Speaker 1 (00:36):

They come from Maasai Mara. In my tribe women have several challenges, in their families. Men see us like we are nothing.

Speaker 1 (00:51):

[foreign language 00:01:01]

Speaker 2 (01:32):

I am born here, I am a Maasai girl. I was brought up in this community. I went to school here, so I know in and out of this community, and I know the decisions of this community are basically made by men.

Speaker 3 (01:52):

Women have a lot of challenges and hardships here, Maasai women. They're the workers of this place. Cooking, cleaning, childcare, building houses, milking cows, gathering firewood, carrying water. They basically have full time manual labor jobs every day.

Speaker 4 (02:12):

They do about the same amount of work that we would do in one week in one day.

Sarah (02:17):

Do you men ever get firewood?

Alice (02:28):

What?

Sarah (02:28):

Do men ever get...?

Alice (02:29):

No, no, no, no. They can't. Men don't go firewood. They say that is the work of women.

Speaker 5 (02:41):

There's a lot of work to do, and a lot of work that's expected of you and a lot in your role. So where's your time to even dream or know what else is out there, but also is that even okay?

Speaker 2 (02:53):

Most of the time we have so much work to do. We don't time to think about ourselves.

Speaker 1 (03:03):

You don't have your freedom to buy anything you want or any money to own for yourself, so it's become a real poverty?

Speaker 2 (03:13):

All our title deeds are written in the name of our husbands. And a woman, you don't have power over something that is written on someone's else name. Even when a married woman purchase livestock, that livestock is for the husband because you brought it to his home. So he will say, "This is my cows. You have no right to sell it."

Speaker 6 (03:35):

In Maasailand, women, they don't have any voice to their community. Even if they sell cows, you are not even told I'm selling this cow. No. You will not be told because you will decide nothing.

Speaker 2 (03:58):

When you are born as a girl in this community, your father automatically will see cows, a number of cows on you. He will start saying, "My wife got a girl". So he's anticipating that one day, it doesn't matter how many years, he will get rich because he will get dowry.

Speaker 6 (04:18):

They say that you have to marry many wives as a sign of richness. It doesn't make sense because maybe you'll get very many children that you cannot even feed them, leave alone taking them to school. So all those children, through the rest of their life, they will be suffering.

Speaker 2 (04:40):

Education is key to girls, particularly the Maasai community. Girls who doesn't go to school have so many disadvantages. One, being so much controlled. At the age of 9 or ten or 11, you will be circumcised, female genital mutilation. And who decides this? It is your parents who decide this girl is of age, let us circumcise. That is a cultural practice that doesn't help anybody, doesn't help even that girl. So when she goes through this female genital mutilation, the father automatically thinks "this is a woman, she should get married." And this is a very young child. When this man is going to sleep with this small girl that is so much disadvantaged. And when she goes into this marriage, she will never have a decision of her own. And in most cases these are arranged marriages that this girl will regret the rest of her life.

Momby (05:56):

[foreign language 00:05:47] There is others girls of my age and who are younger than me, even now they have already married. Some of them have two kids because they have not gone to school because of lack of school fees.

Alice (06:22):

They say that if you teach a girl the profit, she will just take to the husband but not your home.

Speaker 1 (06:30):

Yeah. You know, if you get married without having a job, it is very hard for you to live that life. You'll have to live a life of poverty because this men don't look you like nothing, you are anything in this country. After you see that you have been rejected in the community because you are a woman. You have to struggle and struggle more so that you can come out of that challenge.

Alice (06:59):

I'm praying that women will have a voice at least to say no to oppression.

Alice (07:03):

[foreign language 00:07:05]

Alice (07:16):

I have the interest of going to Mount Kenya because it's sending the sense of my life and empowers the whole community at large. In your family, you climb mountains and valleys, so can you compare the mountain in your life?

Speaker 7 (07:40):

I've heard it is the second tallest mountain. I know it is, it really takes a lot of energy and a lot of courage to go there. So I'll be encouraged in life and I will be encouraged to encourage my fellow girls, Maasai girls.

Momby (07:59):

I go to Mount Kenya when I come back I will be ready to go to school.

Speaker 8 (08:12):

Climbing the mountain represents all those things that we want to get in life, that we want to fight for and work for that aren't easy. And we can't just think that we can sit somewhere and all the good things are going to come to us, but we really have to fight, especially as women for the things that we want.

Speaker 9 (08:29):

The biggest challenge with any larger group of people charging up a mountain is the group itself. The circumstances can be rough on your body for sure, whether it's altitude or cold. But it's the team aspect that always raises the challenge even more.

Speaker 10 (08:47):

What we're going to do is try to get everybody outfitted with all of the clothes and shoes and equipment that they need to go on the mountain.

Speaker 5 (08:59):

I've had altitude sickness in the past. So I think I have some concerns about the outs, dealing with the altitude.

Speaker 3 (09:06):

Fun fact: I think Mount Kenya has the most E-vacs in the world for high altitude pulmonary edema.

Speaker 3 (09:19):

[foreign language 00:09:14]

Speaker 3 (09:22):

Okay, so this is an overview map of around Mount Kenya national park. So here's Nanyuki, that's where we're going to stay, one night.

Speaker 3 (09:33):

Many of these women literally have never left their village. The men they know haven't been, no man in this area has climbed Mount Kenya. They don't know anyone that's ever done that.

Speaker 9 (09:45):

Most people think like 65 degrees is cold. So going up to snow is pretty big deal. And that on top of all the other challenges that go with climbing a mountain with a heavy pack on for the first time in your life.

Speaker 7 (09:58):

So I've never seen the ice dust on the ground, laying on the ground, I mean. So I would like to see, and also I've never felt the heaviness of the backpack, so I would like to feel it.

Speaker 8 (10:13):

There's something about getting to spend time with people from another culture that allows that realness of each other and some of the barriers that are normally there fall away.

Speaker 3 (10:24):

You would think that it would be harder to connect with someone if you don't speak their language, but I actually think in some ways you connect more deeply.

Speaker 7 (10:34):

I don't see any difference. I know it's just the color but bodies are all the same.

Momby (10:46):

I like to meet more girls. I'll get challenged to talk with them. Maybe you know something that I don't know. Then I like to know that something. Then I'll share with you some that I know and you don't know. [foreign language 00:11:00].

Speaker 10 (11:45):

So we're about to get to the Stear man gate, which is where we're going to start climbing from and the elevation there is about 7000 feet, so we're starting a little bit high already and people probably feeling altitude as we start off.

Speaker 10 (12:06):

If you're feeling really bad, you put out a one and if you're feeling really good, you put out a 10 [foreign language 00:12:11].

Speaker 10 (12:19):

You're a nine, we've got a 10, we got an eight, we got a ...

Speaker 5 (12:22):

A four.

Speaker 10 (12:23):

A four?, Okay! [Foreign language 00:12:24]

Sarah (12:54):

Backpacking, like we're going to do. It's a self-supported trip, which means we don't have any help outside of our group to get up the mountain. So we are carrying everything that we need on our own backs. It gets pretty heavy over time. Going higher up an altitude creates more physical demand. There wasn't a name for the project the first time I did it, it was just a big experiment and one of the Maasai women suggested the name "Naretoi" because it means women helping women. I love the word and, I love the sentiment behind it and I love that it came from one of the Maasai women.

Sarah (13:44):

I think I always wanted to find women that I could look up to and I wanted to be able to look up to myself. I've tried to live a life more, I can have respect for myself. You know, I feel sad knowing that my mother's generation and that whole generation of women didn't get a lot of choice.

Speaker 9 (14:10):

Women in both cultures face a lot of challenges, especially in terms of being respected by men and being seen as equals by men. And even though we've worked really hard in the United States and we've come a long way, women are not equals.

Sarah (14:24):

[foreign language 00:14:30] Alice?

Alice (14:24):

Huh.

Sarah (14:24):

What are you making right now?

Alice (14:36):

I'm making vegetables and rice.

Sarah (14:41):

And what are we having tomorrow night?

Alice (14:42):

The same, same.

Sarah (14:45):

What are we having the next night?

Alice (14:47):

Same, same! Until we finished our journey.

Alice (14:52):

My favorite part today is the beautiful landscape of the shrubs, and flowers and water streams.

Speaker 7 (15:03):

Oh, my day was very nice. I feel so stronger.

Sarah (15:10):

Do you have any hard parts?

Speaker 7 (15:11):

No.

Speaker 4 (15:14):

Today I was a lot more confident and I feel like the scenery just keeps getting better and better and it just encourages me to get to the summit. [foreign language 00:15:24]

Speaker 8 (15:23):

What is the challenge in your life that you want to be able to overcome when you go home? What can you find inside of yourself to prove to yourself that you have that courage, and that you have that strength and that you won't give up no matter what? [foreign language 00:16:00].

Sarah (16:17):

Momby, how are you feeling?

Momby (16:20):

I'm feeling good, but I'm tired. I'm really strong, I'm feeling well.

Sarah (16:24):

Are you ready for the next stretch?

Momby (16:27):

Yeah, after all those I'm just happy about the journey. It's a long distance match. It needs extra energy.

Alice (16:41):

We share our, the success stories, we share our challenges and we became bonded.

Speaker 1 (16:52):

One of the things that I hate in my life is discouragement. So it doesn't matter what, doesn't matter how difficult it will be. I still have to reach there. [foreign language 00:17:02].

Sarah (17:08):

I have never given up on anything, so I just remind myself, "You can do this, that your body can do it and that your mind can do it," because it can do anything you want. And this group is really supportive. So I know that they'll help me.

Speaker 9 (17:31):

I feel confident unless I get some unexpected turbulence tonight. So really what I want to do is help anyone else as much as I can tomorrow. [foreign language 00:17:43]

Speaker 10 (17:47):

[The 00:17:47] The very top you can't see, but you can see those little spiky things, those little spires to the right. But the summit is behind those and that's where it has a flag on it. I think you've seen pictures or heard about that and those two big summits over there, those are called Batian and Nelion. And I don't know if we've talked about this, but Batian, Nelion and Lenana are all three Maasai shamans, that Brothers, that used to live in this area and so those three peaks were named after them.

Speaker 10 (18:43):

Since we're going to start in the dark, we'll have to really try to keep walking as much as we can and not stopping, especially while its dark or else people are going to get really cold. I just think about the magical feeling of standing on top of that mountain with everyone and the look in everybody's eyes and the smile on everybody's face and the light I know that I'll see in everybody. [foreign language 00:19:04].

Speaker 10 (19:04):

Yeah. So the person carrying the bag is going to help.

Speaker 9 (19:13):

You can take my bag to trade off a little bit.

Speaker 10 (20:09):

For many people, mountains represent the idea of overcoming challenges or hardships.

Speaker 8 (20:16):

Mountaineering is something that has an inherent way of bringing out strength in people or giving people a tangible experience of struggle and triumph. When you do it in a group, it's naturally equalizing cause everyone's experiencing the same thing. And then when you make it to the summit, if you do, how you get the experience of tangible success that I don't know that I've experienced in any other way.

Speaker 10 (20:46):

We're really close now so we just have to push through a little bit more suffering and get there and I'm excited to share the summit with this group of women. It's going to be amazing.

Speaker 9 (21:00):

I'm really glad, grateful the sun is out. The cold really kicked my ass this morning and the air is feeling pretty thin and definitely it's a lot harder and more challenging than I thought it would be. [foreign language 00:21:13] The group has really come together to support each person as they're feeling crappy, or cold, or sick, or whatever. Everybody's having their moments of needing help and everybody's having their moments of giving help, which is really cool. [foreign language 00:21:36].

Sarah (21:43):

How do you feel the Summit's the next stop away?

Speaker 7 (21:51):

Yeah. I'll make it.

Sarah (21:52):

It's been like seven months coming. It's been the thing that's been helping me push through every day, doesn't feel real.

Speaker 5 (22:15):

I've felt the way Sarah's felt and I just curl up in bed and go to sleep. The fact she's making it to the summit of a mountain is she's, she's incredible. Yeah. She's inspiring right now. A strong woman. There's some strong, strong women up here.

Sarah (22:31):

[foreign language 00:22:33]Team. [foreign language 00:22:42]

Alice (23:04):

When I climbed the mountain, it empowers me to know that I can do a single step forward, to the rest of my life.

Speaker 7 (23:12):

The climb of the mountain is not easy. Even though we pass through more challenges in life. We are the concurrence later.

Speaker 7 (23:31):

[foreign language 00:23:31]

Speaker 3 (23:37):

The mountain for me, open a way for me to think about myself. Not about my children, not about my husband or not even about my cows. For me, when I went to Mount Kenya, I got power. I feel like it empowers me because whatever else I would have not done. I do it because I have courage and strength.

Speaker 7 (23:59):

I would like to encourage all the Maasai women that together we can make it.

Speaker 3 (24:11):

The women coming together; different ages, different places in life, different cultures get to recognize strength and power in each other in a way that they might not otherwise. The big point of this is to celebrate women's strength and to celebrate women's power. To show by doing something that power is real and that it can manifest in the world is something real.

Speaker 2 (24:38):

Women who are coming into this group. We'll that have power, at least to challenge some decision at the household level and eventually at the community level. Women can do it. Women can be powerful when they are together.