07/12/2023
Mpayei, the first Maasai woman to join school rests at 96
BY KURGAT MARINDANY
Kajiadoโs โdoyenne, Loice Mpayei, has passed on at 96 years at Kajiado County Referral Hospital, three days after developing a medical complication, the family disclosed on Thursday night.
His son Patrick Balozi, told the Star on the phone that his mother developed health complications on Monday morning, two days after attending his daughterโs wedding last Saturday.
โMy mother was in good health on Saturday when she attended her granddaughterโs wedding. She was also happy when I checked on her on Monday morning, only to later a health complication,โ said Balozi.
Balozi said when he went to check on her that Monday, she was unwell and he was forced to take her to Loitokitok subcounty hospital, where she was referred to Kajiado County Referral Hospital.
โHer situation became worse and when I went to check on her on Thursday morning, she had left us,โ said Balozi.
In 2019, Mpayei was among the many people recognised by Governor Joseph Ole Lenku during that yearโs Mashujaa Day for being the first Maasai woman to go to school when she was a young girl in the 1940s.
Mpayei, during an interview with this writer in 2018, said that when she joined Class One, girls in Maasailand were not allowed to proceed to Class 5.
โAfter I did Class 4, I escaped from home to go to Ngong from Loitokitok on foot, which took me 5 days. In Ngong, I looked for a family to shelter me as I proceeded to Class 5,โ said Mpayei.
Commonly known as Mama Balozi, Mpayei played a major role during the Mamau days in Kajiado when she housed Dedan Kimathi while he was on his way to Tanzania in the 1950s.
Mpayei was involved in KANU politics during the Mzee Jomo Kenyatta regime and even earlier when a colonialist Kajiad DC picked her to receive a new white Lotokitok District Officer in 1957.
She was recognised by Lenku during the 2019 Mashujaa Day for being the first Maasai girl in East Africa to step into a classroom.
In class 6, she was the only girl in a class of 44 students.
CAPTION: Loice Mpayei passed on at 96 at Kajiado County Referral Hospital on Thursday morning, according to his son, Patrick Balozi.
Story by Arap Marindany