300 girls graduate with alternative rite of passage

Some 300 girls, who had declined to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) in Tharaka-Nithi County, graduated from an alternative rite of passage programme after a week’s training.

The training was organised by St Peters Life-Line, a community-based organisation operating in Igambang’ombe sub-county that mainly focuses on the welfare of vulnerable girls, the sick, the elderly and the poor.

Speaking during the graduation ceremony held at Kajuki Primary School yesterday, the St Peters Life-Line founder and director Veronica Nyaga said the girls, aged between 12 and 18, were trained on the dangers of FGM, teenage marriage and early sexual intercourse.

They were also trained on the importance of education and good morals and how to grow up to become women of substance in the community.

“We have been organising such training for the last five years and it has helped fight the illegal female cut that is rampant in this region,” Ms Nyaga said.

Ambassadors

She said trained girls become ambassadors of the anti-FGM crusade in schools, churches and villages where they discourage their colleagues from agreeing to undergo the illegal procedure.

Ms Nyaga said that when schools were closed to curb Covid-19 infections, many girls underwent the cut and others became pregnant because they were idle at home.

She added that poverty in the semi-arid region is also to blame for teenage pregnancies, because men take advantage of vulnerable girls by giving them money for food, clothing and sanitary towels in exchange for sex.

To overcome some of the challenges, the official said they had started producing sanitary towels that will be distributed to the girls for free.

“We already have materials to produce 100,000 pieces of sanitary towels for our girls, something that will also ensure that they don’t miss school during their menses,” she said.

58 percent

Speaking in the county earlier this month during the launch of the anti-FGM policy, Public Service and Gender Chief Administrative Secretary Linah Jebii Kilimo said that while the national FGM prevalence rate is 21 percent, it is 58 percent in Tharaka Nithi among girls aged seven to 17 and 95 percent among women aged above 50 years.

“The FGM prevalence rate in Tharaka Nithi is among the highest in Kenya and both young girls and married women are getting circumcised but the new policy will help end the outdated cultural practice,” Ms Kilimo said.

She lamented that communities in 22 counties are still practicing the retrogressive culture that continues to hold back women.