Lessons in Hope

For readers inspired by Margaret Busby’s New Daughters of Africa, Juliet Cutler presents a stunning testament to a group of Maasai women who are claiming their voices and shaping a future of lasting change.

In this inspiring collection of interviews and portraits, over twenty Maasai women share the ways education has transformed their lives by giving them the tools to overcome poverty and empowering them to make profound differences in their communities. 

Through their stories, the women featured in Lessons in Hope lay bare the overwhelming challenges many Maasai women and girls continue to face. For some, hunger hovers nearby, only one bad drought away. Many must raise children without running water or electricity. Most struggle to gain a basic education, see a doctor, or earn an income. And too many Maasai girls still endure female genital mutilation, early forced marriages, and other forms of violence. 

Yet these remarkable women have overcome the odds. As graduates of the first school for Maasai girls in East Africa, these thriving leaders now hold positions in education, health care, nonprofits, government, and business. Their stories reveal a cadre of Maasai women working toward positive change within their own culture and offering a compelling, optimistic vision for the future. 

Proceeds from the sale of this book support education for Maasai girls. 

Juliet Cutler is a writer and exhibit designer for museums, parks, and cultural centers around the world. In 1999 and 2000, Juliet lived in Tanzania, where she taught English at the first school for Maasai girls in East Africa. She recounts her experiences during those years in her award-winning first book, Among the Maasai. Twenty-five years later, she illustrates the positive impacts of education on Maasai women in her second book, Lessons in Hope. Juliet regularly returns to Tanzania to support causes that uplift Maasai women and girls. She currently lives with her husband, Mark, near Atlanta.