Kenya: Kisii NGO Vows to Stop FGM

March 16, 2012
Benson Nyagesiba,
Nairobi Star

A non-governmental organisation in Kisii will intensify campaigns against the outlawed FGM.

Stema Women Development Group is carrying out campaign to sensitise young girls to reject the practice and opt for alternative rites of passage. The organisation's chief programme officer Nyabuto Onyambu said there is need to strengthen the education of the girl child to enable her understand her rights.

Speaking to the press in his office Onyambu said outdated cultures like FGM are a violation of the rights of a girl child saying such practices must be eradicated from society at all costs. "We are not saying all cultures are bad, but what we want to eradicate FGM and embrace others rites of passage," he said.

He urged concerted effort by all stakeholders to curb the practice which is rampant in the area. He said the provincial administration and the police should arrest those found encouraging the practice. "The education of a girl child must be taken serious because it is through it that they will be fully aware of their rights and the health effects of undergoing through the practice," Onyambu added.

To read the full article on the AllAfrica,com website, click here

Cult blamed for growth in female circumcision

November 22, 2011
Daily Nation
Joyce Kimani

A religious cult has been blamed for rising cases of female circumcision in Naivasha and its environs.

Women say although the tradition is almost extinct in the area, the cult is forcing its members to circumcise girls.

Most take place in Naivasha, Maai Mahiu, Kinangop and Narok.

It is expected that there will be an increase in female circumcision cases in Narok and the rest of Maasai Land because they hold on strongly to their culture.

Councillor Esther Njeri has mobilised people in these areas to fight what is considered in the region to be an important and ancient rite of passage from girl to womanhood.

They will be seeking to arrest traditional circumcisers who force young girls to be circumcised.

Ms Njeri said that they had started persuading members of the religious organisation to end the circumcisions.

She said many school-age children had come out and confessed that they were forced.

“The children call us and tell us when they learn that their parents are planning to circumcise them. So far, we have rescued more than 10 girls from members of the religious sect,” she said.

The councillor said that most of the girls are circumcised during the December school holidays.

She said that in some Maasai primary schools, girls are told to write a composition on the dangers of female circumcision, Ms Njeri said.

Naivasha district commissioner Hellen Kiilu cautioned women who still practise the female cut that they were breaking the law.

She said a crackdown had been launched to curb the practice.

To read the full article on the Daily Nation website, click here

Maasai men in Kenya want an end to female genital mutilation

October 6, 2011
Federation of International Gynecology and Obstretics
David Smith

Some Kenyan Maasai men are trying to drive a gradual shift away from female genital mutilation in their community.

They have set up a church-based project in the town of Narok to help girls flee from the threat of circumcision, which could leave them with severe medical complications and can even result in death, the AFP has reported.

However, one of the managers of the centre Martin Ololoigero confessed that the practice is "not something that will end soon", as it still has strong supporters.

Indeed, some of the girls that escape to the Hope for the Maasai Girls shelter are disowned by their families, who have lost out on a dowry of cattle, which they could receive in return for offering circumcised daughters for marriage at a young age.

Female genital mutilation can be forced upon girls as young as nine while they are off on their school holidays, the news agency revealed.

UK GPs were recently urged by the chairman of the British Medical Association's Ethical Committee Dr Tony Callard to be aware of the signs that a female child has been circumcised and consider breaking patient-doctor confidentiality if a youngster appears to be at risk.

To read the full article on the FIGO website, click here

Proposed Centre Would Address Many Aspects of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting

October 21, 2011
UNFPA

NAIROBI --- Participants at an international conference on research, healthcare and preventive measures related to female genital mutilation/ cutting called for the creation an African Coordinating Centre for partnership, capacity building, research, and policymaking on FGM/C.

The vision, according to the proposal drafted by the University of Nairobi, is to establish a centre of excellence for African researchers to develop innovative approaches to increase and deepen the understanding on issues related to FGM/C and its elimination. It would also train leaders and for promote health care for survivors.

“Ideally, the Centre will also provide improve the skills of health providers in healthcare support services to the 140 million girls and women affected by FGM/C,” said Nafissatou Diop, coordinator of the Joint Programme on FGM/C, noting that surgical procedures are now able to repair some of the damages.

“FGM/C is an irreversible act,” noted Ms. Diop. “However there is hope today that women could be surgically repairs from the damage related to this harmful practice.” She cited research presented at the conference showing high success rates (83 per cent satisfaction) among women who had undergone this surgery.

The Centre would also provide evidence for continuous monitoring, data for evaluation of progress, capacity building and monitor policy influence of research through the collaborative efforts of many partners including UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO, University of Nairobi, International Centre for Reproductive Health, Ghent University (Belgium), Universities of Washington and Sydney, the Africa-Australia Universities Network and Worldwide Universities Network.

Shortchanging women

During the conference, Kenya’s assistant Minister for Cooperative Development, the Honourable Lina Kilimo, who hails from a community with a high prevalence of FGM/C, spoke movingly about her own experience. She was ostracized by her community for running away to escape the cut. However, her strong conviction against the practice prompted her to join politics, and from her position she continues her fight against the female cut. “This is a cruel practice that destroys a woman’s ego and self esteem,” she said.

FGM/C is a discriminatory cultural practice that effectively denies women the opportunity to participate and contribute to national development, the University of Nairobi’s vice-chancellor of Professor Joseph Magoha affirmed. This shortchanges both women and their countries, he said, adding, “There can be no sustainable development of a country without active participation of women.”

New dimensions of the problem: medicalization and globalization

While acknowledging the many initiatives at the global, regional, national and community levels towards the reduction and elimination of the practice, the conference participants agreed that there were a myriad challenges confronting these efforts, including the trend toward medicalization of the practice. While using trained medical workers and sterile instruments may eliminate some of the obvious harmful effects, it does not address the underlying violation of the rights of women and girls, participants noted.

In this regard, the recently enacted law criminalizing FGM/C in Kenya was seen as an important step towards dealing with this new threat. While acknowledging the significance of legislation, several participants noted the inadequacy of legislation alone to addressing certain cultural beliefs that perpetuate the practice. It was agreed that a multi-sectoral approach was the best way to address the issue.

A presentation prepared by the World Health Organization also clarified the fact the widespread emigration makes FGM/C a global issue. This brings up a relatively new phenomenon: the psychological effects of the procedure on immigrant populations who may find themselves stigmatized in their new environments.

To read the full article on the UNFPA website, click here

180 Students Saved From Dropping Out in Narok

October 20, 2011
Nairobi Star
Kiplang'at Kiriu

More than 180 pupils have sought refuge at a primary school in Narok South after escaping early marriage and female genital mutilation.

The 122 girls and 58 boys are sheltered at Naikarra Boarding Primary school on the outskirts of Maasai Mara Game Reserve, after they defied their parents plans for them to drop out of school to be married and look after the cattle.

Head teacher Loontubu Koileken told the press yesterday that the children from different areas sought to come to his school which offers boarding facilities. "The children decided to seek refuge in our school after they knew their parents had already engaged in marriage negotiations," said Loontubu. He said some parents raided the school and demanded to take their children back home.

Loontubu, who is also chairman of Maasai Mara Head Teachers Support Group, said the region has been hit by such incidents with casualties being the school girls who are married off. "The girl child education is greatly affected in the region as most of them are being forced to undergo FGM practice and early marriage," said Loontubu.

He said that his school is now like a rescue centre which receives children who have run away from their homes for the fear of FGM, early marriage and herding cattle. "When the children seek refuge in my school, I admit them and they start their learning and they are now comfortable with their education," he said.

To read the full article on the Nairobi Star website, click here

Muslim clerics condemn practice of FGM

October 11, 2011
The Star
Wambua Kavila

The Kenya Council of Imams and Ulamaa has castigated Female Genital Mutilation saying it is against the Quran teachings and will fully support implementation of all FGM related laws. Islamic scholars Sheikh Ibrahim Lethome and Mohamed Swalihu under KCIU called upon mosques and Muslim institutions to fight the practice. "There is no authentic or relevant Islamic evidence allowing FGM in all its forms and the practice is harmful and violates freedom, privacy, health and dignity of the Muslim woman," KCIU said in the statement.

They added that Quran teachings and practices of the prophet are against any practice that causes any form of harm to human beings and FGM interferes with the Muslim woman’s full realisation of her ‘ibadah’ (total worship of Allah). The consensus building meeting held at Garden Hotel in Machakos brought together Muslim scholars and leaders from Tana River, Nairobi, Kajiado, Machakos, Wajir, Garissa, Maragua, Isiolo and Moyale.

They resolved to collectively support and strengthen the national advocacy campaign in order to enable delivery on key interventions to stop the practice. "To this end, KCIU undertakes to mobilise resources over the next five years to support advocacy and other interventions and call upon development partners to continue supporting us," they said.

They added that they will embark on a continuous awareness program to educate the community on FGM and its adverse negative effects on girls, women and other members of society. Though illegal, FGM is still practiced in many areas of Upper Eastern and North Eastern provinces predominantly Muslim areas.

To read the full article on The Star website, click here

Maasai seek to end female circumcision

October 8, 2011
Daily News
REUTERS

While Maasai elders strongly defend their culture, some men have turned their backs on it, and in the town of Narok, to the west of the capital Nairobi, they have opened a church-run centre to rescue girls from circumcision.
Narok, Kenya - A small church house shelters about a dozen Maasai girls escaping female circumcision and early marriage, age-old customs of the Kenyan tribe now frayed by health risks and new laws.

However, the running of the Hope for the Maasai Girls centre set up in 2007 has not been smooth, as angry men have often threatened its founders and some parents disowned their daughters after they went there.

"They see you as someone who is opposing their original culture, their original nature," said Pastor Jacob Momposhi Samperu, who founded the rescue centre.

Marrying off girls, who must traditionally be circumcised beforehand, provides a dowry for families. The bride price is often several cows, a prized property among the semi-nomadic Maasai.

"Marrying an uncircumcised girl degrades your value as a man. There are some rituals the girl cannot participate in if she is not circumcised," explained Martin Ololoigero, one of the managers of the rescue centre.

During school holidays, Maasai girls as young as nine undergo the mutilation meant to mark the passage from childhood to adulthood, which automatically means they can be married off, usually to older men.

"It is important for a woman to be circumcised so that she can go to her husband's home," said Olemairuj Kipaken, a Maasai elder in Narok.

"The Maasai people don't let their daughters marry unless they are circumcised unlike other tribes. When she has had it done, she becomes an adult. That is why it is good, she is in the position to go to a man's home," added Kipaken.

Sitting on a bunk bed in their dormitory at the rescue centre, two teenage girls recounted how they escaped the ritual and subsequent child marriage.

"My parents died and my guardians wanted to marry me off. That's when I fled and came to this centre," said 15-year-old Mary Seela.

"Girls who are circumcised and married off lead a difficult life because some have to do menial jobs to get a small income."

Her fellow escapee, Sarah Setoon, also 15, agreed.

"When girls are circumcised they have a lot of difficulties during childbirth. That's why I refused to get circumcised," she said.

"They are married off to old men, and sometimes these old men may die and leave the girl facing so many problems, and she has to do odd jobs just to survive."

The Massai are not alone: many other Kenyan tribes circumcise girls as a mark of maturity from childhood.

Circumcision, called Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by some, involves using blades to slice off the clitoris and sometimes other parts of the external genitalia.

Resulting medical complications or even death due to haemorrhage have stoked repugnance among many non-governmental groups and the government, leading to condemnation and even outlawing the practice.

Kenyan MPs have passed legislation banning the practise, with offenders punished by a seven-year jail term or a $5 000 fine, and life imprisonment if the circumcision results in death.

Kenya's first lady Lucy Kibaki called for strict enforcement of the new law.

"These punitive penalties are deterrent enough if effectively enforced," she said early in September.

"FGM is partly responsible for the high maternal and infant mortality rates, which are very common among communities where FGM is widely practiced," Kibaki said.

But female circumcision is still widespread among the Maasai and the tradition still has strong supporters.

"It is not something that will end soon. It will take time," admitted Ololoigero.

"We don't want to upset the community. Remember we come from that community. We want to have a gradual change." - Sapa-AFP

To read the full article on the Daily News website, click here

Law alone won’t end female circumcision

September 23, 2011
Daily Nation
Felista Wangari


Growing up in Narok the 1980s, Shinina Shani knew that every girl underwent the cut.

It was the rite that transformed girls into women, and which every proud Maasai girl went through.

However, Ms Shani’s Christian parents refused to give in when she begged them to allow her to be circumcised in order to fit in with her peers.

She got used to being referred to as Entito, a term which means girl, but when used to refer to an uncut woman is insulting.

Her father, too, had to bear contempt for allowing his daughter to escape the cut.

Even in the backdrop of the recently-passed law that prohibits female genital mutilation, not much has changed as cases of female circumcision in Narok South remain high.

Ms Shani, who now works as a crusader against the rite in the area, puts the female circumcision prevalence at over 90 per cent.

“The few girls who choose to avoid it are shunned and referred to as cowards and fake Maasais. They believe it is a bad omen to remain uncut and have children,” she explains.

Such beliefs keep a practice that was banned by presidential decree four times — the first time being in 1982 — alive.

Loopholes

Moreover, laws such as the Children’s Act, the Sexual Violence Act and the Domestic Violence Act, which aim to protect girls and women against harmful cultural practices, have had little, if any, effect on the custom.

However, Mount Elgon MP Fred Kapondi, when moving the motion, said that the existing laws had loopholes that allowed the practice to continue.

It is those loopholes that the Bill seeks to seal and top female circumcision.

Ms Shani applauds the law as timely.

Pre-teen and teenage girls in communities where it is still practised are getting ready for the peak circumcision season, which occurs during school holidays in December.


However, she is wary of the enforcement of the law, which will be key in stamping out the entrenched custom.

“Many laws have been enacted that could be used to protect women, but their people remain ignorant about them. Even some of the law enforcers are ignorant about the legislation that hinders implementation.”

“The government must make sure that information about this law reaches the communities concerned and that the law enforcers are also aware of the law and implement it. Otherwise, it will be just another law without results,” she explains.

Once it becomes fully operational, the law will protect women who have not undergone the cut from people who drive them to the cut with insults and discrimination.

A quarter of circumcised women surveyed in 2008/9 mentioned social acceptance as one reason they do it.

Under the new law, knowing that a woman is being circumcised and keeping quiet about it could land you in jail.

Other offences under the law include performing the cut, using one’s premises for the rite, aiding and abetting the performance of the cut, possession of tools to practice female circumcision, and taking a Kenyan to be circumcised outside the country.



Unlike the previous laws, which protected girls and women from general harmful cultural practices, the new law specifically targets female circumcision, defines it, and outlines the offences and penalties.

One found guilty of a crime under this law will be fined a minimum of Sh300,000 and a maximum of Sh500,000 while a jail term will last from three years to a maximum of seven years.

While praising the law as a harsh deterrent if implemented to the letter, campaigners maintain that such a deeply-rooted tradition cannot be stopped using the law alone.

They argue that the first approach should be to create awareness and persuade communities to abandon the unnecessary, risky and illegal cultural practice.

“We prefer a non-confrontational approach so as not to strain the girls’ relationship with their community, and it usually works. However, if dialogue fails, then the law can come in to protect the girl,” says Grace Senewa, a World Vision a project coordinator in Narok.

In a statement after the law was enacted on September 7, First Lady Lucy Kibaki, while calling on law enforcers to implement it strictly once it became fully operational, noted that legal bans alone could not change customs and cautioned that the law could drive the practice underground.

The campaigns against female circumcision preferred by some non-governmental organisations appear to have borne some fruit.

Data from the 2008/9 KDHS shows there has been a decline in the national prevalence from 38 per cent in 1998 and 32 per cent in 2003, to 27 per cent in 2008. This decline rises with the education level of the women involved.


Girls who have at least a secondary school education are less likely to be circumcised (19 per cent), as compared to women with no education, of whom 54 per cent have undergone the cut.

Among the Somalis, where 98 per cent of women report having had infibulation — the most severe form of the cut — female circumcision is seen as a religious requirement and most of the women believe it should continue.

Circumcision is also prevalent among the Kisii and the Maasai with a prevalence of 96 per cent and 73 per cent respectively.

Campaigns against female circumcision show that the trend has been to cut the girls when they are younger as almost half of the girls between 15 and 19 years were circumcised before they turned 10 years.

Grace Senewa, says that a campaign to promote an alternative rite of passage that does not involve circumcision has attracted more girls in Narok North over the years.

Girls who opt for the alternative rite of passage are taught the harmful effects of circumcision and persuaded to reject it.

One such rite was held last week at Olesito Primary School in Narok North, where 400 girls aged between 10 and 15 years graduated.

This was an increase from 70 girls who took part in the initial ceremony five years ago.

The ceremony was used to educate the people about the dangers and the new stringent legal implications of female circumcision.

Ms Senewa says that unfortunately, some girls who escape the cut are forcibly circumcised during childbirth.

“For such cases we are grateful that women can use the law to seek protection and justice,” she says.

To read the full article on the Daily Nation website, click here

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION/CUTTING

Date of event: 17 October 2011 - 19 October 2011
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
The main purpose of this conference is to review existing knowledge and identify knowledge gaps with regards to the health consequences of FGM/C and their treatment, as well as review of community based interventions against FGM/C and their efficacy. The conference will also help in strengthening of leadership and research capacity of FGM/C issues in Africa by a) creating a network and a platform for a network of researchers based in African countries, and b) explore the possibilities of establishing an African Centre for research and leadership training for the abandonment of female genital cutting.

FGM: Kenya acts against unkindest cut

September 9, 2011
guardian.co.uk
Sarah Boseley's Global Health Blog

Kenya has become the latest African country to ban female genital mutilation, with the passing of a law making it illegal to practice or procure it or take somebody abroad for cutting. The law even prohibits derogatory remarks about women who have not undergone FGM. Offenders may be jailed or fined or both.

Members of the Kenyan Women Parliamentary Association said it was a historic day. Linah Kilimo, its chairperson, said the move would improve school attendance. And Sophia Abdi Noor said:


I have fought for 18 years to achieve this legislation. Today is independence day for women. Men got their independence in 1963 – but today women have achieved independence from the cruel hands of society.


Unicef congratulated Kenya. Its child protection specialist in Kenya, Zeinab Ahmed said:


It is a great day for the girl child of Kenya. FGM is a serious violation of the rights of the child and of women. This bill gives an indication from government it is not just a cultural practice that can go on. The government has taken a bold step and will not tolerate any more violations. I applaud the work of Kewopa, the ministry of gender and the many other partners who have worked tirelessly to ensure that girls are protected from FGM.

Nobody imagines this means FGM will never take place again in Kenya, but making it illegal is a massive step towards changing attitudes and giving strength to those who oppose the practice. Kenya follows a number of African governments in outlawing the practice. According to the Pan African news agency, at the time of the African Union summit in June, which proposed prohibition of FGM, Benin, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Kenya, Central African Republic, Senegal, Chad, Tanzania, Togo and Uganda already had legislation against it.

But in nine countries (including some of those where it is illegal) it is still widely practised. In Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan, 85% of women undergo mutilation.

Meru elders on the spot over FGM

August 13, 2011
Capital FM News
Judie Kaberia


The Maendeleo ya Wanawake organisation has challenged the Njuri Ncheke council of elders to step up its sensitisation programme on the negative effects of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Organisation chairperson Rukia Subow said despite the council making a public declaration against the cultural practice two years ago, its effects were yet to be felt at the grassroots.

Speaking when she visited seven girls who are recuperating at Mutuati sub-district hospital after they were forcibly circumcised on Monday, Ms Subow said the elders failure to reach the grassroots had contributed to the thriving of the cultural practice.

“In 2009 the elders publicly declared war against FGM. It is still happening. We feel the elders should make their declaration felt on the ground. We would wish to have a dialogue with the elders since the effects are not being seen,” said Ms Subow.

Ms Subow also called for speedy implementation of the laws against FGM to deter surgeons and parents who still embrace the practice.

“Before anything is done, the culprits must be brought to book. We need the law implemented so that those who practice it can think twice before doing it,” she said.

But defending the council, Njuri Ncheke Secretary General Phares Ruteere said the practice remained illegal and the elders would meet to strategise on a new approach.

The girls from Mukorene village in Akirang’ondu location were rescued by the area chief as they were being mutilated at a secluded area inside a miraa farm.

Nursing officer in charge of Mutuati hospital Janet Njiru said one of the girls was pregnant while another had already lost consciousness at the time of arrival at the medical facility.

“They were brought here having lost a lot of blood. One of them was also in semi-consciousness,” she said.

Ms Njiru said the girls were given anti-tetanus injections and given antibiotics to treat any infections.

She said the girls were in a stable condition but in excruciating pain. “The pregnant girl may suffer a tear during delivery,” said Ms Njiru.

Igembe North acting District Commissioner Macharia Njinu said police in Laare were also holding an evangelical church priest and his wife after three of their also underwent the illegal cut.

An elderly lady who was taking instructions on how to take care of the girls was also arrested.

“The girls were rescued in a miraa farm next to the pastor’s home. The surgeon fled the scene,” said the administrator.

He said the area Chief Mr Joshua Katheria had been tipped off that a well known traditional surgeon from Tigania area was in the village to carry out a mass mutilation on girls during the holidays.

It is then that the chief launched investigations and found as she had already concluded the exercise on the seven girls.

Mr Njinu said six of the girls were class five and class six pupils.

He said the exercise was prevalent in the area despite a vigorous campaign involving the Njuri Ncheke elders, church leaders and the provincial administration.

“We are very vigilant. We are working with Caritas relief agency and the elders to ensure the cultural practice is ended,” said Mr Njinu.

He said the cultural practice contributed to high school dropout cases and early marriages.

The Children’s Act (2001) criminalises subjection of children to FGM and those found violating this law like the above cases are subject to prison.

Another legislation which seeks to strengthen the law criminalising FGM, the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Bill 2010, will shut loopholes in the current law. The 2010 law will remove the requirement for the police to obtain a warrant to enter premises where they suspect FGM is taking place.

Over the past years, FGM has been on the decline due to active campaigns detailing the consequences of having girls going through the cut.

Influential women, who underwent the cut and have somehow made it in life, have been at the forefront speaking against it.

However, due to heavy cultural ties in some communities, eradicating FGM remains a challenge.

FGM Gone Bad in Meru

August 10, 2011
Kenya Citizen TV

KENYA: Limited success for campaigns targeting FGM/C practitioners

August 1, 2011
IRIN Africa


August is when Nchoo Ngochila would normally be gearing up for the traditional female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) season in her Ilchamus community in Kenya's Rift Valley Province.

"I would introduce myself and market my skills to the parents, I would convince them to hire me when the mutilating season came," she told IRIN. "In a day I would cut an average of 10 girls in a village, and would operate in two villages each day."

Ngochila, once a well-respected FGM/C practitioner, charged about US$22 per girl, a healthy income by the standards of the minority Ilchamus community, which comprises just 40,000 people mainly dependent on subsistence agriculture and fishing in Lake Baringo.

"At heart, I felt the pain of watching girls weep as I cut them, but I needed money to pay school fees for my sons," she added.

This year, however, Ngochila will spend her time trying to convince her community the practice should be abandoned. About a year ago, a campaign by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) urged FGM/C practitioners in the area to put down their razors and campaign for women's rights in their communities.

"I was invited for training in our village, they talked about the suffering a girl [experiences] while undergoing FGM, and the way the practice denied women their rights," she said. "I felt so guilty that I cancelled all the bookings I had for August last year; instead I went to the same parents and tried to convince them against FGM."

A hard sell

Of the 30 bookings she had already made in 2010, just two changed their minds about having their daughters cut.

Ngochila found herself on the wrong side of elders and other members of the Ilchamus community; when she tried to convince other practitioners to give up the trade, they accused her of trying to ruin their business.

Local officials estimate that more than 50 percent of Ilchamus girls and women have undergone FGM/C.

The campaign to dissuade traditional practitioners from cutting girls continues, and local women's leader Winnie Mengiri says 15 practitioners from Marighat Division and 20 from Mukutani Division - where many Ilchamus people live - claimed to have been reformed because of various campaigns.

Today, Nodasimi Parteneu, a friend of Ngochila's, struggles to make ends meet, but is determined not to return to performing FGM/C for money.

"At first I thought it was good that Nchoo had abandoned the practice - she was my main competitor - but I later reasoned her way and put down my razor," she said. "Sometimes I get nightmares as I recall how a girl died after she bled following FGM which I had done, but I know God will give me grace to forget those memories."

Alternative incomes

But Mengiri says the high income of the practitioners often means their positions within the community do not stay vacant for long.

"Younger women are now mutilating girls secretly; some people here are yet to embrace the new anti-FGM culture," she said.

Younger women are now mutilating girls secretly; some people here are yet to embrace the new anti-FGM cultureGender and children affairs permanent secretary James Nyikal, who recently officiated at the signing of a declaration to abandon FGM/C by Ilchamus practitioners, elders and community members, said the government intended to provide alternative sources of income to women who wished to leave the profession to discourage them from returning to it.

Ngochila now makes mandazi (pastry), which she sells in schools around her village. Her income has dropped significantly, and she now survives on just $1.10 per day; she is hoping to benefit from the government's women’s entrepreneur fund to expand her business.

Involving men

According to UNFPA gender programme officer Florence Gachanja, a campaign targeting Ilchamus elders to fight FGM/C has borne fruit, leading to the community's endorsement of the anti-FGM declaration.

"Elders are the gate-keepers of culture, if they order that a certain traditional practice should be abandoned, [the community follows]," she said.

UNFPA will also be including Ilchamus “moran”, young men, many of whom refuse to marry uncut women. "We will be having a campaign to... convince them [that] women are the same, cut or not cut," Gachanja added.

The Ilchamus practise a form of FGM/C known as clitoridectomy, the removal of all or part of the clitoris. An estimated 32 percent of women in the Rift Valley Province have undergone the procedure, according to the 2009 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey.

Education, law

Area chief Francis Ole Kaprich says the education of Ilchamus girls will likely have the greatest impact on reducing the prevalence of the practice.

"I am sure this will play a big role in reducing FGM, but there is a need for more campaigns, sensitization and [vigilance] by law keepers if the Ilchamus [are to] abandon FGM completely," he said.

Although criminalizing FGM/C does not seem to have had much impact on the practice, Ole Kaprich said he would be enforcing the law in his own community.

"I know the majority will be doing it in secret, but I will make sure those caught will face the wrath of the law," he said. "We are also sensitizing girls... soon, mutilators will have no one to cut."

Kenya: Ill Chamus Community Declares War Against Female Circumcision

July 14, 2011
Nairobi Star
Pauline Odhiambo

For Sh2,000 per girl, 50-year-old Nchoo Ngochila would move from one village to the next circumcising up to 20 girls in a day.

Her tools of trade a rusty piece of metal cut out from mabati (iron sheet roofing) then bent and filed to a cutting edge. This she would sometimes alternate with a razor blade but would on most occasions prefer mabati which she claims is more efficient for female circumcision.

Today, Ngochila sells mandazi (doughnuts) to schoolgoing children in Marigat District in the Rift Valley Province where she has lived all her life. She stopped circumcising young girls two years ago after attending an FGM seminar where she discovered that obstructed labour was among the effects of female genital cutting. "It is difficult to give birth when you have been circumcised and I say this from my own experience in giving birth," says the wizened Ngochila who looks much older than her 50 years. "From that seminar, I learned that labour pain is less severe for women who haven't been circumcised; they give birth quicker and easier compared to those of us who have been circumcised."

With three children in secondary school, Ngochila says she now finds it harder to pay their school fees but is nonetheless adamant that she will not fall back to circumcising any more girls for a living. "Nowadays I barely make enough money for food but that's okay because I agreed to stop circumcising girls for a good reason. Plus, my children are Christians now and they are against me cutting any more girls."

Like Ngochila, a growing number of people from the Ill Chamus community in Marigat are progressively shunning the idea of female genital mutilation. The area chief Francis ole Kiprich says that at least 40 per cent of the 40,000 plus members of the Ill Chamus community members have ceased circumcising their daughters. This has led to a marked rise in the education levels for girls within the region where just over 10 girls have made it to university level.

However, uncircumcised girls are still widely shunned by a community that perceives them as childish due to their uncircumcised state. "Among the Ill Chamus, a girl is recognised as an adult only after she has been circumcised. It is the only way she can earn the respect of the community and participate in traditional ceremonies."

Indeed, 20-year old Janet Nang'oi is living proof of the stigma uncircumcised girls face in Marigat. In 2003, Nang'oi dodged circumcision by hiding out in the bush during an initiation ceremony where she was to be circumcised together with her sister and other girls in her village. She has since become the butt of cruel jokes by her age mates and younger siblings who now deem her too "immature " for their company. She says, "My brothers won't even let me cook for them or wash their clothes because they say I'm a child who cannot be trusted even with the most basic of chores. Even when I go to fetch water, my age mates refuse to walk with me because they are embarrassed to be seen with me."

In spite of the stigma, Nang'oi pushed on with her studies and is now an education major at the Egerton University, Njoro campus. Most of the girls she was to be circumcised with in the same group soon after dropped out of school to get married.

Ole Kiprich explains that FGM is leading cause of low education levels among girls in Marigat as many are unable to continue with their studies once they are married as was the case for 40-year-old Nasaru Kiriampu who was circumcised and married off at 13.

Kiriampu became the fourth wife to an old man with whom she bore children albeit with some difficulty during labour. However, in the recent years, Kiriampu has learned more about the dangers of circumcision but still believes it to be part and parcel of life in Marigat. With a hint of irony in her voice, Kiriampu says, "One of my daughters is now in secondary school and I tell her to wait till she finishes university to get circumcised but I know the more she gets educated the more she will be reluctant to get circumcised." With the assistance of church organizations and NGOs set up within the region, Kiriampu has joined a women's group which urges girls to advance their studies before undergoing circumcision.

"I've seen many cases of babies getting stuck in the birth canal during labour and their mothers have to be rushed to Kabarnet hospital where they can deliver safely and with the assistance of doctors." She observes that with education more girls are avoiding circumcision and thus may avoid obstructed labour when they are of age.

On June 24, Kiriampu, Nang'oi and Ole Kiprich were among hundreds of people to sign a public declaration on the abandonment of female genital mutilation at the Ill Chamus Cultural Centre in Marigat District. The ceremony was presided over by Dr James Nyikal, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development.

However, even as the ink dries on that declaration, it would be wishful-thinking to claim that female circumcision has been completely wiped out in Marigat as Ole Kiprich reveals that most circumcision ceremonies today take place in secret for fear of arrests by the local administration.

Nonetheless, many of the residents have taken up advocacy against FGM in favour of education which they believe will help decrease poverty levels among the Ill Chamus of Marigat.

Uganda: Churches Join the Fight Against FGM Practice

July 7, 2011
The Monitor
Steven Ariong


Several churches from Kapchorwa and Bukwo districts have joined hands with the Inter African Committee Uganda (IACU), a Non Government Organisation(NGO) based in Kapchorwa and Reproductive, Educative Community Health (REACH) another area NGO to fight Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Sebei and Pokot regions.

Pastor Francis Sawenge Kotil of deliverance church in Bukwo district said, the practice of female genital mutilation is a covenant and the blood that a woman bleeds after undergoing through the practice is a curse. "We claim it's our practice but biblicalically it's wrong, therefore the churches must come in full to fight against it," he said while delivering his message to the congregation in Bukwo last week.

Mr Geoffrey Sande, the Programme coordinator, Inter African Committee Uganda(IACU) believes that the fight against the FGM practice in Sebei will now succeed since the churches have also come openly to support the fight. "We have taken long trying to eradicate this practice in Sebei because we were not fully supported by churches but now since the church leaders have also come in to join us, it will help us now to fight the practice," he said.

Ms Beatrice Chelangat, the director of REACH programme in Kapchorwa, which also fights the practice said that the practice may take a while to die in Kapchorwa and Pokot because of the on going practive in neighbouring Kenya. She said most parents sneak with their children into Kenya to carry out the practice and return. "We are experiencing that challenge because in Uganda the law is becoming hot, now the rest of the parents cross to Kenya," she said. She appealed to the Kenyan government to help and reject the practice so that if the Sabiny from Kapchorwa or the Pokot of Amudat cross into Kenya to practice,they must be arrested.

Female Genital Mutilation is the partial or total removal of the female clitoris. Authorities say the number of girls mutilated in 2011 increased from 550 to 820 in 2008, lending credence to the fact that the practice is still alive despite its ban in 2010. Offenders of the practice face 10 years in prison, but if the girl dies during the act, those involved get life sentence.

Esther Gatuma helping women overcome female genital mutilation

June 29, 2011
Today's THV
Stefanie Bryant

KENYA: Legislation failing to curb FGM/C

June 2, 2011
IRIN News

At her grandmother's home in the western Kenyan village of Nyamataro, 14-year-old Ruth* lies on a mat surrounded by visitors, all congratulating her on becoming a woman; the previous week, Ruth was one of 10 girls to undergo female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).

"When people see me and I smile at them, they think I like what I went through... [but] I wish I could run away," she told IRIN. "My grandmother said I must be cut so I can be a good girl in future.

"I was afraid to go, but they forced me and now I am feeling a lot of pain. I can't go to school until I heal," she added.

Ruth's father says the pain is worth the respect she will earn from the community as a circumcised woman.

"As a man, you want to bring up your child in the way of your people and for us, being circumcised is one of them," he said. "She will be a good woman to her husband in future. When people say we should stop what we have done all along, I just laugh."

The Children's Act (2001) criminalizes the subjection of children to FGM/C; people violating the law are subject to prison sentences. However, the 2008/2009 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey reported an FGM/C prevalence of 96 percent among Ruth's Kisii ethnic community; the Kisii practise a form of FGM/C known as excision, where part of the clitoris is removed.

Overall, the 2008/2009 report logged a national drop in FGM/C prevalence to 27 percent from 38 percent in 1998 and 32 percent in 2003, but officials say the law's main impact has been to drive the practice underground.

"With the implementation of laws such as the Children's Act, those who do this practice have resorted to secretive ways of doing it," said Pamela Mbuvi, district children's officer for Kisii District. "So when you see surveys pointing to a decline, it might mean people are abandoning the custom, but it could also mean they now do it secretly and report it less lest the law catches up with them.

"We have caught a few people doing it and at least five have been jailed that I know of, but the secrecy that the perpetrators use makes it hard to effectively use the law to end the practice."

A second piece of legislation, the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Bill (2010), seeks to close loopholes in current legislation; the new law, for instance, would remove the requirement for the police to obtain a warrant to enter premises where they suspect FGM/C is being carried out.

"Female genital mutilation puts those who undergo it through a lot of physical and psychological pain and they need support and that support must come from the government," said Lina Jebii Kilimo, FGM/C activist and Kenyan Member of Parliament. "That is why the law seeks to make it plain that the government must provide support to victims."

However, she noted that laws alone were not sufficient to end the practice of FGM/C.

Changing the community

"Laws targeting specifically FGM are an important step in ending the practice but the law alone cannot do it because it is a traditional practice and it is deeply rooted; remember, people who strongly believe in culture are at times ready to die for it," Kilimo said. "My suggestion is, let the government and anybody working for children's rights carry out education and awareness among the community to let them know the dangers [of FGM/C]. Those campaigns have been carried out, but they must be continuous."

Joyce Nyangito, 78, cannot remember how many girls she has cut in her 38-year career. She says she will keep doing it as long as there is a demand.

"My work is to cut these girls and to make them moral women when they get married," she said. "I can’t stop unless parents stop bringing their girls to me, which I know they won't do, so I will stop it when I die."

Women in the Kisii community who disagree with the practice feel powerless to protect their daughters. Rispa Moseti, a 41-year-old mother of six, says if she had the power, she would have prevented her two daughters from going through FGM/C.

"They were cut against my will and at times they ask me why I allowed it; it is a bad thing because it puts a young child through pain for no reason," she said. "Those who encourage it say it preserves virginity and reduces immorality - it is a lie. I cannot tell any woman to allow her child to go through this kind of thing."

The few who have dared to defy tradition have paid a heavy price. Violet Masogo runs a rescue centre that provides protection to girls who have run way from home to escape FGM/C, but she has had to move the centre from Kisii to Kisumu city, farther west, after two attacks by men who claimed she was "spoiling" their daughters.

"I underwent female circumcision and I know the pain. Many girls wouldn't want to go through it and that is why I thought of starting a centre where these girls could get some refuge," she said. "It is hard because those who still believe in the practice see you as a spoiler."

*not her real name

The midwife on a mission to stop female genital mutilation

April 15, 2011
The Guardian
Joanna Moorhead

It feels incongruous to be sitting in a cafe in Kendal – a town they call "the gateway to the Lake District" – discussing women's rights in the Rift Valley. And yet it couldn't be more relevant: because Cath Holland, the down-to-earth Lancashire midwife I'm with, has managed almost singlehandedly, and in her spare time, on a tiny budget, to steer an entire province of northern Kenya towards eradicating a practice that surely rates as the most extreme example of male domination today.

Holland – a nurse and midwife who works on the labour ward at Furness General Hospital – first went to Kenya with VSO back in 1998. She was in her late 40s: her two sons were in their early 20s, and she felt she wanted an adventure. She was sent to be a midwifery tutor at a nursing school in the Cherangani Hills in Pokot, an area of Kenya that the Lonely Planet Guide describes as "East Africa's best-kept secret".

But when Holland arrived, she discovered Pokot had another secret – and it wasn't one travel books boasted about. The community still practised a form of female genital mutilation (FGM) that the World Health Organisation considers the most extreme – in which the entire outer genitalia, including the clitoris, are removed.

As a midwife, Holland saw the consequence: women giving birth had vaginal openings too narrow to let a baby through. "In that area, they say there are three sorrows of womanhood. The first is when a girl has her genitalia removed, usually in her teens. The second is when she gets married, and has to have her vagina opened so she can have penetrative sex, which is usually done using an animal's horn. And the third is when she gives birth, and has to be cut again so the baby can be born."

'I will never be cut': Kenyan girls fight back against genital mutilation Link to this video The practice turns healthy teenage girls into women with chronic ill-health – kidney problems, pelvic and back pain, infertility and birth difficulties are common. And they are the lucky ones: others won't survive the blood loss of the initial procedure or will contract HIV from the knives used, or die giving birth, or have stillborn or brain-damaged babies.

Holland abhorred the practice from the moment she came into contact with its effects. "At its root," says Holland, "FGM is all about patriarchy. It's about controlling women – controlling their sexuality, controlling their libido. In communities like Pokot it's regarded as a prerequisite for marriage." But her life was changed when a young girl she'd befriended in the village where she lived asked her if she'd like to attend her initiation ceremony – the event at which she would be mutilated.

"Nellie was about 14, and she often called in at my house on her way to and from school," she remembers. "One day she was a bit shy and coy, and she told me it was her initiation ceremony next week – and she wanted me to be there. As far as she was concerned, this was an important day on her life's journey. To me it was a tragedy, for her it was a rite of passage."

Holland says the event was like a village party – until they brought out the girls. "The men were all standing with their backs turned. I was with the women – and the sense of solidarity, and horror, was almost palpable," she remembers. "There were two circumcisers – they moved quickly from one girl to the next, cutting their labia." Then, says Holland, the girls were led to a wooded area, away from the men, for the more extensive cutting. "It was horrendous," she says. "And none of the girls cried out, because they'd had it drilled into them that they had to bear it without making a sound."

Afterwards, Holland couldn't forget what she'd seen. "It haunted me," she says. "I knew I couldn't just go home, go back to my old job, forget all about it. Because there were more girls like Nellie, and it was going to go on and on. I couldn't turn my back on it."

Back in Cumbria after her two years with VSO, Holland roped in her colleagues and friends to help her fundraise. In 2005, when they had collected enough money, she persuaded Miriam Lopus and Rhoda Lodio, two Kenyan midwives she knew from Pokot, to travel to Kendal and meet specialists who campaign against FGM. "I felt midwives were key," she says. "They see the effects of FGM – educating them had to be the way to start.

"They'd never had passports, and they'd never been on a plane. But they came, and I took them to meet doctors at places like Liverpool Women's Hospital, so they could learn more about FGM and its effects."

But the bigger battle, as Holland was aware, lay in convincing the community to put an end to the practice. She returned to Pokot once or twice a year and kept in touch with Nellie, now a mother of two. FGM had led Nellie, as it does for many girls, to early marriage and an end to schooling. (Improving educational opportunities for women will, says Holland, be another ambition of the anti-FGM campaign in the long term.)

Over the years, events were held to educate different sections of the community: including men – which in some ways, says Holland, wasn't too difficult. "Because the men travel more, they're aware of communities in which women aren't mutilated, and they know that women don't have to be circumcised in order to get married."

In 2009, Lopus and Lodio got more than 60 traditional birth attendants from across Pokot together to spread the word about the dangers of FGM. "The idea they came up with," says Holland, "was to put together an alternative rite-of-passage ceremony that didn't involve cutting."

Back home, Holland fundraised for a week-long girls' camp that would end in a public ceremony to initiate 100 young girls into adulthood without FGM. "We were inundated with girls who wanted to attend – and many of them had had a tough time persuading their families that it was the better thing to do than FGM," she says. "In the end we had around 175, all aged between 14 and 20." The camp – which is the subject of a Guardian film – involved workshops and classes about the dangers of FGM, as well as dancing and fun events.

Holland's plan is to hold an annual rite of passage ceremony in Pokot, and fundraise for its costs. "Once the local community is on-side, and there's an alternative way of initiating the girls into adulthood, more and more becomes possible." It's a pretty impressive result for a project whose entire budget, at about £7,000 to date, would barely register in the world of international aid spending.

But Holland, now 61, is unwilling to stop. "Pokot is only one area of one country," she says. "There are many, many others where FGM still goes on. We want to replicate this work in other parts of Kenya, and in other parts of Africa. There's a lot more to be done."

Female Genital Mutilation In Kenya: Local Girls Fight Back Against The Controversial Rite (VIDEO)

April 19, 2011
The Huffington Post

Two teenage girls in Kenya have attempted an unprecedented rebellion by refusing one of the most controversial rites of local womanhood: genital mutilation.

As the Guardian is reporting, the procedure has bewildered Westerners, who "find it incomprehensible that a mother would allow her daughter to be so brutally amputated with all the risks of infection, difficult childbirth and deprivation of sexual pleasure."

However, a new Guardian-produced documentary sheds light on the huge emotional conflict the two Kenyan women experience after challenging their families' authority by refusing to undergo the risky procedure. With the girls not considered eligible by prospective husbands until they have been "cut," the risk of family breakdown over the issue is clear.

Watch the Guardian's new clip on female genital mutilation below: [follow link]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/19/female-genital-mutilation_n_850725.html

Memories of my circumcision have haunted me to date

April 16, 2011
Daily Nation
Caroline Wafula

Nominated MP Sophia Abdi Noor tends to speak forcefully on most issues she is concerned about. But when she rose to contribute on the Bill to outlaw female circumcision in Parliament last week, her voice dropped as the House went silent.

It was perhaps the first time an MP was giving a deeply personal story which contributing to debate.

Female circumcision, said Sophia, was the cause of a harrowing experience during menstruation, her first sexual experience, and the eventual childbirth.

This, she said, is the driving force behind her passionate fight against the practice, which Parliament now seeks to outlaw with the Bill sponsored by Mt Elgon MP Fred Kapondi.

She was barely eight years old when together with seven of her agemates, she was handed over to a traditional circumciser who took them through the painful process of the cut. It has been many years since, and she has accomplished so much in life, but the incident remains fresh in her mind.

The old woman who took them through the process was going blind, she says, and three of the eight who underwent the operation died due to excessive bleeding. One of them was her very close friend.

Luckily for her, the bleeding was not too much and she had a saviour at hand. Her father, who was a policeman, took her to a hospital in Garissa using a police Land Rover.

Completely changed

 She was in hospital for a week and underwent a transfusion of four pints of blood. After she left the hospital, her life completely changed and her mother was also affected as she felt guilty for ‘blessing’ her daughter to undergo the rite.

The beginning of her complications was her first menstrual period, which was slow as the opening of her vagina was small, restricting the flow and her period lasted up to seven days. This would mean missing classes for the whole period and she would often lag behind in class.

Sophia does not remember her wedding day as the happy occasion it usually is for most people.

“It was a night I literally don’t want to remember,” she said. Her husband was equally affected due to the frustrations they encountered trying to consummate their union.

It took them three days before her husband could open up to friends about their frustrations of being unable to consummate their marriage.

“I was completely closed and we could not even share with our mothers who kept checking our bedsheets for blood. They got worried and asked the very young couples of our age to come and find out what the problem was,” she recalls.

More problems

 She was later taken to hospital for an operation although the eventual consummation was still difficult because of the wound from the operation.

She would also have problems later as she gave birth to her first child, a baby boy. She had prolonged labour for four days and she could not undergo a Caesarean section because the child had already moved to exit position. The baby had to be removed by a vacuum, slightly injuring his head.

Ms Noor says it is this experience of her life that propelled her to launch anti-female circumcision campaigns.

“So many girls have died out of this, there is no documentation because this is done in secret, but this is killing and that is why I am talking about it,” she said.

She said it’s a very painful psychological experience. with some dying and that “there is no homestead that has no sad story arising from circumcision,” says Ms Noor.

She explains that as a child from a pastoralist community, circumcision was a compulsory rite.
 
“It was not a matter of consultation, it was even a taboo to talk about i. It was a very strong belief,” she says.

Everyone believed it was a religious obligation to undergo the rite, and the conviction was that a woman who was not circumcised was unclean and not fit for marriage.

It was also believed that God could not hear prayers of an uncut woman. But the MP does not blame her mother for the ordeal. She understands too well that like many other women in her community, she was brought up to believe it was a religious rite.

Going through the process meant cleansing daughters for marriage. “No one wanted their daughter to be a ‘haram’ or unfit for marriage,” she explains.

A part from the belief that circumcising the girl made her clean, it was also believed that the process protected her virginity.

“Once taken to her husband, he would know that she had been properly taken care of,” the MP explains. The third reason for the cut is that the community was scared of girls who were not circumcised, easily branding them prostitutes.

This is because it was believed not going through the cut left a woman sensitive sexually hence could easily turn to prostitution.

In one village

 Her campaign started when, while working on a Unicef Programme in Garissa where she was seconded by the Ministry of Education, she came across a circumcision rite in one of the villages she was visiting.

She immediately went dizzy after memories of her childhood experience flashed back. She sat down in silence but just a few minutes later, she and her colleagues heard a cry from the hut where the rite was being conducted.

The girl had fainted from the loss of blood but she passed away on the way to hospital. That incident marked the beginning of her activism against female circumcision. It was not easy owing to opposition from especially the religious leaders. But she was not going to give up.

“I knew deeply that was not my religion,” she says.

With this conviction, she approached some sheikhs and asked them to go through the Koran to find out whether indeed the Muslim religion required that women go through it.
 
It was with much relief that she came to learn from the sheikhs that it was nowhere in the holy books of Islam.

“I immediately mobilised meetings with the community and would later receive support from the international community,” she says.

She founded Womankind Kenya to spearhead the campaigns. She also started a centre for orphaned girls and those vulnerable to female circumcision, which also offered education.

The centre currently has 120 uncircumcised girls, having grown from an initial number of 18. It has girls aged between six and 23.

“People talk of diseases that come naturally and cause complications and kill, but this one is a bigger disease by our own making and people just don’t talk about it,” the MP says, noting that the practice goes on in several other communities in Kenya, secretly.

She is grateful to her colleagues for passing the Bill that will boost the war on female circumcision.