The Situation of Girls in Kenya

Palu is a 16 year old Maasai girl. Her family lives in the Makurian community of Laikipia North District in Kenya, an arid land where the people of the region struggle to survive raising livestock in a climate unfavorable for ranching. Palu’s father, who has two wives, planned to marry Palu to a man his age who could afford to pay him three cows for her. But Palu wanted to finish school, so she ran away with her mother to a girls’ secondary boarding school. Because secondary school in Kenya requires the payment of school fees as well as books and supplies, Palu’s mother left to try to earn money. The school agreed to allow Palu to remain there for a while, but when her mother couldn’t raise enough money to pay the fees, Palu had to drop out again.  

In 2007, nearly sixty-six million girls did not have access to education in communities around the world. In Kenya, this problem is acute. Girls like Palu can be forced into marriage at ages as young as ten, often as a second or third wife to a much older man.  They generally have no say in the decision and no rights as married women. 

Marriage for a Masaii girl is not the same situation as marriage in Western culture.  In Kenya, young girls will likely become the second or third wife to a man considerably older than she is.  She will be expected to take care of the goats or cattle, to fetch water, to cook and to care for the children of the husband. Prior to marriage she will undergo a female circumcision procedure.

What if Palu had access to funds to support her secondary education and prevent her from being forced into an unwanted marriage and trapped in a life of poverty?  For Palu and millions of other women, access to education is a means to self sufficiency and the freedom to make decisions for themselves.

The focus of PWE's Kenya programs is to find ways to provide these girls with the means to pursue an education and break the cycle of poverty in their communities.

Read more stories of girls who need our help...