Kenyan girls cross into Tanzania to escape mutilation

By Nick Oluoch

Hundreds of girls are believed to have crossed over to neighbouring Tanzania for fear of being forced to undergo female genital mutilation.

According to residents in Kuria, hundreds of girls, some as young as ten years old, have fled their homes to avoid the traditional rite which is scheduled for December among the Abagumbe clan.

The girls are reported to have escaped within a period of one week to avoid forced female circumcision commonly referred to as female genital mutilation ( FGM).

Mr John Gichoro, a resident of Nyabohanse village, said that preparations for the cultural celebrations were already ongoing even as the Government issued a stern warning that it would arrest and prosecute any parent or guardian subjecting children to the backward practice.

Speaking in the area, Nyanza PC Mr Francis Mutie who toured the region last week described the rite as retrogressive and asked the community’s leaders to find alternative ways of ushering their children to adult-hood.

"This is something that has to change as it denies our girls a chance to lead a normal life," he said adding that researchers have confirmed the practice has no benefit to the girls or the community.

There have been reports of some parents believed to be faking their daughters’ disappearance to enable them circumcise them secretly in their homes.

A number of organsiations fighting the vice in the region have been urged to establish secluded camps where girls would be trained on alternative rites of passage.

Kuria west district children’s officer John Langat said his office in collaboration with a number of NGOs the police, the provincial administration and churches, had taken the necessary measures to protect girls from being forced to face the knife.

"We are aware of those planning to launch this rite within the abagumbe clan but we are not going to allow them infringe the rights of their daughters this time round," Mr Langat warned.

The Kuria community has four clans, which practice the outlawed rite of passage in liaison with their kin in Tanzania.