The position of Maasai Girls
When thinking of Kenya, every tourist immediately thinks of the Maasai, one of the many tribes in Kenya. Their beautiful colourful clothes, proud appearance and special culture have made them the calling card of Kenya. The (lesser known) side of the Maasai culture is the very poor position of young girls and women. Circumcision and arranged marriage at a very young age are still common, as well as polygamy.
Fortunately, more and more parents in traditional communities no longer want to let this happen to their daughters. And they realise that it is good for their daughters to go to school and develop themselves so that they will have a chance of getting a job and an income.
Unfortunately, there is often insufficient income to pay school fees as most parents live off the profits from a small herd of goats and cows.
By funding school fees, StandUp4Talent aims to give Maasai girls more chances for a better life, economic independence and a better position in society.
Read more about the position of Maasai Girls and why we also sponsor Maasai Boys.
To continue offering Maasai Girls the chance to get an educated and better life, we are looking for additional sponsorship funds. If you would like to donate for this specific group, please mention in your bank transfer: Maasai Girls. Information about donating: Click here
Meet the talented MaasaiGirls we are currently sponsoring:
Sainapei (2009) completed Junior Secondary School with good grades. A new education system (Competence-Based Curriculum) has gradually been introduced in Kenya. Under this system, pupils are admitted to Senior Secondary School (3 years) with a specific set of subjects based on their results from Junior Secondary School (3 years). The aim is to improve the transition to further education. Sainapei has been selected for Ole Tipis Girls Senior Secondary School in Narok, STEM pathway (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics profile).
The mother of Sainapei is a single parent who supports her household and children by keeping a few cows. She is eager for her daughter to attend school, but her limited income is too low to cover the tuition fees.
Sainapei wants to become a doctor so she can help people in her own community with health problems. Many doctors come from other tribes and do not speak Maa. This often leads to miscommunication and misdiagnosis. Sainapei hopes as a doctor to bridge this gap and thereby provide better care to the Maasai. Thanks to our support, she was able to start Senior Secondary School on 1 February 2026.
Hellen (2000) completed primary school when she was 17 years old! Due to her parents’ lack of money, she either started primary school very late or was regularly sent home. Fortunately, she was then able to move straight on to secondary school. She completed this in 2021 with good grades. Since then, her development has stopped. Thanks to her sponsorship, she was able to start at Mount Kenya University in February 2026, studying for a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Administration.
Her parents support their family (six children) by keeping cows. The other children (aged 4-20) go to school, but we do not know whether they are sponsored or whether their parents manage to pay the school fees with the income from the cows. In any case, there was not enough money available for Hellen’s tuition fees. That is why she has been at home since 2021.
In the future, Hellen would like to set up projects that have a long-term impact on the education, health and equality of her community.
Hadija (2003), a talented and ambitious young MaasaiGirl completed high school in 2023 with very good results. It is her dream to become a nurse and she was admitted to Kenya Methodist University in Meru for a Bachelor of Nursing.
Unfortunately, her parents (family of six children) did not have enough income to pay for her bachelor study and wanted to marry her off, according to Maasai tradition. Purity, one of our contacts convinced her parents of the importance of a good education for their daughter.
Thanks to the support of a number of sponsors, Hadija was able to start her studies on 1 September 2025. She is very grateful to everyone who made this possible, is enjoying her studies very much and is achieving excellent results.
To ensure the continuation of the study of Hadija, donations are still very welcome!
Click here for more information about Hadija and how to donate for her studies
Moindi (2008) was taken out of high school by her father in mid-February 2025 to be married off. She fled to the home of Joseph Sankale, one of our contacts, where she was She fled to the home of Joseph Sankale, one of our contacts, where she was welcomed with love, respect and care. Because of the risk of abduction, Moindi has been enrolled at a school far away from her father’s village.
For school fees and school supplies, about 600 euros per school year, Moindi is dependent on sponsorship. StandUp4Talent is committed to saving this ambitious and talented Maasai girl from being married off and enabling her to finish high school. Thanks to some generous sponsors, Moindi was able to start class 3 of her new high school in May 2025. She is very happy to be given this opportunity!
But to ensure she can also complete the next term and class 4, donations are still very welcome!
Click here for more information about Moindi and how to donate for her studies.
Abigeal (2008) was sent home in the second year of high school due to payment arrears. Due to the parents’ lack of money, she regularly had to interrupt her school career, something which is very common in Kenya. But the financial situation of her parents became so poor that she was in danger of being married off.
Together with Purity (one of our graduate students and now our contact person), we made sure she could return to school. Abigeal is very happy to continue developing her talent and is getting good grades.
She would like to become a vet to help her community keep their livestock healthy. In Maasai culture, keeping livestock is still the major source of income. Her school results are more than sufficient to be admitted to a Bachelor study. The cost of a Bachelor degree in Kenya is 2000-2500 euros per year.
Who wants to help us make Abigeal’s dream come true? Information about donating: Click here
Mary (2007) was admitted to Kimana Girl’s High School in January 2023.
On our visit to her village Namelok in August 2023, she and her parents submitted a request for sponsorship to us. A few weeks later, before we made a final decision about their request, a cry for help reached us from her community.
Her parents did manage to pay school fees for the first 2 trimesters, but there was no money for the third trimester, so Mary could no longer attend school. She was very eager to go to school. She even wanted to try to take exams for the last trimester without taking classes for it!
We made sure that this talented ambitious young lady could go back to school immediately. She finished the last trimester with great results.
Vivian (2009) started in the first term of class 1 in high school in September 2024. Her first school results were very good. However, her parents did not have enough income to pay for the rest of the school year.
Through our local contact person Purity (StandUp4Talent graduate and now our contact person), they asked us for financial support to pay school fees. They themselves are able to cover other study costs, such as books and school uniforms. This willingness to contribute to the study costs themselves shows that they are supporting Vivian’s choice to study.
Vivian is very happy that, thanks to this sponsorship, she no longer has to worry about the financial burden of her studies. She expects this will help her to focus better on her studies and additional study activities.
Vivian would like to become a lawyer to help her community in the future.
She is willing to work hard and she hopes to become an important woman and role model in the Maasai community.
Jecinta (2002) was admitted in 2018 to Moi Girls High School, a school known as one of the best in Kenya, thanks to her high final primary school scores. At the request of the village elders of her manyata (village), StandUp4Talent sponsored her education. In 2022, she completed her final exams with excellent results and then started her Bachelor’s studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Nairobi.
It was Jecinta’s dream to become a doctor. But in Kenya, students are assigned a study/university based on their profile and graduation results from high school. It is not easy to choose an alternative study, and the costs of changing studies are probably high. Jecinta has accepted that she is not going to become a doctor. She is also very much interested in Law and she expects to be able to contribute a lot to her community with the knowledge after graduation.
On our visits to Jecinta in 2018 and 2023, we were impressed by her talents and ambitions.
Sylvia Soila (1999) is an intelligent student with a lot of perseverance. In spring 2024, her friend Teckler, one of our graduate students, asked us to support Sylvia.
Sylvia didn’t have an easy childhood. After her mother died and her father left the family, she was looked after by an aunt.
Despite recurring problems with financing school fees, she managed, with the help of friends, to complete high school and a study Certificate in Health Records and Information Technology at Mount Kenya University.
She achieved very good marks and was eager to take the next step to Diploma level in this field of study. Unfortunately, this was financially not possible for Sylvia.
In April 2024, we started sponsoring this motivated student. She is very happy that she can now concentrate on her studies without any worries.
Grace (2007) has been sponsored since 2019 by one of the participants of the MaasaiWalk 2019 (organised by the Entrepreneurship Academy). She completed primary school (Ilbissil Boarding Primary School) and started at Olooseos Girls Secondary School in January 2024 (at the age of 15!).
The school career of many children in Kenya is regularly interrupted because parents do not have enough money to pay school fees. As a result of this, and due to the corona-lockdowns, many children enter secondary school at a rather late age.
Grace is motivated to work hard. During our visited in 2023 she told us that her favourite subject is science, especially human body. Her dream is to become a nurse, preferably in a major hospital in Nairobi.
Mercy (2009) was admitted to Senior chief Koinange Girls High School, located in a suburb of Nairobi, in January 2023.
Her father managed to pay school fees for the first year. She achieved high marks in her 1-year, but continuing her studies was a financial challenge. At request of her community, we sponsor this talented Maasai girl.
Mercy is having a great time at school. She told us that the food is very good and fresh. We now know that this is by no means the case at all schools. Her favourite subjects are entertainment (singing) and biology.
She would like to become a doctor.
Agnes (1994) is a young ambitious woman who in 2014, 2015 and 2017 participated in the MasterPeaceWalk in Maasailand, a joint walk by Maasai warriors, Maasai women and participants from the Western world in the Kajiado region. During these walks, Agnes developed a desire not to be married off, to choose her own partner in life, to develop, to study, and to be able to build an independent life.
Thanks to support from StandUp4Talent, Agnes was able to start her Bachelor of Commerce studies at the University of Nairobi in 2019. Unfortunately, Agnes had to interrupt her studies regularly, partly due to corona lockdowns, the birth of her second child and organisational problems at the university. She hopes to resume her studies (online) in 2026 and finally graduate.
Thanks to her studies, she does have a job with the County of Kajiado now.
Our graduated MaasaiGirls
Purity (1993) managed to escape from an arranged marriage after primary school and was able to go to secondary school thanks to help of her teachers. She completed secondary school with very good results and managed to get a teachers’ training afterwards. Continuing her studies at university was her big dream. Purity wanted to start teaching other Maasai Girls to help them realise their dreams.
With the support of StandUp4Talent, Purity was able to start at Kenyatta University Nairobi, Bachelor of Education, Early Childhood Studies in September 2016. Unfortunately, her studies were regularly interrupted, for different reasons like teachers’ strikes and the lockdowns due to the corona pandemic.
Purity completed her studies in 2022 and received her Bachelor’s degree in December 2024. She now works as a teacher in the local primary school.
She also dedicates herself with a lot of energy to the development of her community, together with Faith, one of our other students. Thanks to the collaboration between these two amazing students, their individual development has extended to their entire communities. We are very proud of them!
Faith (1997) is an enthusiastic and open- hearted Maasai Girl who managed to touch everyone’s heart with her dream during her participation in the MasterPeaceWalk 2018 at the campfire: My dream is to become the voice of the Maasai girls and my society, to fight for their rights to education, educating them the importance of education, fight against female genital mutilation, fight teenage pregnancy among the young maasai girls, fight against child marriages and making this young girls realize their dreams.
With the help of our sponsors, she was able to start her studies in Communication and Public Relations at St. Pauls University Kenya in January 2019. While studying, her academic results, her personal development, her ambitions and her entrepreneurial drive evolved and improved at a high pace. Faith completed her Bachelor in Communications with excellent grades and received her degree during a beautiful Graduation Ceremony on 14 November!
During her studies, Faith was already committed to all kinds of projects for her community. Together with Purity, one of our other students, a wide range of projects were set up to help their communities move forward in their development. This has brought so much energy and inspiration to their fellow villagers that everyone is now participating in new plans and a better future.
Click here for more information about Faith and the projects she is involved in.
Teckler (1999) found shelter at a rescue centre in Kajiado for 2 years after she ran away from home to avoid forced marriage. Thanks to the care and guidance provided by the rescue centre, she was able to complete her primary school.
In February 2016, she was able to start at MITABONI ABC GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL thanks to our sponsorship, and in December 2019, she passed her final high school exams with good grades.
Teckler was highly motivated to continue her studies and with our help, she was able to start her studies in Bachelor of Commerce at the Jomo Kenya University of Agriculture and Technology in Nairobi in January 2020. She worked very hard and in December 2023 she completed her studies.
Teckler is now looking for a job or scholarship for a master's degree abroad
We visited Teckler regularly, both at her high school (2017 and 2018), and at her home and university (2023).
Esther Naini (1995) managed to escape from female genital mutilation and forced marriage in exchange for a few cows, thanks to the help of Hellen Nkuraiya, an extraordinary Maasai woman who has been working for Maasai girls for years.
With our support, Esther Naini was able to start her Bachelor of Arts in Community Development studies at Daystar University in 2018. After her studies, she wants to work to improve the position of Maasai girls, just like Hellen.
When she graduated in 2022, it became national news! The Kenyan public television broadcasted a report of the wonderful party her community organised for her. They are super proud of her and so are we!
In 2023, she was selected for a scholarship for a Masters in International Development at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After an interesting internship in Rwanda, she completed her master’s degree in May 2025. Her plan for the future is to return to Kenya to set up a social enterprise there.
We are proud of Esther Naini and will definitely continue to follow her in the future.
More about Esther Naini: click here
To continue sponsoring the costs of high school or university for these Maasai Girls in the future and to support more girls like them, we are looking for more sponsorship funds. If you would like to donate for this specific group, please mention in your bank transfer: Maasai Girls. Information about donating: Click here
