We have made it. This is a milestone. We have matching, freshly starched uniforms for the thirty-one girls attending Kakenya’s School of Excellence.
School Uniform shop
Don’t be fooled by the manifestation of this baby-step in the revolution. In fact, be convinced by it: with the simple gift of one plaid jumper, maroon sweater, pair of tan knee-socks, patent-leather shoes, and cream collared shirt, you will see each girl lengthen her spine to hold back her shoulders and smile with the confidence that she is, in fact, a miracle. And I bet you some exorbitant amount of Kenyan shillings she will also do better in her studies - because it is clear someone is invested in her, and she is worth that investment.
Kakenya shows off her school's very own uniform
Beaming for her girls
Kakenya understood the gravity of this moment, and she was silenced by it (save this little clip just before her descent into disbelieving quiet). She has completed one large orbit of her goal, one of the first rings of her Saturn. This ring started with one fundraising event after another, visits to Vital Voices in DC, more and more time away from her son and husband, her dissertation; then it was a long trip last summer, another this February, and now one month back in her Kenyan home to see how the girls of her school - “her children” - are growing. And during this packed month, Kakenya has taken an eight-hour matatu to the large town of Eldoret (“that’s too busy, like New York City”) and spent the whole day personally seeing to it that each girl has every piece of this elaborate outfit that leaves will eventually, on the dirt roads of Enoosaen town, leave all onlookers without a doubt in their minds: this girl is going somewhere.
Now, maybe, you can see the multiplier effect behind the demure uniform Kakenya holds up in this short video. You should have been there: adding rings to a planet is worth witnessing (and worth doing).
Video: Kate Cummings. Location: Eldoret, Kenya. Partner: Vital Voices
Tags: Africa, Eldoret, Enoosaen, girls education, Kakenya Ntaiya, Kakenya's Center for Excellence, Kakenya's Dream, Kenya, school uniform
