Born as preterm babies, 13years old identical twins Joy Sintoyia and Faith Sinantei defied all odds and challenges to score 406 and 413 marks respectively in KCPE.
While boys outshined girls in Mathematics and Science the twins excelled in the two subjects which are among the subjects they tied scoring A in Mathematics and A- in science.
Speaking to K24 Digital, the jubilant girls who aspire to join Kenya High say their motivation to work hard was inspired by challenges they have witnessed Maasai women endure due to illiteracy and cultural setbacks.
They urge the need of foregoing retrogressive culture like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriages.
The two girls who are fond of their culture advocate the need of maintaining helpful culture including decent modes of dressing, unity of purpose celebrations, adherence to high discipline and cultural dancing among others.
"Education is not for a specific community. Some communities are just marginalized disadvantaging their children. While I pray that my fellow Maasai girls also get a chance to access quality education I also urge parents to embrace the reality of the need for education. Given a chance we are all able to do our best and shine. I also urge parents to shun harmful cultural practices that affect learning, " Sinantei said.
While the two girls are good friends and enjoy the company of each other Sintoyia aspires to be a lawyer while Sinantei aspires to be a neurosurgeon.
" We are delighted to all the support system that enabled us to perform well. We dearly honour our culture and that is why while at home we do all home chores including milking and looking after our livestock. Not all culture is bad. Our culture is discipline and therefore very important that as we embrace modernity we maintain cultures that add value to our daily living and interactions. Our culture is rich and vast and has a lot of important lessons especially in integrity, mutual conflict resolution, helping one another and respect for all, " Sintoyia narrated.
The two further say that they are now much challenged to work harder in their next level of education to ensure they maintain good performance and inspire other girls.
Onesmus Saidimu the father of the girls urge his fellow Maasai men to give girls a chance to learn at the expense of marrying them off.
"Times have changed, culture will be more meaningful if we educate our children. I urge my fellow men to give girls and boys an equal opportunity in matters of education. Today I am a proud father because of the exemplary performance and that has been enabled by the chance I gave the girls to also work hard, "says Saidimu.
He says he not only identifies his daughters by physical appearance but also by voice and touch because of the close bond they have had since they were born.
" We all have a responsibility of maintaining strong family bonds because it is through these bonds that we achieve much-needed moral values," he added.
