Happy New Year! On 10th and 11th December 2018 I was privileged to sit down at the National Religious Leaders Summit held in Nairobi Kenya. The summit brought together religious leaders and scholars from all the FGM hotspot counties in Kenya. The Islamic religious leaders present included among others the Deputy Chief Kadhi of Kenya,
The race to end female genital mutilation and other harmful cultural practices by 2030 as envisaged by SDG 5 target 3 is on course. There is more awareness and sensitization on FGM than there has ever been in the history of humanity. High level meetings, policy documents, Social media campaigns, grassroots interventions and passing of
According to Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2014 religion has been alluded to as one of the main reasons for FGM/C among the Muslim communities. The majority of Somali women (82 percent) and men (83 percent) believe FGM/C is a religious requirement. The national prevalence of FGM/C among the Somali community which is predominantly
Dear Dr. Fred Matiang’i I know you are a very busy man so I will be very short. You have been the most vocal Cabinet Secretary over the last five years who has revolutionized the education sector in Kenya and for that, I salute you. You have worked miracles in delivering and implementing policies meant
Currently in this world we have the most youthful generation than there has ever been. It’s also evident that there is increased activities geared towards ending FGM than there has ever been. Informed youths is the best resource that any country can have at their disposal and the vice versa is true. Remember youths and
200 Million women and girls alive today have undergone female genital mutilation! Well numbers don’t lie, but this figure has been boggling my mind for a while now. Is it just a statistic or what does it actually represent? How many more? till we give FGM the attention it really deserves. In my view this
Is the #EndFGM song getting boring to the community members? Do we need to change the tune and do a remix? Well over years’ activists have gone round and round the communities and sensitized them on the negative effects of FGM. Those who came before us sang the song and left and here we are
Every Sunday I sit down in church and wonder when my priest will ever mention the rising incidences of child marriage and female genital mutilation within the community. Several questions linger my mind every now and then; is he ignorant? Is it the fear of losing congregants? Does he have the know-how? Or he is
“Our forefathers and ancestors did not come up with cultural practices and norms sitting in huge hotels but under the trees in the villages”, we need to go back to the same venue to undo what was done. Lets take dialogues and sensitization to the villages where the information is needed most. Assuming the walls
