Kakenya’s Visit to Katonah

On November 3rd, Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya enthralled an enthusiastic crowd at the Katonah Village Library with the story of how she fought against local customs to educate herself, and later establish the first boarding school for girls in her community in rural Kenya. This school, the Kakenya Center for Excellence, has protected every single student – now over 300 girls – from female genital mutilation and child marriage. KEEP couldn’t be more proud to support Kakenya’s mission to educate and empower these girls.

The following day, Students for KEEP at John Jay High School welcomed Kakenya to speak at an assembly of over 150 students. With humor and charm, Kakenya described Maasai culture in rural Kenya and the challenges of attending school in a place where most villagers have no electricity or running water, let alone funds to purchase school books. John Jay students responded with great interest by asking thoughtful questions and eagerly gathering around Kakenya after her talk. A huge thank you to Students for KEEP and JJHS for making this assembly happen!

We are delighted to report that Kakenya’s visit generated over $2,000 in donations to help the 37 sixth-grade girls at the Kakenya Center for Excellence whom KEEP supports. The hard work of fighting gender discrimination could not happen without the dollars so generously given.