Communities remove FGM from calendar

Maasai, Kuria say it is important to give girls chance to concentrate on their studies instead of marrying them off

By Nick Oluoch

Leaders from the Maasai and Kuria communities have removed the Female Genital Mutilation rite from this year’s calendar.

The rite that was scheduled to kick off today was removed to give girls an opportunity to concentrate on their studies, instead of getting married off after the cut.

The decision by elders follows a number of workshops and meetings organised by the Pan-African Women Association (Pawa), a group of African women staying in Norway who have been meeting opinion leaders as well as members of the two communities over the past one month.

Mr Joseph Lekuton said the elders had decided to withdraw the girls programme from this year’s calendar after realising that the practice was greatly affecting their education.

Health complications

“We have only put plans in place for the boys and we intend to stick to that. The three-week programme is expected to start later this week and hundreds of boys are expected to take part,” he said.

Despite the enactment into law of the Kenya Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 2010, which prescribes tough penalties of a jail term, 96 per cent of girls in Kuria region still undergo FGM, a fact that was worrying to those fighting the vice.

Speaking at the same meeting that was held in Masurura area along the common border between Kuria West and Trans Mara, Pawa Co-ordinator Benta Adhiambo said the organisation had decided to go to the villages and meet the elders instead of just organising the workshops in towns.

“We realised that if we were to achieve our target, we had to go and meet the people responsible for the rite,” she said, adding that they had noted that in the past, people attended workshops only to go back and carry out the practice.

She said the resolution to remove FGM from the calendar had been reached after several trainings on the dangers of the rite.

Speaking at the same forum, Pawa president Regina Adahada said the women in Norway had decided on the fight against FGM after it came to their attention that a number of African women who were migrating to Norway were facing several health complications because of the rite.

“We thought we should deal with the problem before the women get to Europe,” she said adding that this was the second year that Pawa was being involved in the campaign.