Ann's Story: The Incredible Story of a Maasai Girl Beating the Odds

Ann's Story: The Incredible Story of a Maasai Girl Beating the Odds

 

Ann at the head of the table

  During my African travels I experienced many incredible adventures and encounters, I also met some amazing people. One person's story among all of these rose above the rest as truly inspirational. Ann is a nature guide at the exclusive Kichwa Tembo camp just at the Masai Mara Conservation Area in Kenya. As we gathered for lunch after a morning game drive she came in to greet us all in full Maasai dress and to give us a talk on the Maasai culture.  I was already impressed after her intro into traditional Maasai culture, history, and traditions, but when she answered a question about her own story I was blown away. I jotted a lot of it down shortly after so I could remember it as accurately as possible because it may inspire others out there as well. 

Ann's Story: She was born a girl to a big Maasai family. Ann had three mothers (Maasai men typically marry more than one woman) and had 20 or so siblings. She cried a lot as a baby so her mom sliced curtains into her cheeks so the tears would sting. Because she was a girl she had to watch the sheep so her brothers could go to school. Boys are first priority in most traditional Maasai families. So she would take the sheep to the school, sit outside, and listen to the teacher. Every day she would do this, even on weekends because it became routine. During one of these outings to the school, when Ann was about nine years old, the chief called her over and asked what she was doing there outside when the other kids are in. She had decided she wanted to go to school. So the chief took her back home and had a talk with her father but that same day a sheep was missing. Ann ran away because her father would beat her. After a couple of days she came back, things were forgiven. The chief talked with him again but her father replied, "who will take care of my goats? Your daughter?" In the end she could go to school but only after she finishes her chores of sweeping the house, fetching water, etc. sometimes she would miss the first lesson or she couldn't go to school at all because of all her chores.

Ann and the ladies at the Kichwa Tembo airstrip

Despite missing lessons, she did very well in her class. Then at 12 years old she found out she was booked by a man for an arranged marriage. This is still common for the Maasai, sometimes a baby is booked before it is even born. A precursor for marriage is for the girl to get circumsized. Ann had learned about the negative impacts of this painful procedure from a Kikuyu woman teacher so she stood up for herself and said no to the circumcision. Pretty bold move for a 12 year old as this meant no marriage and much shame on her and her parents. Instead of submitting to the intense pressure of the social norm, when the man came to claim her she ran away from home, this time for good. 

  From this point she sought out support from her precious Kikuyu teacher and others in order to continue her schooling. Occasionally her church group would ban together to help her and others buy personal effects. She graduated high school with very high marks which paved the way for a government scholarship to help pay for college. It wasn't until the day she graduated college, again at the top of her class, that she saw her father again. He had happened to hear about her upcoming graduation when it aired on a local Maasai radio station which he always listened to. He was shocked. He even more shocked to arrive and see that his estranged daughter had not only found how to to make her way through school and college, but to be receiving awards for doing so well. He came up to her, dropped to his knees and asked forgiveness. 

   Since then Ann has returned to her parents village just outside of the famous Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya where she works as a naturalist and Masai cultural speaker at the exclusive Kechwa Tembo Bush Camp. She is now an inspiration for other young women in the community just like her teacher was for her over a decade ago.  It is on a rainy afternoon here where we became friends and I first heard this story. She certainly tells it much better than I can write it but I just had to share such an amazing tale of courage and grit. I am hoping that Ann's story and knowledge will help other young girls break out of repressive and dangerous situations forced on them by the social norms of tradition.