One degree can move a mountain....

The unsung hero: One degree can change a village

BY Shirley Genga

As soon as she was born, Teriano Lesancha was booked for marriage to the midwife’s son. But as she grew up, the ambitious young woman fought for her right to education.

Eventually, with the help of her mother, who only made it to Class Four before getting married, Teriano persuaded her father to forego the dowry of five cows and instead send her school. And against all odds, she made history as the first woman from her village to get a university degree.

Last year, when Teriano returned home in August, it was with pomp and glamour. She made Canadian and local headlines not only for being the first girl from Loodariak Village to graduate, but bringing her convocation ceremony to her village.

HEROINE

So inspired was the president of Ryerson University in Canada, Levy Sheldon, by Teriano’s story and often bumpy journey to acquire education that, together with Teriano’s mentor and social work professor, Jean Golden, they flew to Kenya, to stage a personal convocation ceremony for her.

A year later, the village heroine is back home, this time quietly, but with a vision that has been burning in her soul.

“People say I’m a good role model for my community, but I want my community to have more role models to look up to. It’s easy to graduate and proceed to have a good life alone, but my burden for my community is great, and I can’t forget where I have come from,” says Teriano.

Last year, she began the Supa Maasai Foundation, which has four pillars; education, health, social entrepreneurship and culture. She laid the groundwork for the foundation last year, before returning to Canada to further her education.

ELDERS

During Teriano’s convocation ceremony, her father gifted Ryerson University’s president a cow, which was then donated, together with an additional ten cows and a matching donation from then chancellor Raymond Chang, to her education foundation. This inspired 16 village elders to each donate a cow, and just like that, the foundation was born.

Because Teriano is based in Canada, she set up a local committee to run the foundation in her absence.

“They fatten up the cows, and sell them to raise school fees,” she says.

The right of every girl to go to school is close to Teriano’s heart, so the foundation aims to give 60 per cent of the funding to girls. But even though they have managed to take 50 students to school, getting girls to sponsor is proving to be difficult.

Changing culture

Teriano says early marriages are a major hindrance to her cause. A girl’s high school fees add up to the equivalent of the price of a cow. Thus, taking a girl to high school is often seen as an economic loss.

“Stopping early marriages is a huge challenge, mainly because it is all about economics. If you send your daughter to school, you lose cows because you have to sell them to pay fees, but if you marry her off, then you get cows,” she explains.

In addition, early marriage is still part and parcel of the Maasai culture. Even when she is in Canada, she gets desperate calls from young girls who are being forced into early marriage. And when she comes home to visit, young girls often slip her notes asking for her help.

“It gets very overwhelming and heart breaking because I know the power of education. When I can, I talk to their fathers, but I am only one person and I cannot talk to every father. That is why during my last visit, I sought out Governor David Nkedianye, to urge him to help prevent early marriages, and he agreed to assist,” says Teriano.

Apart from education, Teriano also wants to economically empower the women in her village.

“I began a cooperative this month and 150 women are already members. Each woman deposits Sh200 a month. It is a platform where they can take loans and take advantage of economies of scale. For instance, the women make beautiful jewellery, but the town where they can sell their beadwork is very far. If they come together to buy or hire a bus, it will make business easier.”

Apart from selling jewellery locally, Teriano wants the women in her village to have access to markets abroad, and at fair price.

“Two design students from Ryerson University will help us come up with design that will enable our Maasai style of jewellery to also cater for Western styles for a future global line. I have also come with nine business students from the award winning Enactus entrepreneur club, also from Ryerson University. They will perform a business assessment to see how we can create a sustainable export business, and give financial tips on start-up projects, from beekeeping to a solar-powered cyber café,” explains Teriano.

She is also helping to lay the groundwork for a health centre. Together with Ryerson University nursing professor Nancy Walton, she is in the process of writing a $100,000 (Sh8.7 million) grant application for a women’s health centre.

“It makes no sense to provide education and economic empowerment alone, yet women are still dying during child birth. I want the foundation to be wholesome,” she continues.

Never one to shy away from what may seem impossible, Teriano applied for a $1 million (Sh87 million) grant from World Vision for women’s education over five years for awareness campaigns on everything from HIV and female circumcision to women’s legal rights.

Her main goal, however, is not just to help her community for now, but for her community and foundation to be self-sustaining in the next three years, so she can possibly move to another village in need.

“I want do this in the right way. I want the foundation to be driven by the community; simply giving aid is not empowering,” she states. “The foundation has to fit in with the community ideas and needs. I want the community to feel like this is their baby and they are part of it so they can drive it even when funding stops.”

Supa Maasai has been accepted as a start-up at Ryerson University’s prestigious Digital Media Zone (DMZ). This is a Canadian business incubator and start-up accelerator, which provides its researchers and entrepreneurs with mentoring, business services, access to funding and a network of contacts.

CULTURE

And that is not all, Teriano has planned a fundraising campaign in Kenya –‘Buy a cow, educate a girl’ that will be held during a cultural pride festival later in December.

“It will be a festival to celebrate our culture. I am who I am because of my culture. When my mum and dad came to Canada and had medical check-ups, the doctors there were very impressed by how healthy they were, so our culture has positive aspects. We have promised the people that the Supa Maasai foundation will match whatever amount they raise from the festival,” she says in closing.

Teriano returns to Canada in September for a course called Foundations of Management, but will continue to work on her foundation to change lives in her home village.