by CHETI PRAXIDES
Thursday March 9, 2023
Lamu women take part in focused group discussions during this years International Women's Day at Witu Social Hall in Lamu west. Image: CHETI PRAXIDES
Calls for more efforts to fight Female Genital Mutilation-FGM dominated this year’s International Women’s Day Celebrations in Lamu County.
There have been increased cases of FGM in the region in recent times, a situation which seems to peak during school holidays and festive periods.
The practice is especially notorious among the Cushitic communities of the Boni, Sanye, Orma and Somali most of whom are found within and around the Boni forest and along the Kenya-Somali border.
Parents in these communities continue to collude with local circumcisers to have their daughters cut as a symbol of transition into adulthood.
This year’s celebrations were held at the Witu Social Hall in the Witu division in Lamu west and were funded by the European Union under the stewardship of the Kiunga Youth Bunge Initiative-KYBI and Search for Common Ground.
According to the chairperson of the Lamu Women for Peace and Development Zainab Gobu, many young girls are married off once they heal from the cut.
Young girls as young as 5 years old are subjected to FGM secretly with many of them ending up dead while others end up with life-changing scars and trauma.
“A five-year-old is cut and then there are two scenarios, they might bleed out and die or they survive and have to live with the trauma. It doesn’t end there, once they heal, they are married off to the next available suitor who could as well be their father’s age. It’s a sad scenario,” said Gobu.
She appealed for more players to come on board to be able to save girls from the practice and enable young children to enjoy a normal childhood free from FGM and the subsequent trauma.
Gobu observed that despite the rigorous campaigns by the county, national governments and private sector players, FGM remains a glaring reality which must be fought with available systems, laws and resources.
“We have caught so many parents in the act of having their daughters cut and it’s frustrating because it just doesn’t seem to stop. We need more emphasis on why kids must be allowed to grow up without such,” she said.
The organization secretary Barke Salim while terming the practice as degrading and inhuman, urged all women and especially mothers to rise up and defend their girls from FGM.
FGM is among the top causes of increased school dropouts, early marriages and unwanted pregnancies among young girls in Lamu.
Mpeketoni Resident Magistrate Pascal Nabwana recalled a recent incident where the court sentenced a man in the area for forcefully having his seven and eight-year-old daughters undergo FGM.
He observed that the practice was gaining traction and was even spreading to non-Cushitic communities in the region.
“We are calling on all state, county and private sector players to double their effort so as to end this vice. The current figures are disappointing,” said Nabwana.
Assistant County Commissioner for Witu Division Assistant County Emmanuel Koech took the opportunity to apologize to all girls who had been forced to under the brute act.
“These girls deserve a chance at life through education and exposure to opportunities to enable them to build a life for themselves,” said Koech.
The Director of Kiunga Youth Bunge Initiative Noor Dahir explained that in a world where power and choice are determined by gender, millions of girls have been robbed of their childhoods, education, health, and aspirations every day by harmful practices such as FGM and also early, and forced marriages.
“We must end FGM so that we can be able to give back to our girls, the power to control their own lives. For many communities, FGM means increased marriageability. Simply put, she must get married once she undergoes it. We must give our girls their power back by stopping FGM,” said Dahir.