Elissa Freiha
Chief of Umoja tribe Rebecca Lolosoli
Chief of Umoja tribe Rebecca Lolosoli
My hopeful story is about Rebecca Lolosoli who is in Samburu, Kenya. She is the female chief of the Umoja women's tribe, which is a sub sect of the Maasai Mara. And what's amazing is that she's been the chief of this tribe since 1990 which is such a long time ago especially when the Maasai Mara are famously patriarchal, and famously male dominating as a culture. Umoja is a safe haven for women, specifically women that are either being given up to child marriage or women that are abused or in situations of domestic violence. It acts almost as a women's shelter but it is its own village, protected and run by women who are the financial providers of this village. The reason this village is so inspiring to me is because just to set it up, took an insane amount of courage and strategic thinking in a place that's very difficult for that courage to be justified. But they were successful. Through Umoja, women have been able to formalise themselves and get themselves recognised by entities like the United Nations or other foreign nonprofits, and receive enough donations to build a well so that they don't have to be nomadic which puts them at risk down the line. So they now have a well, they're in the same location, which means that donors can find them or supporters can come visit them and I was lucky enough to be one of those people and for me, it's a story that is continuously inspiring.
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Justice
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