Slow but sure: Challenges facing child protection efforts

Maka Kassim, chairperson of the Human Rights Network, speaks at Kamuthe Ward Fafi Sub County Garissa County ona September 11, 2023. [Samson Wire, Standard]

While most of her agemates had barely forgotten the scent of their mother's bosoms and were only starting to develop their own gender features, 11-year-old Sahara Abdullahi welcomed her firstborn child.

About two years earlier, Sahara's parents and community had seen it fit for her to undergo female genital mutilation. Unfortunately, they also decided that she was ripe for marriage.