO co-founder, Marian, and I watched Paulo’s sons in the distance come closer and closer, carrying a goat that had been slaughtered and slow roasted all day to celebrate our arrival. We were coming to meet Paulo’s daughter, Kokoyai, a 10 year old girl we were sponsoring. I can see it today as though it was yesterday.

Discovering the mirror on Lesaloi's motor bile.

Time has past. Kokoyai did not continue beyond Standard 7, the final year of Primary School. She is a young woman living a traditional Maasai life, now the mother of three young children. Kokoyai seems happy with her choices. Paulo has since become an advocate, working with TEMBO to promote education as something of great value worth pursuing. He says education is the gift he can give to the girls in his family. He is so right.

With Paulo, his third wife, Kokoyai's mother,
and Kokoyai and her third child.

Kokoyai was there today, too. So was her mother, one of Paulo’s 4 wives. Mama Kokoyai is aging, too. I guess we all are. I am deeply grateful these rich relationships have endured over the years. We are from very different worlds and yet there seem to be no barriers between us. I respect Paulo living a simple endangered lifestyle in rural northern Tanzania. He respects me coming from a world so very different than his own. I am not at all like the women in Paulo’s boma – my customs, my traditions, my lifestyle, and my choices must been confounding sometimes. Yet there he was waiting for me under that tree today, sitting on a blue plastic chair. It’s easier for him to get into and out of now, since traditional Maasai stools are built low to the ground. Paulo and I embraced and shook hands and spoke to each other through Lesaloi, my translator, sharing the news from each of our worlds. A lot has happened in the year since I last saw him. Yet nothing in our past is forgotten. He still has the old photographs of previous meetings and he still asks about certain people Marian and I have spoken of to him.

Paulo's feet: Well travelled feet with so many stories to tell.

And that was it – a 45 minute meeting, a cup of hot sweet chai, then I was on my way. Blessed by Paulo and richer for having connected with him again. Paulo is such a giant in my world: wise, playful, open to change, a true leader, and a guardian to all in his boma.