BECAUSE
THE FIRST
WOMAN
SAID.

Peninah Lesorogol is a Samburu woman who has found her place in two radically different cultures –

in the vast, open landscapes of Kenya and in the streets of Graz. Her life is shaped by deeply rooted

traditions and a constant confrontation with new realities. She underwent female circumcision

because she wanted to belong. She accepted a political marriage because it was considered an honor.

She fought her way forward, because the world left her no alternative. Today, Peninah is a voice

for women – in Samburu County, in Austria, even within the European Parliament.

 

“Because the First Woman Said” tells the extraordinary story of a woman moving between worlds

without allowing any one of them to define her. The film weaves together three narrative forms:

documentary real-time observation, intimate reflection, and staged re-enactments.

 

We accompany Peninah on a profound journey back to her homeland. Her eldest son, Melvin, is about to

undergo the most important transition of his life – initiation into warriorhood among the Samburu. But what

does identity mean when you grow up between two cultures? Melvin has lived with his mother in Austria for

three years, yet his roots lie in Kenya. During the weeks in the steppe, as he learns to make fire, to hunt,

and to step into the role of a warrior, he wrestles with the question of where he truly belongs.

 

Parallel to Melvin’s initiation, the film dives deep into Peninah’s own past. Her childhood as a nomad,

the feeling of being the first girl in her community to attend school, the contradictions between tradition

and education. Through stylized re-enactments, we experience key moments of her life:

the isolation she endured at a Catholic boarding school, her courageous break with societal expectations,

her escape to Nairobi, her marriage to a powerful politician –

and the dramatic night when she was forced to flee her golden cage.

 

Yet Because the First Woman Said is not only the story of one woman. It is the story of many. In the midst

of the arid steppe, 25 Samburu women sit beneath a vast Lowua tree and speak about their lives – about

motherhood, circumcision, sex, and their newly gained economic independence.

What was once silenced is now spoken. Change begins with their voices.

 

The film illuminates the contradictions Peninah lives with: she believes in the strength of tradition,

yet knows that some customs no longer belong in the present. She loves her homeland, yet understands

that she wanted a different life for her sons. She fights for women’s rights in Kenya while confronting

structural racism in Graz. In both worlds, she demands respect – for herself, for her culture, and for the women

who will follow her. Because Peninah has a mission: to gently guide her beloved Samburu people

into the future. Will she succeed?

 

In the final moments, the film returns to Graz, where Peninah walks through the streets with her three sons –

an African woman who has found her place. And as her grandmother tells her on her deathbed that

traditions do not have to remain unchanged forever, and that Peninah has come to be the one

to change them, the landscapes of Samburu County and Styria begin to merge.

 

Because the future doesn’t simply happen to us; it’s created by those bold enough to shape it.