A Girl in Lemisigiyo with Big Dreams
If we were to color code each person we encounter in our lives, slip them into a mental folder labeled with the hue that harmonizes with their presence, the color for Cynthia Sameli would be bright yellow. The color of sunshine, sunflowers, the warmth of summer. This little girl is all of those things: a powerhouse of joy. Talking to her feels like everything is alright in the world. Her brilliance, optimism, and unmatched sense of humor would lift anyone’s spirits and paint over the darkest places with vibrant yellow.
We visited her home in Lemisigiyo. Because it was the planting season, she had spent the first hours of the morning in the Shamba. She then came to the house to prepare lunch for the family. With her usual tongue-in-cheek humor, she says she returns because no one else can cook better than her and it allows her to steal a brief respite from the bright sun.
Her other moment of escape is when she herds in the forest. She doesn’t like the speed at which goats move when grazing and instead prefers to look after slow-moving cattle. She says cattle are calmer, easier to manage, which is important in a dense forest such as Nkare-Narok, riddled with hyenas and other dangerous animals. Goats can easily be snatched and Sameli doesn’t always give the chore her undivided attention. Cynthia’s heart, as her mother shares, is in her books and her songs – she’d rather be at school or church. Two places that are closed indefinitely as the Kenyan government works to flatten the curve on the spread of COVID-19.
This is the longest she has been away from school in her lifetime, and there is never a dull moment in her day. When she is not cooking, reading, herding or helping in the Shamba, she crouches over her brother’s phone and records herself singing. While some artists write their songs down, Sameli prefers recording them. She loves to hear her voice over the speaker, and she hopes that someday other people will get to hear it.
Beyond singing, she wants to be a doctor strengthened by her prayers for others. A few years back, a life-threatening ailment saw her undergo a tonsillectomy; she remembers her mother praying earnestly while the doctors did their science magic until she fully recovered. This had left her with a strong belief that while doctors treat illness, it is God who ultimately heals. She strongly believes that with KDEF support nothing is out of reach. A girl from Lemisigiyo in Samburu can be a doctor, musician and a pastor if she wishes. #GirlPower #EducateGirls