Meet Our Founder - Narau
Narau is a Maasai girl, an indigenous tribe in remote parts Northern Tanzania. She is the 8th child, in a polygamous family and the only daughter to stand against her family and culture into getting formal education. Narau was raised among traditional Maasai, spending her early years herding cattle and helping her family in attending domestic chores. She graduated from primary school at age 12, at the time when her marriage had been arranged.
In Maasai community, a girl’s education is considered a waste, her value is in the future dowry as a consideration for marriage. Despite these cultural setbacks, Narau was determined to go to school. She escaped from early marriages and ran away from home to her primary teacher’s homestead, where she
was connected to the Maasai Women Education Development Organization (MWEDO) which offered Narau a scholarship to further her studies.
Narau graduated her O-level studies with a good standing, her dream was to become a conservationist due to the nature of environment she hailed from where livestock and human being significantly interacts. With the help of friends, she succeeds to complete a course on wildlife tourism at MWEKA. Today, Narau has distinguished herself as a proven wildlife conservationist, educated and economically independent, but she has not forgotten her roots. She contributes more to her family every year than her dowry would have brought. Her family is healthier and economically stronger, and they are now revered in the community for having an educated, successful daughter, whom her father readily brags about. Narau have changed the way the Maasai community perceive female education. Now everyone prefers and wishes positively an educated daughter like Narau.
Now, Narau would like to fulfill her dreams, She would love to take the time to share her knowledge with other girls in her community and assisting them to fulfil their life goals. This will be achieved by removing the educational barriers (caused by unfound traditions and customs) that prevent girls from accessing formal education. To achieves her dreams, she is the Co-founder and Director of Enduata Community Initiative Organization (ECIO). ECIO aims at empowering the community, conservation, and education. Enduata is a Maasai word which mean – Vision, stemming from the vision Narau had to help other girls escape from bad cultural practices such as early and forced marriages and female genital mutilation. Narau wishes to assist young girls battling against such radical traditional practices, so that they can fulfill their dreams as she did.