By Wafa Khan, NTS blogger
The times are changing worldwide in ways we could never have predicted. Today, at Nyamboyo Technical School, we are engaged in a major shift in our thinking and programming as it relates to the welfare and empowerment of girls and women. In Kenya, this means shifting attitudes and beliefs around female sexual and reproductive health, sometimes in significant ways.
It has been brought to our attention that up to 65% of our female students may be survivors of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) an ancient practice thought to originate in Egypt in the fifth-century BCE. Our ultimate dream is to see an end to FGM in Kenya. We recognize this will take time – perhaps generations – but we must start today, crafting solutions in our own community. However, to fully understand the how and why, we must first frame the problem.
The practice known as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) involves the partial or complete removal of the external part of female genitalia. FGM is prevalent in many parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. In fact, the World Health Organization estimates that there are 200 million women and girls alive today who have undergone the procedure. In Kenya, it is viewed as a rite of passage into womanhood, directly tied to the concept of purity. A woman must be “pure” to be fit for marriage. Often, young women see marriage as the only option for survival.
FGM was outlawed in Kenya in 2011 but making it illegal drove the practice underground, with serious health consequences. It is commonly done by elderly women who have no medical background. These “practitioners” are paid per child and often use straight razor blades that aren’t properly sterilized. Some report that they can cut up to 100 girls a day. The result is both short and long-term health consequences such as severe pain, excessive bleeding, infection, urinary problems, pain during intercourse, psychological problems, and in extreme cases FGM can even lead to death. There can be lifelong health problems such as permanent pain when urinating and menstruating, scarring, increased susceptibility to infections including HIV, and infertility.
FGM has commonly been performed around age 12 or older. However, we know anecdotally that there’s been a shift since 2011. Teens learned that the practice was illegal and many started to “exercise their rights” not to be cut. To circumvent this, families started performing the practice on young girls; children too young to understand the concept of legal rights. So today, it is not uncommon to see girls ages 5-9 recovering from FGM.
Also, FGM has been wrongly linked to religious practices, in particular Islam. Nowhere in the Koran or other religious texts is FGM mentioned, and the majority of the Islamic world does not condone the practice. Instead, it is a cultural practice linked to local, regional beliefs. The African continent has the largest percentage of communities that practice FGM.
So, how can Nyamboyo Technical School combat this practice? We propose to start with education and individual support programs. It may be too late to prevent this practice for many of our students who are all over the age of 14, but we know all of our students (male and female) are potential future parents to young girls; young girls they can protect from this future trauma.
To educate, first we must open up discussion and remove any taboos and cultural norms around talking openly about FGM, both among our young women and young men. We need a proper sex education program that openly discusses the health risks of FGM and gives accurate health information. We need individual counseling and specific support for any of our female students who are victims of FGM. Also, because this practice is linked to marriage, we want to connect the idea that a trained, economically independent woman does not need to see marriage as her only option.
Our goal at NTS is to train a new generation of youth who do not have to accept gender-based inequalities. Our young women are economically independent and empowered. Their male peers are learning to respect as well as expect gender equality in their families and in their workplaces. Eradicating FGM is only the tip of the iceberg towards creating a generation of strong empowered women. But it is a bold first step.