Education plays a vital role in transforming individuals and communities. Transformative education goes beyond academic knowledge; it challenges existing attitudes, encourages new ways of thinking, and empowers people to create positive change in their communities.
I studied in a secondary school run by the Religious of the Assumption, and my relationship and friendship with them continues. I found the Sisters unique in their way of dealing with the students; they were loving, understanding, patient and caring even when mistakes were made. As students, we came from different regions, backgrounds, experiences, cultures and beliefs. Despite our differences, we gradually built a family spirit, teamwork and shared responsibilities, creating a culture of caring and a sense of belonging.
As a teacher, I had the opportunity to serve in a Maasai community for two years. In this community, women and girls have traditionally carried much of the responsibility for domestic tasks. I therefore saw the classroom as an important space where I could help the students to understand the value of shared responsibility, cooperation, equality and self-confidence, regardless of gender.
One experience that remains memorable to me happened when the students were preparing their classrooms for examinations. The boys were reluctant to mop the classroom, because they believed that cleaning was a task meant only for girls. Instead of simply forcing them to do the work, I turned the situation into a transformative learning moment. I changed the responsibilities: the girls were to fetch water while the boys were to mop the classroom. Through encouragement, dialogue and a few persuasive words, the boys took up the mops and, to my surprise, they began to enjoy the work! It was all fun and an adventure for them.
What began as resistance turned into cooperation. The boys did not clean just one classroom — they cleaned three, while the girls fetched water for them. The picture captures more than students cleaning a classroom: it captures a small transformation in attitude and understanding.
Beyond domestic responsibilities, I also encouraged the girls to take part in football, a sport not commonly played by girls in the area. In a community where girls had limited opportunities to take part in such sporting activities, encouraging them to step onto the football field became another way of challenging traditional expectations. Through sport, they were given an opportunity to develop confidence, teamwork, courage and a sense of belonging.
These experiences affirmed in me that transformative education can happen through simple, everyday experiences, just as the Assumption Sisters did with us in our secondary-school days. Education can challenge deeply rooted assumptions, open up new possibilities, and empower young people to see themselves differently. I am truly grateful to have received my education with the Assumption Sisters: it is not just academic and classroom knowledge, but an education that allows learners to test and explore new ideas, reshapes the way of thinking, and helps them see challenges as invitations to grow and to go a step further.
Despite the many challenges facing the Maasai communities — especially those affecting girls, including difficult and sometimes unsafe learning environments — continuing to provide transformative education to girls is essential. At the same time, boys and young men need to be continually encouraged to understand that domestic responsibilities can be shared and should not be determined by gender.
I have reflected on my own vocation as a religious in the Congregation of the Religious of the Assumption. For me, this is the heart of transformative education: not only teaching students what to know, but helping them to think differently, to challenge their limiting beliefs, discover their abilities and, in time, become agents of positive change in their communities.
The call continues, for transformative education — formal or non-formal — empowers us to go beyond the most formidable obstacles.
By Winnifrida John Massawe