List of Students

Gloria Mumeita Kotente

When Mumeita completed her first year of secondary school, her parents were no longer able to pay school fees. Mumeita was an A student with a bright future ahead of her, so outstanding that letters of recommendation were attached to her application for scholarship from the headteacher of her primary school and from the assistant chief in the area where she lived. Mumeita lived up to these recommendations and graduated from Moi Girls Secondary School in November 2009, achieving an A- on the Kenya national test, almost unheard of for a Maasai girl from rural Kenya. She would like to go to medical school, but has been told that she needs at least an A on the national test to qualify. Her university education is pending.

Date of Birth: 06/18/1992
Started Program: 3 years 36 weeks ago
Start Grade: 10th Grade (Form 2)
Current Grade: Secondary School Graduate
School: College Application Pending
Sponsored: No

Catherine Timanoi Koyiah

Timanoi's father has been trying to marry her off since she graduated from primary school, but an MGEF scholarship kept her in school. She is the first of five children living in extreme poverty, dependent on relief food during the droughts. Timanoi was accepted to the Faculty of Veterninary Medicine at the University of Nairobi in September 2009, and we believe the first Maasai woman to be accepted to this program. Her father still wants to marry her off, but in Timanoi's words, "I am not ready to be someone's wife. I would like to achieve my academic goals and change the living standard of our family."

Date of Birth: 12/08/1990
Started Program: 6 years 36 weeks ago
Start Grade: 9th Grade (Form 1)
Current Grade: University
School: University of Nairobi
Sponsored: No

Agnes Moyiaso Lantei

Just after Agnes Moyiaso completed Class 6 (6th grade) in primary school, her father arranged her marriage. She was saved by an MGEF scholarship, after a local area chief stopped the marriage and brought her to our attention. She was an A student in primary school, and the chief recognized her potential and intervened on her behalf.

Date of Birth: 03/15/1992
Started Program: 3 years 36 weeks ago
Start Grade: 7th Grade (Class 7)
Current Grade: 9th Grade (Form 1)
School: AIC Girls Secondary School
Sponsored: Yes

Esho Faith Lantei

Esho Faith had to drop out after she completed her primary school education because her parents could not afford secondary school fees and her father wanted to marry her off. Her mother was not treated well by her husband after he took a new wife in 2007, and she and her mother moved in with relatives to prevent Esho Faith's unwanted marriage.

Date of Birth: 01/01/1995
Started Program: 3 years 36 weeks ago
Start Grade: 9th Grade (Form 1)
Current Grade: 11th Grade (Form 3)
School: AIC Girls Secondary School
Sponsored: No

Yiamoi Lasiti

Yiamoi was pledged in marriage at the age of two, and was to be married in March 2007 just before her 13th birthday, but an uncle, a neighbor, and her brother stepped in to prevent the marriage after MGEF agreed to give her a scholarship. Yiamoi’s sister was married when she was just 11 years old. Her father, who is illiterate and jobless, has three wives and had been receiving dowry payments for Yiamoi for nine years, a debt he would have had to repay and was unable to do. The community agreed to raise the money to repay the debt so that Yiamoi could go to school. In March 2007, at the age of 13, Yiamoi enrolled in school for the first time, but is still at risk. Her father still wants her to marry so he can get the dowry payment.

Date of Birth: 03/12/1994
Started Program: 3 years 25 weeks ago
Start Grade: 1st Grade (Class 1)
Current Grade: 3rd Grade (Class 3)
School: AIC Girls Primary School
Sponsored: Yes