CHASE Expedition hightlight

In 2011 I spent 6 months in Kenya, arriving in late June – I spent the first two months with the CHASE expedition team as we travelled and volunteered at different projects across Kenya. CHASE 11 proved that even after 2 years acting as project coordinator and expedition leader, the same trip is in no way boring! It turned out to be one of the most empowering trips for myself personally – and mostly due to just one of the projects we worked with.

At the last minute we decided to go deep into Maasai land and visit a wonderful lady working hard to teach girls about the dangers of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation). She lived a few hours outside of Kajaido town, a few hours south of Nairobi. After close to an hour on a dirt track road, we turned off the ‘main’ road and were soon driving deep into the bush. Sitting in the back of a pick up hanging on as we drove through dry river beds, scaled small rock faces and ducked from the overhanging thorn bushes - we picked up some local women along the way – we were apparently the only transport passing the road that day!

Mama Eva as we called her, works as the education officer for the region – but has a deep passion for empowering her own community. She invited us along to see what she gets up to. FGM has been performed for hundreds, probably even thousands of years in many tribes in East Africa. All are slightly different – but all with one very common theme – there are no physiological benefits for the girl. Mama Eva beliefs strongly in the fight against FGM – she has witnessed first hand the devastating consequences to women in her own village of this horrific initiation process.

FGM, or female circumcision is usually performed on girls around puberty age as an initiation ceremony into adulthood. Circumcision is also the main initiation ceremonial practice for boys – but here the similarities end. For boys on the whole, circumcision has no detrimental effects on the boys’ health – plus recently it has also been proven to have a positive impact on reducing the spread of HIV. However among girls there are no medical benefits to this procedure. Some of these effects include life long infection to the open wound; fistula (loss of bladder control); high loss of blood during the procedure; complications conceiving and giving birth; intense pain for the rest of their lives; and many girls die from blood loss. Therefore there has been a big push within the last few years to increase education about the effects of circumcision and try to mobilise local communities to educate each other. This is where Eva steps in and travels around local schools talking to the girls to empower them to say no to FGM.

However it is not always easy for girls to say no – even if they do not actually want to be circumcised, there is often a lot of pressure from their family and from the wider community. There can be many negative consequences for a Maasai girl if she is not circumcised – with many girls been shunned and thrown out from their family home. Even though it is an illegal practice in Kenya – this family and peer pressure is often overpowering.

For 5 days we accompanied Eva to different schools to talk to girls about women’s health, FGM and human rights issues. Each school was very remote – one actually only accessible by walking an hour through the bush to reach it. Many of the children were scared of us – having never seen a white person before I wouldn't blame them! At each school we got all the girls together in a classroom, normally from ages 9 to 14 years. With the help of Eva, we talked to the girls about their basic rights as girls – and the sheer importance they hold in their own community. In Maasai culture the women really do everything – from cooking and cleaning to fetching wood and building their homes. We talked with them about the importance of keeping good hygiene as a woman and the impact this has on their later life.

We then moved on to talk to them about FGM. What really shocked us that hardly any of them really knew what would happen to them during circumcision – and as a result, were quite happy to say yes. We thus educated them on the details of what would happen to them; and then what the possible side effects are. It was very evident that the girls were really taking in what was being said, when at the end when they had the opportunity to ask questions. What was really shocking was that many of the girls we were talking to had already been circumcised, but had not yet reached puberty.

Before speaking, we asked the girls how many of them want to be circumcised when they become of age – all hands went straight up. We then asked this question at the end – this time there were no hands. Girls were standing up and telling us they wanted to go and tell their friends to say no. We only hope they are able to stand up for their rights.

When a girl is circumcised her human rights are instantly stolen from her. She must then fight hard to regain control of her own life, her health and her future.