We are incredibly excited to announce the recipients of the 2009 Butterfly Scholarships pictured above. These special women have been chosen for their maturity, motivation, discipline, ability, and commitment to serving their communities. The Butterfly Project scholarship fund, founded by Carole Peccorini in 2005, creates college opportunities in education and nursing for promising young East African women with no financial means of fulfilling their dreams. To learn more, contact Shana Greene or donate to The Butterfly Project through VillageVolunteers.org.
Sasha Rabsey, while volunteering at Namunyak Maasai Welfare, conducted the following interviews. They have been edited for length. You can read the original interviews covering all of the incredible Butterfly Project scholarship recipients at VillageVolunteers.org.
Juliette Resiato Ampani
Juliette speaks in a lovely high whisper about her desire to be a primary school teacher. Her inspiration and perseverance come from several teachers she had in school. Working to improve her Maasai community through education is very important to her. Supporting her family with her six siblings is equally important since her father died and her mother does not work. Fortunately, Juliette’s family is supportive of her wish to continue her studies at a nearby teacher’s college. After two years of study, Juliette would have a teaching certificate allowing her to teach at the primary and middle school levels.
Juliette prefers to attend school in the fall rather than to marry an older man who has made a proposal to her family. She has seen too many of her schoolmates suffer female circumcision, marry by the age of 14 and have families to raise. She does not want this same fate for herself. By becoming a teacher, Juliette hopes to inspire other Maasai girls in her community, showing them that they too have the choice to live their dream.
From Juliette’s application:
I seek to be a servant of all. Getting the skills to impart knowledge on young children is a God-given gift and I hope to assist as many children as I could through my education profession. I will cherish to encourage boys and girls in equal measure to put more emphasis on education. I want to help my community to come out of the illiteracy tag that they have held for a long time and move them to realize that they as equal to the task of education like the rest of the communities in the country. ~Juliette
Georgina Nashipai
Georgina, with her beautiful smile, is a very determined 22 year old. Born into a polygamist Maasai family, her father is married to four wives, each having 10 children for a grand total of 40 siblings. Growing up, Georgina saw the boys in her immediate and extended family given priority in education. However, she refused to relinquish her desire to learn. Attending the local public school where education was substandard, Georgina had the motivation to study hard. She sat for the competitive National Exams at the age of 13 and earned her place in a local high school.
When Georgina passed the exam, her father dashed any hope of moving forward. Georgina was to undergo the painful and often fatal process of female circumcision required for marriage. Her marriage was arranged with an older man in the village and she was to stay home to raise a family. She refused the circumcision by running away, returning to marry only after a community support group convinced her father to let her come home without having the procedure done.
Once married, Georgina attended high school but she became pregnant at the age of 14. Fearing her education was through, she was deeply saddened. Fortunately, her mother cared for the baby while Georgina continued with her classes. Then, in her second year of high school, Georgina became pregnant with her second child. Feeling completely defeated, Georgina thought she would never make it to University. But for her mother’s support and guidance, Georgina could not have finished high school. She has since had a third child.
Inspired by teaching her own children, Georgina began teaching the nursery level at Sirua Aulo Academy of Namunyak Maasai Welfare, a partner of Village Volunteers. Georgina offers her children and students love, individual attention and patience. She remains acutely aware of each child’s strengths and weaknesses, always finding ways to engage all students, including the two special needs children in her class. With her Butterfly Project Scholarship Georgina is devoted to being the best mother and teacher that she can be.
From Georgina’s application:
For a long time, there has been a desire in me to transform our community to the current world standards. It is for this reason that I thought of the best route towards realizing this dream. The road towards an informed decision of how best I can approach this matter has never been smooth. On my day and nights of hassling, I arrived at a point I considered would be the best to achieve and attain the change I would wish to be noted in my community. A ‘profession’, I realized can bring an instant change to the entire community through advising them on the importance of education to our young generation. Having been a practicing teacher for some time now, I realized that I can change the entire society whom I will be handling. Through the teaching profession, I intend to develop, a self-reliant child, wholly molded and ready to approach the radically changing technologies with competence and diligence. With this urge in me, I choose to be a teacher!! ~Georgina