My 10th Birthday!
This is the story of a young girl I interviewed in my job as a journalist in Kenya. I have withheld her name to protect her identity.
“When I was 10-years-old, my parents subjected me to female genital mutilation. Little did I know that the practice was meant to usher me into a new chapter of my life…
Two weeks after nursing my wound due to circumcision, my father informed me that I was now ready to go to my ‘new home’. This was because my ‘potential husband’ had already paid him 20 cows as part of my dowry. Bear in mind that the husband we are discussing about is almost the age of my father.
I had to run away from home — but this didn’t save me. Instead, things became more worse. My father organised a group of youths, and together they found me and beat me up thoroughly, and forcefully took me to my husband as a third wife. My father vowed to kill me if I escape from my husband and he’s forced to return the dowry he had already been given.
While at my husband as a third wife, I used to shower with her younger children. After staying there for some time, my husband noticed that I was uncomfortable and started complaining about it. I was ever gloomy, due to the forced situation that I had never anticipated it would happen in my life.
He went ahead and questioned why I was not getting pregnant, and wondered whether I was on any contraceptives. After staying there for 2 years, I managed to escape and checked into a rescue centre in Kapenguria, where I currently live”.
To parents who marry off their daughters before the age of 18, child marriage is a form of wealth creation. This is because of the dowry they receive, in forms of cows, goats and camels among others, hence the reason why they would go to an extend of getting their girls out of school.
“Some parents have not yet accepted the fact that an educated girl can be of more benefit than the dowry they receive from forcing their daughters into child marriage” ~ Musto Martin, Headteacher — Chepkopegh Prmary School, West Pokot
“Once a parent gives birth to a baby girl, he considers her as a source of wealth creation. This is because after subjecting her to circumcision, she’ll be married off, and they will get more cows” ~ Joel Rialem, Assistant Chief — Murtome, West Pokot.
Whenever these parents think of education, what goes into their mind is the expenses and the duration their daughters will have to go through to acquire an education. Their focus is wealth creation and not on the future of their child.
Female Genital Mutilation and teenage pregnancies are among the key drivers of child marriage. Some communities believe that female circumcision is a direct key to marrying off their daughters. What they don’t understand is the kind of generation they are creating — an uneducated and enslaved society whose rights have been violated at the expense of selfish benefits!
Remember…#ItWillTakeUsAllKE To protect our current and future generations from such vices. We have to act now!
