Kakenya's Dream

Kakenya's Dream (www.kakenyasdream.org) seeks to empower and motivate young girls through education to become agents of change and to break the cycle of destructive cultural practices in Kenya, such as female genital mutilation and early forced marriage. These future leaders will improve their community, their nation, and the world. We challenge ourselves to come up with the best educational system for young African girls and we promise to share our model with others.

Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya was the first girl to leave the village of Enoosaen, Kenya, to attend university abroad. She founded the Kakenya Center for Excellence boarding school (KCE) as a way to give young girls in her rural Maasai community a chance to pursue their dreams for the future. Since 2009, the school has served the area's most vulnerable and underprivileged girls and focuses on academic excellence, health education, female empowerment, leadership and community development. Currently, the school is run in partnership with the Kenyan government and is registered as a public school.

Our mission is to advance the development of rural communities by creating transformational initiatives designed to equip girls to expand their horizons and realize their full potential. Through our core programs (KCE Boarding School, Health and Leadership Training, Network for Excellence, and Community Engagement) Kakenya's Dream seeks to (1) provide an innovative and excellent education that fosters all-around achievement and success, (2) promote healthy behavior so girls and young adults can successfully achieve their life goals, and (3) cultivate a sense of responsibility, resilience, and independence that capably prepares girls in rural communities to excel in an ever changing world.