Female Genital Mutilation, or female circumcision, is illegal according to Kenya’s constitution, but still widely practiced, especially in rural areas with strong tribal traditions. FGM covers a wide range of procedures, from a small symbolic cut to removal of the clitoris and external genitalia. Strong social pressures in the village lead girls, particularly girls not in school, to continue this rite of passage. Side effects of FGM can be chronic infections, severe bleeding, infertility, life long pain during sex, and spread of HIV. Over 90% of female patients at Maua Methodist Hospital have been circumcised.
The World Health Organization and the UN Human Rights Convention condemn Female Genital Mutilation, but the effort to stamp out FGM is sometimes perceived as part of a Western conspiracy to undermine African cultural identity. Fortunately, Kenyan women’s groups and churches are offering an “alternative rite of passage” for girls who might
otherwise undergo female circumcision.
The Women’s Organization at the local Methodist Church in Maua is one of many church groups that have sponsored “alternative rites of passage” for girls in the area. The program is preceded by a meeting with mothers and grandmothers to help them understand and win their support of an alternative rite. The adolescent girls participating then attend a two week program that will offer them an alternative way, without surgery, to signal their passage into womanhood. In 2008, ninety six girls participated; in 2010, one hundred forty girls did so. The girls pay 100Ksh (about $1.20) each to show their interest and commitment before attending the program during their school vacation in December. In alternate years, the participants meet for an evaluation and to help facilitate the next year’s program. The goal of the Women’s Organization is to take the alternative rite of passage into the villages where Female Genital Mutilation is most entrenched.
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