Education
Source: The Guardian
When she was 12, Kakenya Ntaiya made a deal with her father: she would undergo the Maasai rite of passage of female circumcision if he would let her go to high school. If she had run away Ntaiya's father would have been shamed in his village, so he agreed to her terms and the ceremony went ahead.
According to the World Health Organisation: "Female genital mutilation is ... a violation of the human rights of girls and women. It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. It is nearly always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children. The practice also violates a person's rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death."
Ntaiya returned home to work with village elders to build a school for girls in her community. By refusing to accept the continued oppression of women in her Maasai village, Ntaiya has changed the lives of 125 other young girls – so far.
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