Maasai Girl Jubilant Graduation runs Canada Media, Plus a Special & Most Valuable Gift in the Maasai Cultural Coffers for Ryerson University President.

TERIANO LESANCHA’S,22,  dream was to get an education, something that was elusive to many girls in her village in Kajiado. She, however, got more than she ever dreamt of, writes HELLEN MISEDA
University graduation is a big deal in Kenya and it calls for pomp and celebration with the media always present to capture the memorable moment. Jubilant jubilee 
This is not the case abroad and a graduation day is just like any other day. The media rarely show up for unless there is something extraordinary going on.

But on June 6, one simple Maasai girl managed to make graduation a big deal in Canada, capturing the attention of the local press and the university community.

On that day, big names like Toronto Star, CTV News and CBC News camped at the Ryerson University grounds to capture this inspiring story that sounded like a nicely written movie script.
Toronto Star ran the story on their front page on June 2 demonstrating how smitten the Canadian media was by this fascinating Maasai story.
So what is this big story that wowed the Canadian media so much that they gave it prominence and acres of space?
I came to learn of this beautiful story while on a three-week tour of Canadian universities sponsored by the Canadian High Commission in Kenya. Ryerson University was one of the institutions we toured and it was during the tour that I bumped into the Teriano tale.
This 22-year-old Maasai girl had a big dream when she was growing up in a little known village in Kajiado — she wanted to get an education and use it to build a meaningful life.
That ‘crazy dream’, as Teriano called it, seemed like it would never come true, considering that few in her poor village could even read or write.
Coming from a place where girl-child education is not valued, Teriano wanted to show her people that educating a girl was a worthy investment.
When she completed her secondary education and excelled with flying colours in 2008, she was lucky to get a sponsor who was willing to finance her education in one of the top universities in Canada — Ryerson University.
Teriano was a typical naive Maasai girl who had never even stepped in a big city like Nairobi. Now you can imagine the shock that met her when she landed at the Toronto Airport and into the fast-moving city.


She was so overwhelmed by the fast life and the new technology that she nearly gave up six months into her stay.
“Toronto is a huge city. Many a times on my way to class, I would board the wrong bus and end up at the wrong destination. But Canadians are friendly. I would always get a volunteer who brought me to the university. But even after I reached the campus grounds, I would take about an hour to locate my class, which meant getting late for class,” Teriano says nostalgically.
But knowing that the whole village looked up to her, she resolved to fit in.

Having been used to serene scenes of vast idle tracks of land with nothing but grazing cows, she had to adapt to the skyscrapers and the complex transport network.

It is said that anything that is bound to go wrong will go wrong, so in her Second Year, Teriano’s sponsor encountered financial problems and he could no longer fund her education.
The poor girl was in a fix. Her whole village had put their hopes in her and she was determined to clear her studies and go back home empowered and ready to service her people. But now her future looked bleak.
She could not fathom going back to her village with a ‘pre-term degree’ and dash her community’s hopes.
“Everybody was looking up to me. I was the first and only girl in my village to go to a university let alone one in Canada. So how was I going to go back empty handed? My heart was running fast. I had to do something,” recalls Teriano who graduated with a degree in Social Work.
She gathered courage and approached her professor Jean Golden about her predicament. Jean was so moved by the story that within a month, she had planned emergency fundraisers, found scholarships and twisted arms on and off campus for donations to find the $16,000 (Sh1,312,000) in tuition that international students must pay.
And she raised it for each of the three remaining years of Teriano’s degree.
That is how the Ryerson president (the equivalent of a chancellor), Sheldon Levy, learnt of Teriano’s moving story.
And on June 6, during her graduation, her village was able to raise funds for her father and mother to go and grace the occasion.
Mzee Lesancha was so excited he wanted to bring along a gift for the Ryerson president to thank him for making his daughter’s dream come true. Guess what the token was? A cow. This animal is the most valuable item in the Maasai cultural coffers.
If it were possible to pack it live and transport it, Teriano’s father was determined to do just that.
Lesancha and his wife took the memorable trip to Canada and it was at this point that the Canadian media got wind of this story.
Actually, one of the top filmmakers learnt of it and is already in the process of making a documentary on it.

 On the day of graduation, father, mother and daughter were all dressed in colourful Maasai regalia and this is the captivating picture that graced the front page of the Toronto Star the day it splashed the story. That whole week, Teriano was the talk of Toronto as the press could not have enough of her.
After the graduation, Teriano’s dad made a passionate request to the Ryerson president when he visited him at his office.
“Dad invited Mr Sheldon Levy to Kajiado to come and pick his cow and to grace the second graduation, which will take place in my village. Can you imagine he said yes!” says the beaming Teriano.
He will travel with Prof Jean, who sprang into action when Teriano’s private sponsor fell through.
And they are not just coming alone, the Toronto Star and the CBC are also planning to accompany this entourage to Kenya as a follow-up to this amazing sequel.
To mark this day, preparations are in top gear as the local MP and leaders prepare to welcome the delegation from Ryerson and Canada for the event scheduled for this coming Saturday.
It can’t get better than this. At this rate, a hawk-eyed movie director might just create this inspiring story into an award-winning movie.