She was just seven years old when it dawned on her that she would ultimately undergo the painful cut before getting married off at a tender age.
She says she hated this archaic traditional practice and by lady luck, she was sent to a boarding school where she discovered that not all girls undergo Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) which was a way of life for a typical Maasai girl.
This is when today’s world’s renowned anti-FGM crusader Nice Nailantei, decided to be a voice for the voiceless in society through active participation in an anti-FGM crusade.
“After seeing so many things, some of my girlfriends leaving school because of circumcision and were married off, that’s when I decided that, I really want to make change and I need to fight for myself and makes sure I don’t undergo the cut,” said Nailantei when she appeared for an interview with Citizen TV Saturday.
The 27-year old anti-FGM activist from Oloitoktok in Kajiado County was recently named among a list of 100 most influential people in 2018 by prestigious America’s Time’s Magazine.
Her campaign against the vice within the Maasai community has saved more than 15, 000 girls from the forced cut.
Nailnatei says, having been brought up by her grandfather after her parents passed on when she was seven, her mind opened up and realized circumcision is just a preserve of the Maasai community.
“I had to go to a boarding school and I had to interact with girls from different communities and that’s when I started realizing that actually, circumcision is not really done on every girl in Kenya.”
Nailantei who works as a project officer with Amref Health Africa says she owes her grandfather who, despite being an elder, supported her quest to attain education which empowered her to speak against the vice that was outlawed in 2011.
She notes that FGM is not just a women issue but also men issue because they are on the forefront stigmatizing those who have not undergone the cut.
Her activism to end FGM in Maasailand has seen her work with cultural leaders who are influential in the community and morans who pressure young girls to undergo FGM before they marry them.
She believes that empowering communities where FGM is largely practiced with information will have a ripple effect because they will know the dangers of the outlawed cultural practice.
“What we need to do, is try and empower these communities. Let’s give them information, let’s empower them. Once we empower them, let them decide what’s the alternative to Female Genital Mutilation,” she offers.
Nailantei’s activism has however not been easy because of stigmatization but this has not dampened her spirit to save the girl child on the verge of the cut. She strongly advocates for embrace of alternative cultural rites other than FGM.
She adds that though she is the one recognized by Times Magazine, there are those who have been behind her who take share in her anti-FGM crusade success.
“They [Times Magazine] are recognizing nice but there are many people behind it.”
She will be flying to New York soon to collect her prize.