Kenyan mother-to-mother groups eradicating female genital mutilation
International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), from Christian Aid Kenya
Narok West in Kenya is dry.
The scrubland is interspersed with small acacia trees and sisal plants. The short rains are due but they have not come.
Some Maasai herders have been away from their families for two years with their cattle seeking pasture.
We are here to meet Mary, a lead member of the ‘Shininess’ mother-to-mother group, trained by Christian Aid partner Community Health Partners (CHP).
Mary warmly welcomes us, and ushers me into her home to explain the impact of the voluntary work that she and other women are doing in the area.
Mary meets regularly with her group to talk about the health challenges for women in their area.
They work with local mothers to encourage them to give birth in healthcare facilities and they share information about family planning and exclusive breast feeding.
Significantly, the group also challenge practices like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriage.
Mary, like the other women in her group, are role models in the community and lead through example.
Mary explains that she cannot confidently say that FGM is eradicated in her area, but that there is a definite reduction in the practice.
Warning against FGM
Mary explains that her own daughter is not circumcised.
‘Mama, why are you telling me not to be circumcised, when you are circumcised?’
Now, as a community health volunteer, Mary calls groups of girls together to warn them against FGM.
Sometimes girls, whose parents want them to be circumcised, come to Mary in secret seeking support. Mary then approaches the local chief who intervenes.
Health complications
At a local clinic, supported by another Christian Aid partner, Narok Intergrated Development Programme (NIDP), Nurse Pauline Samato explains why FGM is still such a challenge.
Pauline says when pregnant women come to her clinic to deliver, if they have previously undergone FGM, this can lead to complications.
Thanks to our health project nearly 14,000 women attended the recommended four antenatal care visits
She tells us that women often come to the clinic after labouring for a long time, so if they need to be referred to hospital, it can be be too late for the mother or the child.
The other problem is that FGM is conducted in unhygienic conditions.
Razors and knives are often not sterilised, predisposing the girls to infections such as tetanus.
The women conducting the practice often do not wear any protective gear and there is risk of HIV infection.
Social stigma
In some situations, there is social stigma from both school peers and the community aimed towards girls, who have been shielded from FGM.
It can be so distressing that they end up asking for FGM just to fit in.
These girls are seen as not ‘complete’ women and they are shunned by male suitors, boyfriends or potential husbands.
Through our projects and partners in Narok, we are working to address this deeply entrenched and harmful social norm.
We do this by not only working with mother-to-mother support groups like Mary’s, but also working with men-to-men groups. We discourage the shunning of girls who have not undergone FGM as suitable marriage partners.
We also work with the Maasai Council of Elders, who are very influential in their communities and speak out against the practice of FGM.
The community mobilisation approach called ‘SASA’ has also been helpful in challenging the power imbalances between men and women and getting the community talking about this practice.
