Hundreds of Kenyan girls have sought refuge in schools and churches in Pokot County in western Kenya, to escape being forced to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM).
Despite of the introduction of stiff penalties for offenders after FGM was outlawed in 2012, the practice continues in many areas and girls are most at risk during the December holiday, traditionally a time of initiation rites for both boys and girls.
School headteachers have been told to accommodate the girls and also to ensure they attend classes throughout the year to prevent them being married off at a very young age or forced to undergo FGM in secret.
At Saint Catherine Chepnyal Girls School, girls have been singing songs urging their parents to stop FGM and allow them to live lives of their own choosing.
Speaking, Sharon Jerop, who has run away from home to avoid FGM, said: “My parents force us to undergo FGM because they want dowry. When girls are circumcised, parents have already arranged for them to be married off. When they finish the initiation, their parents introduce them to their husband who they have given them cows as dowry. So we are forced to be married off.”
The girls have been supported by many members of the local community.
But anti-FGM activist Selina Kipkerker says the practice has simply gone underground: “The many girls who have ran away from home because they have been forced to undergo circumcision, but we urge them when they are forced they should report to the local chief. There are some churches here which encourage their followers to circumcise their girls but things are changing, nowadays they do it secretly.”
However girls’ enrolment in both primary and secondary schools has increased sharply since FGM was outlawed.
Despite of the introduction of stiff penalties for offenders after FGM was outlawed in 2012, the practice continues in many areas and girls are most at risk during the December holiday, traditionally a time of initiation rites for both boys and girls.
School headteachers have been told to accommodate the girls and also to ensure they attend classes throughout the year to prevent them being married off at a very young age or forced to undergo FGM in secret.
At Saint Catherine Chepnyal Girls School, girls have been singing songs urging their parents to stop FGM and allow them to live lives of their own choosing.
Speaking, Sharon Jerop, who has run away from home to avoid FGM, said: “My parents force us to undergo FGM because they want dowry. When girls are circumcised, parents have already arranged for them to be married off. When they finish the initiation, their parents introduce them to their husband who they have given them cows as dowry. So we are forced to be married off.”
The girls have been supported by many members of the local community.
But anti-FGM activist Selina Kipkerker says the practice has simply gone underground: “The many girls who have ran away from home because they have been forced to undergo circumcision, but we urge them when they are forced they should report to the local chief. There are some churches here which encourage their followers to circumcise their girls but things are changing, nowadays they do it secretly.”
However girls’ enrolment in both primary and secondary schools has increased sharply since FGM was outlawed.
