马赛人

马赛人是东非的一个土著族群。他们生活在肯尼亚南部和坦桑尼亚北部的大裂谷。虽然是土著族群，但他们也有丰富和多样的文化，并且有自己沿袭多年的宗法，族里重要的事情都由族内年长的男性做决定。其代表性的行为，是对即将成年的男孩和女孩进行割礼的传统仪式，这是传统与现代社会的典型区别。虽然女性割礼仪式和童婚都是已经立法禁止的行为，但这些做法仍时有发生在马赛部落。

这儿，

有一个不向命运低头的马赛人。

她说，

I had a dream where all the girls in my village could go to school.

我有一个梦想，我村里的所有女孩都可以上学。

她叫Kakenya Ntaiya,她创办了一个女子学校。

For thousands of families in Kenya, seven cows are more valuable than a girl’s future.

对于肯尼亚成千上万的家庭来说，7头母牛比一个女孩的未来更有价值。

kakenya Ntaiya在远处的一个小村庄造了一栋建筑，而这栋建筑可能会改变一切。

​

There's a group of people in Kenya. People cross oceans to go see them. These people are tall. They jump high. They wear red. And they kill lions.

在肯尼亚有一群人。人们跨越海洋去看他们。这些人高。他们跳得高。他们穿着红色的衣服。他们猎杀狮子。

You might be wondering, who are these people? These are the Maasais. And you know what's cool? I'm actually one of them.

你可能会想，这些人是谁?这些是马赛人。你知道什么是酷吗?我实际上是其中之一。

The Maasais, the boys are brought up to be warriors. The girls are brought up to be mothers.

马赛人，男孩们被培养成为战士。这些女孩长大后都是母亲。

When I was five years old, I found out that I was engaged to be married as soon as I reached puberty. My mother, my grandmother, my aunties, they constantly reminded me that your husband just passed by. Cool, yeah?

当我五岁的时候，我发现我在进入青春期的时候就已经订婚了。我的母亲，我的祖母，我的阿姨们，他们经常提醒我，你的丈夫刚刚过去。很酷,是吗?

​

And everything I had to do from that moment was to prepare me to be a perfect woman at age 12.

从那一刻起，我所要做的一切就是让我在12岁时成为一个完美的女人。

My day started at 5 in the morning, milking the cows, sweeping the house, cooking for my siblings, collecting water, firewood.I did everything that I needed to do to become a perfect wife.

我每天早上五点起床，挤牛奶，打扫屋子，为我的兄弟姐妹做饭，收集水，木柴。为了成为一个完美的妻子，我做了所有我需要做的事情。

I went to school not because the Maasais' women or girls were going to school.It's because my mother was denied an education,and she constantly reminded me and my siblings thatshe never wanted us to live the life she was living.

我上学不是因为马赛人的女人或女孩上学。这是因为我的母亲被剥夺了受教育的机会，她不断地提醒我和我的兄弟姐妹们，她从来不想让我们过她的生活。

Why did she say that? My father worked as a policeman in the city. He came home once a year. We didn't see him for sometimes even two years. And whenever he came home, it was a different case.

她为什么这么说?我父亲在城里当警察。他一年回家一次。我们有时甚至连两年都没见到他。每次他回家的时候，情况就不同了。

My mother worked hard in the farm to grow crops so that we can eat. She reared the cows and the goats so that she can care for us.

我母亲在农场辛勤工作，种庄稼，让我们有东西可以吃。她养了奶牛和山羊以便能照顾我们。

But when my father came, he would sell the cows, he would sell the products we had, and he went and drank with his friends in the bars.

但当我父亲来的时候，他会卖牛，他会卖我们的东西然后他和他的朋友一起去酒吧喝酒。

Because my mother was a woman, she was not allowed to own any property, and by default,everything in my family anyway belongs to my father, so he had the right. And if my mother ever questioned him, he beat her, abused her, and really it was dificult.

因为我母亲是一个女人，她不允许拥有任何财产，而在默认情况下，我的家庭里所有的东西都属于我父亲，所以他有权利。曾经如果我母亲问他，他会打她，虐待她，这真的很困难。

When I went to school, I had a dream. I wanted to become a teacher.Teachers looked nice. They wear nice dresses, high-heeled shoes. I found out later that they are uncomfortable, but I admired it.

当我上学的时候，我有一个梦想。我想成为一名教师。老师看起来不错。他们穿漂亮的衣服，穿高跟鞋。后来我发现跟鞋并不舒服，但我很欣赏。

But most of all,the teacher was just writing on the board -- not hard work,that's what I thought, compared to what I was doing in the farm.So I wanted to become a teacher.

但最重要的是，老师只是在黑板上写字——不是辛苦的工作，这是我所想的，与我在农场里做的相比。所以我想成为一名教师。

I worked hard in school, but when I was in eighth grade, it was a determining factor. In our tradition, there is a ceremony that girls have to undergo to become women, and it's a rite of passage to womanhood.

我在学校学习很努力，但是当我八年级的时候，有一个决定性的因素。在我们的传统习俗中，女孩必须经历一场仪式才能成为女人，这是女人的必经之路。

And then I was just finishing my eighth grade, and that was a transition for me to go to high school. This was the crossroad.Once I go through this tradition, I was going to become a wife.Well, my dream of becoming a teacher will not come to pass.

然后我完成了我的八年级，这是我上高中的过渡。这是十字路口。一旦我经历了这个传统，我就会成为一个妻子。那我梦想成为一名教师的梦想就不会实现。

So I talked -- I had to come up with a plan to figure these things out.

所以我想了想，我必须想出一个计划来解决这些问题。

​I talked to my father.I did something that most girls have never done.

我和我父亲说，我做了很多女孩从未做过的事。

I told my father, "I will only go through this ceremony if you let me go back to school.

我说:“如果你让我回到学校，我只会参加这个仪式。”

The reason why, if I ran away, my father will have a stigma, people will be calling him the father of that girl who didn't go through the ceremony.

“如果我跑了，我父亲就会有污名，人们会把他称为那个没有参加婚礼的女孩的父亲。”

It was a shameful thing for him to carry the rest of his life.

对他来说，这是一件可耻的事情。

So he figured out. "Well," he said, "okay, you'll go to school after the ceremony

所以他想清楚了。他说，“好吧，仪式结束后你就去上学。”

I did. The ceremony happened. It's a whole week long of excitement. It's a ceremony. People are enjoying it. And the day before the actual ceremony happens, we were dancing, having excitement, and through all the night we did not sleep.

我做到了。仪式举行了。这是整整一个星期的激动。这是一个仪式。人们对于此很享受。在真正的仪式开始前的一天，我们在跳舞，兴奋不已，整个晚上我们都没有睡觉。

The actual day came, and we walked out of the house that we were dancing in. Yes, we danced and danced. We walked out to the courtyard, and there were a bunch of people waiting. They were all in a circle. And as we danced and danced, and we approached this circle of women, men, women, children, everybody was there. There was a woman sitting in the middle of it, and this woman was waiting to hold us.

真正的仪式来临了。我们走出了跳舞的房子。是的，我们一直在跳舞。我们走到院子里，有一群人在等着。他们都在一个圈子里。随着我们一直的跳舞，我们靠近了这些女人，男人，女人，孩子，每个人都在那里。有一个女人坐在中间，这个女人正等着我们。

I was the first. There were my sisters and a couple of other girls, and as I approached her, she looked at me, and I sat down. And I sat down, and I opened my legs. As I opened my leg, another woman came, and this woman was carrying a knife. And as she carried the knife, she walked toward me and she held the clitoris, and she cut it off.

我是第一个.另外还有我的姐妹和其他几个女孩，当我走近她时，她看着我，我坐下来。我坐下来，张开双腿。当我打开我的腿时，另一个女人来了，这个女人手里拿着一把刀。当她拿着那把刀时，她向我走来，她抓住了阴蒂，她把它割掉了。

As you can imagine, I bled. I bled. After bleeding for a while, I fainted thereafter. It's something that so many girls -- I'm lucky, I never died -- but many die.

你可以想象，我流血了。我流血了。在流了一段时间之后，我晕倒了。有那么多女孩都经历了这件事情——我很幸运，我没有死——但很多人都死了。

It's practiced, it's no anesthesia, it's a rusty old knife, and it was difficult.

这是一场实践，没有麻醉，一把生锈的旧刀，很困难。

I was lucky because one, also, my mom did something that most women don't do. Three days later, after everybody has left the home, my mom went and brought a nurse. We were taken care of.

我很幸运，因为我妈妈做了一件大多数女人都不做的事。三天后，在每个人都离开家后，我妈妈带了一名护士回来。我们被照顾着。

Three weeks later, I was healed, and I was back in high school. I was so determined to be a teacher now so that I could make a difference in my family.

三周后，我痊愈了，我又回到了高中。我下定决心要成为一名教师，这样我就能在家庭中有所作为。

Well, while I was in high school, something happened. I met a young gentleman from our village who had been to the University of Oregon.

当我上高中的时候，发生了一件事。我遇到一位来自我们村的年轻先生，他曾到过俄勒冈大学。

This man was wearing a white t-shirt, jeans, camera, white sneakers -- and I'm talking about white sneakers. There is something about clothes, I think, and shoes. They were sneakers, and this is in a village that doesn't even have paved roads. It was quite attractive.

这个人穿着白色的t恤，牛仔裤，照相机，白色运动鞋——我说的是白色运动鞋。我觉得这些衣服和鞋子很特别。他们是运动鞋耶，而这是一个连路都没有铺的小村子，所以他非常吸引人。

I told him, "Well, I want to go to where you are," because this man looked very happy, and I admired that.

我告诉他，“好吧，我想去你的地方。”因为这个男人看起来很开心，我很钦佩他。

And he told me, "Well, what do you mean, you want to go? Don't you have a husband waiting for you?"

他告诉我，“你说什么，你想去?”难道你没有一个丈夫在等着你吗?”

And I told him, "Don't worry about that part. Just tell me how to get there."

我告诉他，“别担心那部分。告诉我怎么去那儿。”

This gentleman, he helped me. While I was in high school also, my dad was sick. He got a stroke, and he was really, really sick, so he really couldn't tell me what to do next.

这位先生，他帮助了我。当我还在上高中的时候，我爸爸病了。他中风了，他病得很厉害，所以他真的不能告诉我下一步要做什么。

But the problem is, my father is not the only father I have. Everybody who is my dad's age, male in the community, is my father by default -- my uncles, all of them -- and they dictate what my future is.

但问题是，我父亲不是我唯一的父亲。每个人跟我父亲同龄的，在社区里的男性，是我父亲的默认——我的叔叔，他们所有人——他们决定了我的未来。

So the news came, I applied to school and I was accepted to Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, and I couldn't come without the support of the village, because I needed to raise money to buy the air ticket.

我申请了学校，我被弗吉尼亚州林奇堡的马夫-马肯女子学院录取了，但是没有村子的支持，我去不了，因为我需要筹钱买机票。

I got a scholarship but I needed to get myself here. But I needed the support of the village, and here again, when the men heard, and the people heard that a woman had gotten an opportunity to go to school, they said, "What a lost opportunity. This should have been given to a boy. We can't do this."

我得到了奖学金，但我要想法子去到那里。我需要村里的支持，当男人听到以后，当人们听到一个女人有机会去上学的时候，他们说，“多么浪费的一个机会啊。这应该是给一个男孩的。我们不能这么做。”

So I went back and I had to go back to the tradition. There's a belief among our people that morning brings good news. So I had to come up with something to do with the morning, because there's good news in the morning.

所以我只好回去，我不得不回到传统。在我们的人民中有一种信念，那就是早晨会带来好消息。所以我必须想想在早上能做什么，因为早上有好消息。

And in the village also, there is one chief, an elder, who if he says yes, everybody will follow him. So I went to him very early in the morning, as the sun rose. The first thing he sees when he opens his door is, it's me.

在这个村子里，有一个酋长，一个长者，如果他答应了，每个人都会跟着他。所以我一大早就去找他，太阳升起来了，当他打开门的时候，他看到的第一个人就是我。

"My child, what are you doing here?"

“我的孩子，你在这儿干什么?”

"Well, Dad, I need help. Can you support me to go to America? " I promised him that I would be the best girl, I will come back, anything they wanted after that, I will do it for them.

“爸爸，我需要帮助。”你能支持我去美国吗?“我向他保证，我会是最好的女孩，我会回来的，他们想要的任何东西，我都会为他们做。”

He said, "Well, but I can't do it alone. " He gave me a list of another 15 men that I went -- 16 more men -- every single morning I went and visited them. They all came together. The village, the women, the men, everybody came together to support me to come to get an education.

他说，“好吧，但我不能单独做这件事情。“他给了我另外15个男人的名单——之后又加了16个男人——每天早上我去拜访他们。”有一天他们聚在一起。村里，女人，男人，每个人都来支持我来接受教育。

I arrived in America. As you can imagine, what did I find? I found snow! I found Wal-Marts, vacuum cleaners, and lots of food in the cafeteria. I was in a land of plenty.

我抵达美国。你可以想象，我发现了什么?我发现雪!我找到了沃尔玛、吸尘器和食堂里的很多食物。我在一个富饶的土地上。

I enjoyed myself, but during that moment while I was here, I discovered a lot of things. I learned that that ceremony that I went through when I was 13 years old, it was called female genital mutilation. I learned that it was against the law in Kenya.

我很享受，在我在这里的那一刻，我发现了很多东西。我了解到我13岁时经历的那个仪式，它被称为女性生殖器切割。我知道这在肯尼亚是违法的。

I learned that I did not have to trade part of my body to get an education. I had a right. And as we speak right now, three million girls in Africa are at risk of going through this mutilation.

我了解到，我不需要用身体的一部分来换取教育。我有权利。此时此刻，在非洲有300万女孩面临着这种被切割的危险。

I learned that my mom had a right to own property. I learned that she did not have to be abused because she is a woman. Those things made me angry. I wanted to do something.

我知道我妈妈有权拥有自己的财产。我知道她不需要因为她是一个女人被虐待。这一切让我很生气。我想做点什么。

As I went back, every time I went,I found that my neighbors' girls were getting married. They were getting mutilated.

每次我回去，我发现我的邻居的女儿们都结婚了。他们被切割了。

And here, after I graduated from here, I worked at the U.N. , I went back to school to get my graduate work, the constant cry of these girls was in my face. I had to do something.

我从这里毕业后，我在联合国工作。我回到学校，想要得到我的毕业工作，我常常想到这些女孩不断的哭叫声。我必须做点什么。

As I went back, I started talking to the men, to the village, and mothers, and I said, "I want to give back the way I had promised you that I would come back and help you. What do you need?"

当我回去的时候，我开始和男人、村庄和母亲交谈，我说，“我想要回报我曾经向你承诺过的，我会回来帮助你的。”你需要什么吗?”

As I spoke to the women, they told me, "You know what we need? We really need a school for girls. " Because there had not been any school for girls.

当我和这些女人交谈时，她们告诉我:“你知道我们需要什么吗?”我们真的需要一所女子学校。因为从未有一所提供给女生的学校。

And the reason they wanted the school for girls is because when a girl is raped when she's walking to school, the mother is blamed for that. If she got pregnant before she got married, the mother is blamed for that, and she's punished. She's beaten. They said, "We wanted to put our girls in a safe place."

他们想要女子学校的原因是，如果一个女孩在上学时被强奸，母亲因此受到责备。如果她在结婚前怀孕，母亲就会受到责备，她会受到惩罚。她会被毒打。他们说，“我们想把我们的女孩放在一个安全的地方。”

As we moved, and I went to talk to the fathers, the fathers, of course, you can imagine what they said: "We want a school for boys."

我去和父亲们谈，当然，你们可以想象他们说的:“我们想要一所男孩的学校。”

And I said, "Well, there are a couple of men from my village who have been out and they have gotten an education. Why can't they build a school for boys, and I'll build a school for girls? " That made sense. And they agreed.

我说，“从我们村里有好几个男人出去了，他们接受了教育。为什么他们不能为男孩建一所学校，而我要为女孩子们建一所学校呢?“这是有道理的，他们同意了。

And I told them, I wanted them to show me a sign of commitment. And they did. They donated land where we built the girls' school. We have.

我告诉他们，我要他们展现承担责任的精神他们做到了。他们捐赠了我们建造女子学校的土地。我们有了这所学校。

I want you to meet one of the girls in that school. Angeline came to apply for the school, and she did not meet any criteria that we had. She's an orphan. Yes, we could have taken her for that. But she was older. She was 12 years old, and we were taking girls who were in fourth grade.

我想让你见见那所学校里的一个女孩。Angeline来申请学校，她没有达到我们的任何标准。她是一个孤儿。是的，我们可以因此录取她。但她有点大了，她12岁，我们带的是四年级的女孩。

Angeline had been moving from one place -- because she's an orphan, she has no mother, she has no father -- moving from one grandmother's house to another one, from aunties to aunties. She had no stability in her life.

Angeline从一个地方搬出来——因为她是一个孤儿，她没有母亲，她没有父亲——从一个祖母的房子搬到另一个阿姨家姑姑家。她的生活没有稳定。

And I looked at her, I remember that day, and I saw something beyond what I was seeing in Angeline. And yes, she was older to be in fourth grade. We gave her the opportunity to come to the class.

我看着她，我记得那天，我看到了超越Angeline本身的东西。是的，她比四年级大一点。我们给了她机会来到教室。

Five months later, that is Angeline. A transformation had begun in her life. Angeline wants to be a pilot so she can fly around the world and make a difference.

这是五个月后的Angeline。她的生活发生了转变。Angeline想成为一名飞跃世界的飞行员，这样她就可以在世界各地飞行，并做出改变。

She was not the top student when we took her. Now she's the best student, not just in our school, but in the entire division that we are in.

当我们带她去的时候，她并不是最优秀的学生。现在她是最好的学生，不仅在我们学校，而且在我们所有的地区也是最优秀的。

That's Sharon. That's five years later.

这是sharon,这是五年后。

That's Evelyn. Five months later, that is the difference that we are making.

这是Evelyn。五个月后，这使我们的成果。

As a new dawn is happening in my school, a new beginning is happening. As we speak right now, 125 girls will never be mutilated. One hundred twenty-five girls will not be married when they're 12 years old. One hundred twenty-five girls are creating and achieving their dreams.

我们学校迎来了一个新黎明，，引来了新的开始。此时此刻，125个女孩永远不会被切割。125个女孩不会在在12岁的时候就结婚。一百二十五名女孩正在创造和实现她们的梦想。

This is the thing that we are doing, giving them opportunities where they can rise. As we speak right now, women are not being beaten because of the revolutions we've started in our community.

这是我们正在做的事情，给他们机会，让他们能够站起来。此时此刻，妇女不会被虐打，因为我们的社区开始革命了。

I want to challenge you today. You are listening to me because you are here, very optimistic. You are somebody who is so passionate. You are somebody who wants to see a better world. You are somebody who wants to see that war ends, no poverty.

我今天想挑战你们。因为们非常乐观，所以你们出现在这里听我说。你们有如此的热情，你们想看到一个更美好的世界。你们想看到战争结束，贫穷消失。

You are somebody who wants to make a difference. You are somebody who wants to make our tomorrow better. I want to challenge you today that to be the first, because people will follow you. Be the first. People will follow you. Be bold. Stand up. Be fearless. Be confident. Move out, because as you change your world, as you change your community, as we believe that we are impacting one girl, one family, one village, one country at a time. We are making a difference.

你们想有所作为，你们想让明天更美好。我想挑战你们去做一个走在前端的人，因为人们会追随你。做第一个走在前面的人，人们会跟随你。勇敢些，担责任，不畏惧，有信心。走出去，因为当你改变了你的世界，当i改变了你的社区，当我们相信我们一次影响一个女孩儿，一个家庭，一个村庄，一个国家，我们就能发挥作用。

So if you change your world, you are going to change your community, you are going to change your country, and think about that. If you do that, and I do that, aren't we going to create a better future for our children, for your children, for our grandchildren? And we will live in a very peaceful world. Thank you very much.

因此，如果你想改变你的世界，你就会改变你的社区，就会改变你的社区，想一想吧。如果你这样做，我这样做，我们不是在为我们的后代，你们的后代创造一个更美好的未来吗？我们将会住在一个非常和平的世界。谢谢大家。

其实我收集这篇文章不是呼吁大家去改变世界，不是每个人都有能力可以为社会做点什么，但是肯定能为自己做点什么。kakenya Ntaiya出生在那样一个不公平的环境里，她在那里几乎没有地位，几乎所有的女性都没有地位，她们一出生就已经被安排好了人生，可是Kakenya Ntaiya不服，她开始谈判开始去找酋长，开始在每个清晨去找有多一次的16个男人，然后她看到了沃尔玛看到了吸尘器，她出现在了一个富饶的土地上，她改变了自己的人生。你不一定能改变世界，但你一定能改变你自己。