Alter a Child’s Destiny: Say Yes to Education
In 2008, a determined 14-year-old girl walked into her head teacher's office in Kajiado with a simple request. "I've heard there are scholarships that sponsor bright Maasai girls to high school and possibly university," Charity Naira Simel told him. "Please connect me to one. I will not let you down."
Although her father and grandmother encouraged her to pursue an education, the odds were stacked against her. Naira was the first girl in her family - and in her entire home area to attend school. Her teenage cousins and stepsister were in line for marriage, and her future did not look very different. That was not the only hurdle stopping her from realizing her dream of becoming a lawyer. “I knew that despite having the right to education, my parents lacked the financial capability to take me to the next level,” says Naira.
Admitted to the bar in 2025, she now works at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. But at 14, her prospects looked bleak. Naira had become a mother before sitting for her national exams in primary school. But her headteacher, who had convinced her to come back to school and even paid her school fees, had seen something in her. "I've been a teacher for 16 years, but I've never come across someone with as much potential as you,” he told her when she had asked about scholarships. “Don't waste this opportunity.”
Despite missing six months of school, Naira returned and placed first in her national exams. When scholarship applications came through, she was the obvious choice. Yet even then, some teachers questioned whether a young mother deserved the opportunity. Education For All Children (EFAC) said yes.
As soon as she began four years of secondary education at Vanessa Grant Girls’ School, Naira discovered that EFAC walks alongside scholars at every stage of their journey. Between high school and university, she participated in community service, volunteering as a teacher and gaining her first professional recommendation letter. During her four years at Africa Nazarene University, she worked as an administrative assistant in the EFAC office itself, building the skills and professional network that would later help her secure a competitive internship at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights before she even graduated.
The mentorship proved just as transformative as the financial support. Naira’s sponsor was always a phone call away, offering career guidance and moral support from afar. "She's been instrumental in my success," Naira says. The relationship continues today, years after the formal scholarship ended.
At the same time, EFAC workshops allowed Naira to meet professionals from diverse fields who had succeeded despite humble beginnings. The message was consistent: hard work, character, community, and competence. Far from being abstractions, these were lived principles modeled by mentors and fellow scholars. "EFAC has cultivated in me the spirit of hard work and character," Naira reflects. "And I've never been able to forget where I come from,” she adds, “Because EFAC picks bright scholars from humble backgrounds so we can be the change makers of those communities."
Photo: From Left Naira in 2014, Naira at an EFAC Dinner event in 2017, right - Naira in 2025 when she was admitted as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
The Ripple Effect Starts at Home
Today, Naira is that change maker. As a human rights lawyer stationed in Kajiado County, she has returned home to tackle the very issues that could have overturned her life. She works on women's property rights in communities where daughters still cannot inherit from their fathers. She addresses gender-based violence and advocates for girls who are denied national identity cards until marriage, and for those still subjected to FGM despite its criminalization.
Her work at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights takes her across the county, receiving complaints, providing legal advice, undertaking public interest litigation, and monitoring detention facilities. She's currently pursuing her master's degree in public international law and international relations at the University of Nairobi. Her sights are set on international organizations such as the United Nations, and she is also open to teaching, inspired by her experience as a volunteer teacher while still an EFAC scholar.
From 2018 to 2023, Naira paid her stepsister's school fees from primary through high school. She's now preparing scholarship applications for her younger sister. She mentors young girls both within and beyond the EFAC community. And through her legal work, she's reforming laws and systems that will affect thousands of Maasai women and girls for generations to come.
Even closer to home: Naira's 11-year-old son told her he wants to be a lawyer like his mother “because lawyers speak nicely," he said. He sees in his mother something worth emulating — education, dignity, purpose, the power to create change.
Brilliant young women across Kenya are asking the same question Naira once asked: Will someone walk alongside me? Will someone say yes?
Your gift to EFAC provides more than tuition. It includes mentorship, professional development, community service opportunities, and a network of support that transforms scholars into change makers.