15th September, 2011
A New Beginning
In Magadi district, the Patterson Memorial School is a kaleidoscope of colours. Men, women and children all donned in colourful lesos and jewellery typical of the Maasai community, stream into the compound in anticipation of the day’s unfolding events. Nearby a group of Maasai elders gather in serious discussions.
Today marks a new day for the Maasai girl child, who since time immemorial has been a victim of exploitation through a controversial rite of passage. The Maasai girl becomes a woman only after circumcision or Female Genital Mutiliation (FGM). FGM is a deeply entrenched but dangerous practice of the Maasai community.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), FGM includes procedures that intentionally alter or injure female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It is mostly carried out on young girls sometime between infancy and the age of 15 years, and is a violation of their fundamental human rights.
The procedure has no health benefits for girls and women and exposes them to a myriad of health problems leaving them emotionally and physically scarred. It can cause severe bleeding, childbirth complications and newborn deaths and is potentially fatal. According to a member of the community health committee in the area, women in Maasai communities insist on FGM for fear of not finding a marriage partner.
In Africa an estimated 92 million girls from 10 years of age and above have undergone FGM.
But through the facilitation of AMREF’s Unite for Body Rights Project the girls have taken part in the “mother-girl” fora or “safe spaces” where they openly address issues around FGM, and sexual reproductive health. The project targets young people aged between 10- 24 years and aims to improve the sexual and reproductive health and rights for the nomadic youth in Loitoktok and Kajiado North Districts.
At today's ceremony 156 Maasai girls, most of them in their teens will voluntarily undergo an alternative rite of passage, effectively denouncing FGM.
Dancing to songs that boldly condemn FGM, the girls are led into a separate compound where the elders sprinkle on them a mixture of milk and water using tufts of grass. The milk is a symbol of purity and abundance while the grass symbolizes peace and acceptance. Chanting the elders bless them with good health, husbands and a long life. Then with their heads held up high the girls join the community in celebrating their transition into womanhood.
It has taken a rigorous community based education by AMREF and other stakeholders to change the perception and behavior of the community in relation to this retrogressive practice. AMREF also empowers the cultural elders to lead community discussions on the need to adapt an alternative rite of passage in place of FGC”, says Peter Nguura, AMREF’s manager for the Unite for Body Rights Project. “With only 450 out of an estimated 25,000 girls targeted in the programme, the fight is far from over but there is good progress”, concludes Peter.