Tribes of nomadic herders in Kenya, called the Masai, live by the established grazing patterns of their region. Their currency is cattle, poverty is the norm, and because of their mobile lifestyle, many children have little hope of getting an education.

That's why Cornell alumna Marilyn Tebor Shaw '76 and a group of six other volunteers are working to ensure that nomadic Kenyan children who hunger for an education are able to get one.

Shaw, a native of Rochester, is the legal advisor and a board member of the Nomadic Kenyan Children's Educational Fund (NKCEF), a nonprofit organization that sponsors high school-aged children from Kenyan nomadic tribes for secondary education. The Kenyan government provides free education only through the eighth grade.

NKCEF sponsors qualifying students in Kenya for four years of secondary school, with tuition guaranteed for all four years. The organization partners closely with schools, including public, private and boarding schools, to monitor each child's academic success.

Shaw, who lives in the Washington, D.C., area, was first introduced to the culture of nomadic Kenyan tribes in 1999. Her son Daniel Shaw '09 was in seventh grade, and his teacher at the Langley School in Northern Virginia was Joseph Lekuton, a native Kenyan and son of a Masai elder statesman.

Lekuton was active in trying to enhance the education system in Kenya, and he returned home every year with school supplies and books for needy children in Kenya.

Along with other parents at the school, Shaw learned from Lekuton about the Kenyan school system, and that many children go without education past eighth grade because their families cannot afford it. For nomadic children, going to high school is doubly challenging because they are constantly switching locations. Boarding school is usually the only viable option.

Inspired by Lekuton, four parents at Langley School who traveled to Kenya in the summer of 2000 agreed to sponsor a full high school education for a handful of Masai children. They were astonished to find that the total tuition bill would amount to only $500 a year per child.

The effort morphed into a full-fledged sponsorship program, NKCEF, which received U.S. charitable organization tax status in 2002. Shaw, a career lawyer, joined the board of trustees in 2004 and now also serves as its legal advisor.

Describing her first trip to Kenya in 2001, Shaw called it a "life-altering experience." She returned again in 2005 to survey schools and meet some of NKCEF's sponsored children, which further deepened her love for Kenya.

"You're immediately struck by the fact that you're in a very different place," Shaw said.

She remembers walking into a fifth-grade classroom and being reminded of pictures of the rural South during the early 20th century, with rough-hewn tables, benches and one book for every 10 children.

Shaw, who has represented several nonprofits, including the National Gallery of Art where she served as Associate General Counsel, also had a second career as a private school teacher from 2001 to 2005. She now works full time, pro bono, for the NKCEF.

As of March, the organization was funding between 250 and 300 students. Since its inception in 2001, it has provided assistance to 357 nomadic students in all: 38 percent girls and 62 percent boys, from 118 schools in Kenya.

Shaw is particularly moved by the young girls who enter the scholarship program, who, without an education, would probably enter early marriage, pregnancy and poverty. She corresponds often with several girls in the program, mostly in English since the students learn the language at an early age -- but Shaw has taken up learning Swahili, too.

"Because I was a teacher, I have a real love and interest in giving them the intangibles that go beyond tuition and financial needs," Shaw explained. "I've written in particular to the girls, to give them academic guidance and moral support, or if they are struggling, or they could use some encouragement."

For more information, visit http://www.nkcef.org.