Mary Kahiti

A Tanzanian educator who pioneered women's education in East Africa, establishing schools and training female teachers to empower rural communities.

Mary Kahiti: East Africa's Unsung Educational Visionary

Mary Kahiti (1905–1978) revolutionized education in colonial Tanganyika. Born to a Maasai family in what is now Tanzania, she walked 120 miles to attend a missionary school in Nairobi, Kenya. After graduating in 1930, she returned to her homeland to establish the Ngurunit Girls' School in 1935—the first school in northern Tanzania dedicated exclusively to girls.

Her innovative community school model required families to contribute labor for construction in exchange for education, a strategy later adopted by UNESCO's 1960s rural development programs. By 1950, her efforts had created 9 schools across 5 regions, educating over 1,500 girls. She also trained 40 female teachers, many of whom became political leaders during Tanzania's independence movement.

Kahiti's 1948 book Education for African Women argued that literacy was essential for ending colonial dependency. Her ideas influenced Julius Nyerere's ujamaa policies, though her role remains underacknowledged. Today, the Mary Kahiti Scholarship supports girls in Arusha, and her biography A Flame in the Savannah (2015) has renewed interest in her work.