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.
Showing posts with label village elders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label village elders. Show all posts
Monday, August 15, 2011
Monday, August 1, 2011
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."
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."
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
African elders ban female circumcision
March 15, 2011
hc2d.co.uk
Village officials in the West African countries of Senegal and Mali have decided to place an official ban on the practice of female circumcision.
The elders of the villages have also promised to end the forced arranged marriage of children within their communities.
Representatives from nearly 90 villages in the two countries held a ceremony in eastern Senegal at which they agreed to ban the practice.
Ali Ba of the NGO Tostan, which aims to empower African communities, said that the ceremony represented the abandonment of excision and the early and forced marriages of girls.
About 1,500 people from 70 Senegalese villages and 19 Malian villages showed up for the ceremony.
The name Tostan means 'breakthrough' in the West African Wolof language.
The villages affected by the pledge to end female circumcision belong for the most part to Mande-speaking communities, meaning that most of them share thousands of years of cultural legacy, including that of the ancient West African Mali, Ghana, and Songhai empires.
The practice of female circumcision is widespread throughout Mande-speaking regions of Africa, affecting up to three million girls who undergo the procedure every year.
Ba said that the recent declaration had brought the NGO's tally up to 4,751 communities which had pledged to end female circumcision.
He said that Muslim clerics in Senegal and Mali had been involved in promulgating new standards of awareness about female circumcision.
Kalidou Sy, the national coordinator of Tostan, said that the NGO held ceremonies in the presence of regional leadership, in order to promote its message.
The Senegalese government banned female circumcision in 1999, but many communities have not heeded government regulations.
When a Senegalese community seeks to circumcise a girl, it does so in secret, or brings the girl to a neighbouring country where the practice is still lawful.
Some 40 villages had previously participated in the Tostan Community Empowerment Program (CEP), a 30-month programme that aims to educate people about human rights, health, and literacy.
A group of community leaders from the villages said they believed it was necessary to create Tostan centers in all Senegalese villages and continue awareness raising discussions so that everyone could abandon female genital mutilation.
Female genital mutilation, female circumcision or female genital cutting refers to "all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons," according to the World Health Organisation.
Traditionally carried out by an older woman in the community with scant medical training, the practice rarely involves the use of antiseptic or anaesthetic.
Knives, scissors, scalpels, pieces of glass and razor blades have been documented as instruments, with herbs or iodine used to stop the bleeding.
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