Late last year I experienced crazy happenings in Kuria. I must admit being new to this experience it was shocking to me. Men and women came out in large numbers; they sang and danced openly in town. I thought they were under a spell or spiritual attack little did I know it was the beginning of the circumcision period. The first few weeks it was only boys and we thought the war against Female Genital Mutilation had been won little did we know that the storm was gathering?
Finally the storm came and everyone was left in shock the men, especially youths armed with machetes’, arrows and spears escorted women to take their treasured girls to undergo the ‘CUT’. They sang and danced openly in towns and market places as they vowed to protect their culture. To make the matters worse the girls who had undergone the ‘CUT’ were allowed to loiter in the market places dressed traditionally.
The girls believe that they have to undergo the cut in order to secure spouses and also avoid stigmatization by society. Stigma is real down here as we had several women married from other communities volunteering to undergo FGM in order to be fully accepted in the community.
The war against FGM is far from over down here in Kuria but I must admit all is not lost, we have gradual change I believe with time we can achieve a generation free from FGM. My appeal to the anti #FGM crusaders and all stakeholders is that girls in Kuria need you.
