The fallen hero and major retired General Joseph Nkaissery had a pillar behind him who defied all odds.
As a typical Maasai woman, Hellen Pilale Nkaissery, went against the grain to be the first woman from her village to go to school.
Here are quick facts you probably didn’t know about Hellen Nkaissery.
- She is a daughter to the colonial chief, and probably it might have taken the late Nkaissery to win her heart. Her father was a fearless chief who ruled in the colonial Maasai land.
- Mrs Nkaissery went to Tumutumu Girls’ High School in Nyeri for “A” Levels and later trained as a teacher at the Kenya Science Teachers’ College.
- She is a professional teacher. She taught Mathematics and Physics, the most feared subjects by many students for 14 years. She taught at Kericho Tea Secondary School, in Kericho County. She dumped her career to join her husband to mobilise voters to vote him in as the Kajiado Central MP in 2002.
- Hellen married Mr Nkaissery in 1981 while he was a trainer at the military academy at Ilmanet. She is a mother of four: two boys and two girls.
- In 2002 Hellen started a Maasai Women Dairy Corporative Society which has 4,000 members for credit and women empowerment.
Hellen’s best remark in the fight against FGM in Maasai land.
“A woman can still be a mature woman without going through FGM,”