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Mokia Naputu

Mokia NaputuI was born to Maasai parents in Northern Tanzania where there were no schools, hospitals, roads and adequate housing. My sisters had to trek daily to attend school about 19km away in a neighborhood village, a situation which was frequented by attacks and blockade by wild animals such as lions. To my fortune, a local primary school was established in the village under the tree to counter lack of the service in 1997 where I was one among the enrollees and later on becoming the first degree holder from the village and its neighbors.

Having surmounted several challenges in my education journey, I promised to myself going back to the community and sensitize parents and motivate students to consider education in the first place as an important tool to achieving a better future life. Equal accessibility to quality education to both boys and girls, access to health services including health insurances and food security are major areas of concern which I have been committed to addressing whenever I get a golden opportunity to meet Indigenous people especially the Maasai.

I hold a First Class with Honors Bachelor degree in Geography and environmental studies and a Masters degree in Project Planning and Management both attained from the University of Dar Es Salaam which have availed to me an opportunity to be a teaching assistant at the institution majoring in Development Perspectives, Project Management and Evaluation.

Being a university student has exposed me to people of different backgrounds and varying array of interests. In 2014, I met a group of people with similar interests with mine and established an association for Maasai University students, which has made a significant step in sorting out and devising solutions to critical development challenges among the Indigenous Maasai across the country such as climate change, illiteracy, diseases and lack of opportunities. By 2018, about 83 villages were visited and communities got sensitized and motivated through seminars and awareness campaigns.

 My cultural and education backgrounds have inculcated in me an endless thirst to continuously seek for more knowledge and skills pertaining to the development of Indigenous people. An MDP was the first to come into my mind but it was more interesting that the University of Winnipeg is not only offering an MDP program but also specifically focusing on Indigenous Development which corresponds to my passion on future career.