SOYIAN: A STORY OF THE INFORMAL NETWORKS OF SUPPORT

“As Maasai women, we have gone through many difficult things; it’s very important for us to help each other. Our own struggles allow us to open our hearts and share to help others. They – the girls we help – will eventually be the light we wish to see in Maasailand. I am hoping that in the future, they will also help others.”

 Soyian, in photo at left, doesn’t live at home during the school term while she’s attending second grade. Instead, each night, she squeezes onto a sleeping mat nestled between the four small children of Naserian, one of our Team Angaza interns. That’s because Soyian’s father won’t support her schooling and, after seeing Soyian’s intense desire for an education, Naserian decided to temporarily take her in and support her so she can stay in school.

Naserian’s temporary caretaking of a child who is not her own is common in Maasai villages. Not only are Maasai families often quite extended, but their sense of responsibility for others in their communities –– even when unrelated is very strong. In the absence of more formal social supports, women who are often already struggling to feed their own families band together to help each other and often, any child in their village whom they recognize needs extra support.

We see this sense of communal caretaking over and over in communities and within our own staff. Christine Mpoe, our Team Angaza Coordinator, snuck back into her home village in the middle of the night to rescue a younger sister from an arranged marriage and enrolled her in a boarding school hundreds of miles away to keep her safe. Later, when Christine saw other local girls in the same predicament, she returned again and again to rescue three more of them. Christine now crafts and sells Maasai beadwork after her work with For the Good to help pay the tuition of all four girls’ respective boarding schools. Evelyn, our intern for the village of Kitilikini, took in a young girl named Lucy for a year to keep her fed and in school after Lucy’s mother died and the grandmother couldn’t find enough food to support her.

In addition to supporting Soyian, Naserian also pays school fees for Milanoi and Nemara, two other girls in her small village. She started doing so after seeing their mothers struggle just to find them enough to eat. “One of the girls I help loves education but has no father, and her mother struggles for food,” says Naserian. “The other’s father is disabled and so they have no sheep or cows, only the mother who is also struggling for food. It’s difficult –– I already have four children, and work, but I do it because it’s what I love. I just feel good when helping others.”

“At times when I see someone in trouble, my heart will not be in peace,” says Christine. “As Maasai women, we have gone through many difficult things; it’s very important for us to help each other. Our own struggles allow us to open our hearts and share to help others. They – the girls we help – will eventually be the light we wish to see in Maasailand. I am hoping that in the future, they will also help others.”

We’re incredibly grateful for the drive, initiative and generosity of our staff and Team Angaza interns for the ways they go above and beyond their job descriptions to help these children.