NASERIAN NAITIPA: TEAM ANGAZA INTERN

Naserian, far right, with fellow Team Angaza Leah Shuma and Gladys Muala and Director Kayce Anderson at the Mausa school opening, 2023. Photo: Kate Hardaker.

“I love seeing all kids in school. When I now see them in school, I’m happy, and it’s rewarding to me to know that the community will also benefit. “

Naserian joined For the Good as part of a dynamic group of new Team Angaza interns who began their service in 2022. Since coming on board, she has been a powerful and enterprising force for the good of Maasai girls in her community. Just a month after starting her service with us, Naserian recognized that the closest pre-primary school was too far for the youngest children to safely walk to and galvanized her community to start a preschool closer to their village, a school which 60-80 children now attend on any given day. When her village initially couldn’t find a teacher for the school, Naserian volunteered to teach the children for a month until one could be found.

In addition to her work enrolling children into primary school and helping the preschool, Naserian also helps three young local girls whose parents either don’t have the means to or won’t support their daughters to go to school. One of them, young Soyian, lives with Naserian, her husband and their own four children during the school term so she can stay in school, because Soyian’s father won’t support her education.

Naserian also pays the school fees and other needs for Miilanoi and Nemara, two other young girls in her village. One of the girls has no father and the other’s father is disabled, so the families “have no sheep or cows, and their mothers are struggling just to find food,” says Naserian. “It’s difficult –– I already have four children, and work, but I do it because its what I love. I just feel good when helping others.”