Baton passes from mother to daughter in fighting tradition

By Titus Too

It is three months before December when the Marakwet districts are awash with festivities accompanying the circumcision of girls. But university and high school students are already on the ground to avert the circumcision disasters.

They are talking to parents and girls about the not-so-rosy side of circumcision beyond the feasting.

And these students are passionate about their campaign. One of them, Miriam Jerotich — who is daughter of Marakwet East MP Linah Jebii Kilimo — went ahead and sought financial assistance from her university, Dartmouth College in US, and was given $4,000 (Sh368,000) for the campaign.

Interestingly, Jerotich’s mother, Jebii, has consistently crusaded against female circumcision in pastoral areas. It seems Jerotich, 20, has taken the baton from her mother as she has a burning desire to get as many girls as possible out of the age-old tradition.

"I felt so bad when I read about the more than 500 Marakwet girls who had been circumcised while on holiday last December. I had to do something about it," says Jerotich, who is a former student of Alliance Girls.

Luckily, her college has a programme of promoting education and it was ready to support her project.

In her campaign, Jerotich has involved her former school to stop female genital mutilation and enlighten girls in Marakwet about the benefits of education.

Just like her mother who started sensitising her people about the ills of the female cut in 1998, Jerotich, who is proceeding to second year at Dartmouth, is also doing the same.

During the recent August holiday, she teamed up with a group of Alliance Girls students and teachers to reach out to young girls and talk to them about discarding this ancient practice.

They traversed poor terrains at Sangach and Tot areas of Marakwet where they talked to girls from Standard Five to Eight in eleven primary and one secondary school in the region.

The team also distributed sanitary towels to improve hygiene among girls. Without sanitary towels, some girls shy away from school during their monthly periods, missing critical lessons.

"The girls from Alliance and other higher learning institutions will be role models when speaking out against the negative impacts of the cut in this region," Jerotich told The Standard.

She says in January, there is a notable dropout rate because after the circumcision rite in December, the girls along the Kerio Valley region are normally married off.

Mentor girls

The latest initiative, she says, is being implemented through Marakwet girls and women projects to ensure the girls benefit from the equal education opportunities now offered through the free primary education programme.

"About 70 per cent of Marakwet women undergo circumcision, but this trend must change. We want to mentor girls and ensure this rite is eradicated to enable them pursue education up to university level like some of us," says Jerotich, who believes that it is only through investing in education that problems facing the community could be solved in future.

Peter Ayiro, a teacher at Alliance Girls’ High School accompanied the Form One and Two girls for a two-week outreach programme.

"Our students, who come from a national school, are an inspiration to young girls in Marakwet. We believe their participation will go a long way to assist in discarding outdated practices," says Ayiro.

Ayiro adds: "Alliance has girls from all regions of the country. With this programme, parents and young girls in Marakwet will interact and learn the benefits of education. They will also experience the success of girls from other regions where female circumcision is not practiced."

Ruth Jepchumba, also from Marakwet and a student at Catholic University who was also in the team, explained that young girls initiated at the age of nine are given a third name signifying that they were ‘officially’ adults.

"Such names make girls feel they are mature for marriage at the expense of education, as they abandon school and get married soon after," she says.

She said many parents encouraged the cut by looking down upon women who have not been circumcised.

"The culture of circumcision has been going on for long and it has to stop. We want parents and girls to value education as a means of fighting poverty," says Faith Pepela, a Form Two student at Alliance.

While speaking to young girls at Sangach Primary School, Pepela said negative impacts of circumcision were enormous as the girls were also exposed to dangers of HIV/Aids.

"But with education, the residents’ living standards will improve," she said.

Marriage and cows

Marakwet Girls and Women Project chairperson Mary Hilda Kiplagat says efforts to eradicate the practice in many parts of the country will be achieved if families shifted their value from marriage and cows to education.

"Unless professionals from the affected areas come out forcefully to educate the people on the dangers posed by the outdated cultural activity, it will not end," she says, adding that the practice was still rampant in Marakwet East District because most educated families have moved from rural setups to urban areas.

Timothy Chelimo, a senior teacher at Sangach Primary School says the campaign against the cut has benefited education enormously as the number of girls in primary schools is improving.

"The enrolment at this school currently stands at 280 girls and 270 boys due to anti-female cut sensitisation by various groups, local leaders and the provincial administration," says Chelimo.