Glen Ridge resident Sayydah Garrett is the president of a nonprofit helping to educate girls in Kenya.
The Pastoralist Child Foundation, an organization advocating the educational advancement of girls and women in Kenyan tribes, will be having its annual fundraiser April 30.
The aspirations of PCF are far-reaching and the seed was planted by Glen Ridge resident, Sayydah Garrett, who tells the story.
“It all started with what my husband said,” she recently recalled. “I sponsor an elephant in Nairobi, Kenya, and, about 10 years ago, I was at home watching a documentary about elephants. I love elephants and told my husband I wanted to go to Kenya. And he said I could see elephants on YouTube!”
Piqued, Garrett booked a two-week safari in Kenya, in Samburu and Maasai, two of the most popular safari destinations in the world.
She visited a Maasai village and was excited by what she had experienced.
“I saw their huts,” she said. “They were constructed by the women. It’s always been that way. Back in the day, the men did the hunting. Their main diet is meat, milk and blood,” she continued. “They’re a Stone Age tribe. They have goats, cattle, sheep and camels. The milk comes from goats and cows, but they do drink camels’ milk. The blood is mostly from cattle. It’s a very patriarchal society. Each village has its chief. The male elders are the council and decide everything. Women rarely have a say in their lives.”
Afterwards, when she arrived at the Kenyan lodge where she would be staying, she met Samuel Leadismo, a waiter there.
“He wanted to start a community-based organization to eradicate female genital mutilation and forced early marriage before it was his youngest sister’s turn to get cut,” Garrett said.
She did not understand what he was telling her until he explained the process that 90 percent of the girls in his Maasai tribe undergo. Removing genitalia was considered a rite of passage to womanhood, he said, and girls would be cut to remove sexual desire and potential unfaithfulness to a future husband.
“But then he told me that girls need to be educated,” she continued. “They get cut in primary school and then forced to marry often much older men. The girl’s family gets livestock from the man as a dowry. It was his mother’s dying wish that he see his sister get an education. His mother had been cut and forced into marriage.”
After hearing this, Garrett said the first words out of her mouth were “I’ll help you” and the two established the foundation with her as president.
Returning to the states, she immediately registered the PCF as a nonprofit.
Initially, it was an all-volunteer organization, but now has eight paid staffers.
In 2014, the foundation started a scholarship program for secondary school students in Kenya. Currently, it has 81 sponsored students, ages 14-18. Sponsors pay $1,500 annually to send a girl to school.
“The organization asks them not to sponsor a girl for a year and then stop,” Garrett said, adding that this rarely happens. “When we interview for the scholarships, the girls have to give their grades and must have at least a ‘C’ average. There’s also an interview with the parents and they have to promise their daughter will not be cut or they’ll lose their scholarship.”
The PCF has partnered with UNICEF Kenya, according to Garrett, to provide dialogues and workshops for the tribal people, and also soccer and volleyball tournaments.
Garrett said she returns to Kenya every year to meet with the organization and also to bring along boxes of soccer cleats donated by Glen Ridge High School students.
The foundation also benefits from grants by the Obama Foundation and the Wallace Global Fund.
The fundraiser is April 30, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., at The Highlawn, West Orange. There will be a buffet, cash bar, silent auction and entertainment.
The theme of the fundraiser is “Future in Focus.” Garrett said there are a number of girls waiting for sponsors and an effort to raise $25,000 is being made. For further information: pastoralistchildfoundation.org
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