Faith Pashile, the girl who was the exception within the Maasai tribe

Faith Pashile is a 33-year-old girl with a degree in Sociology from Moi University, Kenya, who works for her government, helping Kenyan companies to internationalize.

So far nothing different from what a young woman of her generation could be or do, if it weren't for the fact that Faith belongs to the Maasai tribe, a patriarchal cattle-raising society, in which the opinions, concerns and voices of women continue being silenced on numerous occasions.

Her tribe leads a nomadic life, so as a child, she had to dedicate much of her time to herding cattle, combining this activity with school.

Her passion was learning, although most of the girls she grew up with could only do so for a few years.

“I have seen how most of my friends have married any man, who asked their families for their hand when they were only between 12 and 15 years old.

Most of them soon became pregnant.

Early and arranged child marriage causes girls to drop out of education, with a high probability of entering a cycle of abuse and violence.

In my elementary class, only three of the 11 girls made it to high school and of those only two made it to college.

I am aware that I am truly privileged for not succumbing to poverty and unbearable family and cultural pressure ”.

Faith was an exception.

Despite the fact that his late father was a farmer and never studied, he believed in education for his sons and daughters.

However, her life has run between this dichotomy of respect for the values ​​of her culture and confrontation with the traditions that harmed girls and women, something that has required a great deal of effort.

"Despite the obstacles, I managed to move on from the course. Going to a distant university, when I was a young woman from a minority rural community, which previously had only been exposed to their herding culture, was a time of culture shock and intense learning. in my life: I suddenly found myself being a minority among people from other tribes, countries, societies and cultures. "

The experience with other realities, forced him to reflect on his identity and learned cultural opinions, even facing them, thus opening new paths.

"My Maasai community, while it has a high pride of belonging to our beautiful culture, has lagged behind in regard for and respect for women, especially in offering better life opportunities for girls. The number of girls who access school is still very low compared to boys, and other tribes, and female genital mutilation, teenage pregnancies and early marriage are widespread practices. "

A key moment for her came in 2016, when a widow, a mother of four, from the village where she spent her childhood, was attacked and raped by nine men.

An assault that cost the woman her life and that made Faith lay the foundations of her fight.

"I joined the youth of the village, men and women. We organized demonstrations and forced the authorities to seek justice for the woman and her family. Our demands and the use of advertising in the media forced the police to exhume the body to perform an autopsy and arrest the suspects. Such violence against the most vulnerable gender in my community made me venture out and create the NGO Wanawake Kenya CBO to protect women. "

His work for equality then began by developing, together with others in his community, a community mentoring program, through which, through education, Maasai girls are empowered, with the aim of improving their lives.

"We visit schools and villages and talk to young people, especially girls, about the premise that education changes life. We talk about bad cultural practices (female genital mutilation, child marriage). We teach them personal growth skills, giving them tips on increasing self-esteem and developing good communication and stress management skills. "