Salula’s Story
Sylvia Salula Naingisa was rescued at the age of eight in the midst of a forced marriage ceremony to a 46-year-old man. The Tasaru Rescue Centre was her sanctuary until she graduated high school in 2017. Since then she has been a S.H.E. student, completing her Certificate and Diploma levels in Social Work, and currently studying for her Degree. Here is some of her story in her own words.
When I was a little girl, seven or eight years old, I was determined to go to school. I loved learning. But my family, my culture, does not allow females to be educated. I could only watch the guys pass next to our home on their way to school. I would go out and wave at the boys in the morning, then, when they came back from school, I could go back and wave at them again. I could only admire them. Just look and admire. I didn’t know what to do.
The mud house, or manyatta, where Salula grew up.
When Salula was eight years old, she underwent Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in preparation to be married to a 46-year-old man.
The customs of FGM and Early Child Marriage are still practiced by many Christian Maasai, although they are against the law.
For you to get married, you have to be prepared by your mother. So when I was eight years old, after I was done FGM, my mother started telling me to make the beads because you need to be beautiful when you are married. But I had this attitude: I was telling my mother, “I’m not going anywhere because I’m going to school.”
And my mother said to me, “How will you say that to your dad? He will not allow you to go to school.”
Photo by Marvi Lacar
I told her, “I don’t know, but I’m going to be the first girl to go to school in this family, and I’m not going to stop. I don’t know where the help will come from, but I’m going to school.”
But everyone was telling me, “Go take care of your husband.”
I told my mother, “I’m not going to stay there!”
My mother was crying. She was worried about me. She thought I was going to kill myself if I went with that man. His place was near a big river. So my mother was scared that I might go and throw myself in the river. Which I was planning to do!
Now it was time to leave. I think it was almost 8 AM. When I was walking by where the cows stay, I saw a police car. Then I was so confident! I knew my dream was coming true! As I went toward the man who was going to marry me, the police came and interrupted the ceremony. They directed me to the Tasaru Rescue Centre vehicle. My father was arrested. And so was the man. They were taken to jail.
Photo by Marvi Lacar
From “The World” by Salula Naingisa
Our fathers are selling their innocent girls.
Sell?
Yes, sell. And they sell them for cheap prices.
Imagine me being sold for a blanket worth 1,500 shillings or less.
Three cows, four goats, and some kilos of sugar!
That’s a crime that our fathers are making.
The police took me to the rescue center. There I was welcomed and given everything that I needed. I was undressed from the beads and the stinking dress made of skins that you wear in a wedding, and I remember one of the secretaries washing me. I couldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t speak their language, Swahili, because I only knew the language of my tribe, Maa. But I was happy. I knew my dream had come true and I was going to school!
For the next ten years, Salula’s home was the Tasaru Rescue Center. The girls are sent to boarding school, and all their needs are provided for.
In 2017, after Salula graduated high school, she was reconciled with her parents in a huge ceremony attended by hundreds of villagers.
After college, I would like to go back home to Maasai Mara to mentor other girls. Because I can express myself better than they can. And I have good mentorship skills.
Salula's reunion with her parents after 10 years in the safe house
Salula graduated from Kenya Institute of Community Development and Social Work at the top of her class with both a Certificate and a Diploma. Here are a few words from her graduation speech:
Today is my great day.
This is the day that I show the world that I did it.
My dream was to go to school, but my community, my dad, and other people never believed in girls’ education.
But now they do.
Because of me.
Education is power. It has given me power.
And it has given me wings to fly.
Salula on her graduation day
Salula is currently studying for a double Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and Psychology, the next step in her commitment to transforming the lives of women and girls in her community, her tribe and the world.