Increase rescue centres, NGO says as world marks Girl Child day

FGM rescue centre

Girls at a temporary anti-FGM rescue centre in Kuria West, Migori County, last year. A grassroots organisation in Narok County, is calling on stakeholders to increase girls’ rescue centres to counter FGM, child marriage and teen pregnancies.

Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group

A woman-led grassroots organisation in Narok County, is calling on stakeholders to increase girls’ rescue centres as a key strategy in countering Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), child marriage and teen pregnancies.

“The rest of the world is celebrating the International Day of the Girl Child but teen girls in Narok have nothing to smile about,” said Executive Director of Flourish Kenya, Tia McNelly.

“They are involuntarily thrust into a cycle of trauma and poverty, which many can never escape”.

The Kilgoris-based organisation has been combating the teen pregnancies since 2016, in a county ranked as having the highest number of teenage pregnancies at 40 per cent by the 2014 Kenya Demographic Health Survey. 

Harmful practices

According to Ms McNelly, circumstances have worsened in the rural towns and villages, and are reversing the gains made in ending harmful cultural practices.

Families who were struggling to survive pre-pandemic due to drought, suffered devastating losses since 2020 and are now dealing with the crippling effects of inflation.  Owing to these challenges, she observed that many families were in unimaginably desperate situations, leaving children and particularly girls in peril.

Her sentiments come a week after Narok County Commissioner Isaac Masinde, revealed that 120 teenagers will sit their KCPE and KCSE exams while pregnant as active court cases on defilement stand at 72.

Younger siblings

Ms McNelly added that food scarcity and cultural traditions were increasingly pushing girls into FGM and early marriages in exchange for dowry.  Moreover, girls left at home alone to care for their younger siblings while their parents look for jobs, are exposed to child predators.

“As we raise awareness and proceed with great hope for every girl child, let us remember teens who will, or have already begun bearing children halting their education.  We also need to strengthen support for rejected teen mothers who prostitute themselves to afford a meal,” she posited.

She urged stakeholders to expand community dialogues, education sponsorships, comprehensive sexual reproductive health education in schools, alternative rite of passage seminars and mentorship programmes, to secure girls’ rights and their futures.