For Mama Bull and her boys, FGM must end in Kuria
Merida Omahe at her home in Kehancha, Kuria in Migori County. She is a grassroots activist saving countless young girls from undergoing the cut.
What you need to know:
- Mama Bull has a family of 15 children, majority, of whom are not her own, but girls escaping FGM from their homes.
- Her goal is simple; FGM must end in Kuria.
- Despite the presidential decree issued by Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta in June 2019, where the government committed to end FGM by December 2022, things remain murky on the ground not just in Kenya, but globally too.
Sitting at her house in Kuria West, Merida Omahe wonders how, in the past three decades, she has managed to feed, clothe and educate several girls, who though not bonded to her by blood, have become her daughters.
The woman commonly referred to as Mama Bull, due to her fearless nature, has a family of 15 children, majority, of whom are not her own. Most of them have no home, because they “defied their people’s culture” and rejected the cut imposed on the typical young Kuria girl living in Migori County.
Constantly cash-stripped, threatened by “culture” lovers and derided for her firm anti-Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) sentiments, Mama Bull remains undaunted.
Her goal is simple; FGM must end in Kuria. Having survived the painful cut when she was but 17 almost four decades ago, she fully understands its impact on young girls, and if there is anything she wants in this world, it is the ending of the archaic practice still practised in her home.
“My work is not easy but I cannot live comfortably knowing there is a young girl somewhere being forced to undergo what I went through. FGM is a very painful procedure, it turns young girls into women ready for marriage and cuts their dreams. This thing must end,” she says.
School hiatus
Despite the presidential decree issued by Kenya’s former President Uhuru Kenyatta in June 2019, where the government committed to end FGM by this month (December 2022), things remain murky on the ground not just in Kenya, but globally too.
Across the world, FGM is recognized as a violation of human rights yet according to the United Nations Family Planning Agency (UNFPA), at least 200 million girls globally remain at risk of going through this practice annually. Even worse, many of them are below the age of 15.
In Kenya alone, UNFPA estimates that around four million, which is almost 20 per cent of the population of all women and girls from the 2019 national Census, have been subjected to FGM. In some communities, especially those in North Eastern region of the country, the rates are as high as 94 per cent.
The UNFPA also noted that the prolonged school hiatus beginning mid 2020 until 2021, in response to containing Covid-19, saw an increase in the reported cases of FGM, early (child) and sexual gender-based violence.
As at April 2021, the UN estimated that an additional 574,000 Kenyan girls were at risk of undergoing FGM between now and 2030, unless urgent action is taken to prevent it.
Currently, the mood in Kuria West is palpable with all indicators that the initiation rite is almost nigh. Young men donning traditional regalia chanting folk songs while waving their machetes and clubs grace the streets.
Having survived the painful cut when she was but 17 almost four decades ago, Mama Bull fully understands its impact on young girls.
It is also time for the traders to make a killing from the practice. Ceremonial wear alongside lesos and vitenges, used to wrap young girls after the cut, are on display in nearly all shops in Kuria.
Those offering public address services are also beside themselves with joy, orders for their speakers and amplifiers to be used to “congratulate” the “cut” young girls are already streaming in torrentially.
These tell-tale signs are a major cause of concern for Vincent Mwita, team lead of Tunaweza Empowerment; an NGO currently based in Kuria, made up of young men campaigning for the end of FGM in Kenya.
Having, rescued a whopping 293 girls in December 2021, Mr Mwita knows too well what this long school holiday stretching the entire December to almost the end of January means to thousands of young girls in the region.
“This two-month holiday is giving us headaches. Our community mobilisers at the grassroots level are giving us alarming reports. Plans are underway and whether outlawed or not, the cut will happen,” he says.
In December 2021, Mr Mwita, alongside other young men, engaged in the fight against FGM, partnered with Mama Bull to defy community expectations and through sheer determination and a stroke of luck, gave a safe haven to hundreds of girls who were just about to be forced into the cut.
“We were lucky that the principal of Nyagoge Secondary School gave us the school to serve as a safe centre for the girls we rescued last year. He was gracious enough to even give us the food supplies that remained after the schools closed for the holiday,” he adds.
Cordial relationship
However, this may not happen this year owing to the continuing national examinations across the country, since candidates will be using their school facilities, unlike last year when the school calendars were unstable and national exams were done early this year.
“We have a cordial relationship with county registrars but the social halls in the county, unlike schools, have no beds and other amenities that schools have. This means we need to get as much money as we can this year, which is another challenge altogether,” he explains.
He acknowledges the crucial role Mama Bull plays and admits that her relentless passion to champion against the cut inspires him and other grassroots civil society organizations, to continue with their war against retrogressive culture and traditions. The situation has become so bad to a point where they are often viewed as outcasts and “lost” individuals who are forsaking their culture.
Just like Mama Bull, Mr Mwita admits that funds are hard to come by, greatly affecting the effectiveness of their work in the expansive villages.
Transport from one place to another is tough, the terrain is unforgiving, roads are not passable in some areas and they have to hire motorcycles to permeate the dense bushland to engage with the natives. Often, they rely on well-wishers’ alms and donations from private organizations in Kenya or abroad.
Pressed to explain what kind of support the government offers to grassroots anti-FGM mobilisers, Kennedy Oomo, Director, of Gender Affairs at the Ministry of Public Service and Gender, admits that issuing direct financial aid to several grassroots organisations is a difficult task.
“Our work as government is to create an enabling environment and policy frameworks that support the activities of such organizations. For the government to give financial support to all grassroots level organizations would require a lot of resources. We, however, hope that through our policies, non-state actors can help,” he says.
To effectively end FGM in Kuria, Mr Oomo believes the elites in Kuria must add their voice, and campaign against the practice since their words carry more weight.
Defy culture
“Their silence quietly abets this practice and they should speak up. The politicians fear speaking against FGM because they believe it will cost them votes, pastors fear they will lose membership, while the wealthy fear they will lose their social status for defying their culture,” he adds.
In his own assessment, Mr Oomo believes Kenya has achieved 60 per cent of its declaration to end FGM by this year, and had it not been for the cross-border FGM happening at the porous border points of Kenya and Tanzania, FGM would have ended in Kuria already.
This challenge saw Kenyan government officials and activists fighting the practice meet with their Tanzanian counterparts on November 25, at Tarime in Tanzania, to see how best to curb the cross-border FGM.
The government has also established four safe houses in Kuria to host girls who will be rescued from the cut, or those who will run from home to escape the cut.
Kehancha Police Station Deputy Officer Commanding Station, Agatha Wekesa, tells Nation.Africa that FGM activities have greatly reduced in Kuria, thanks to tip offs to the police by identified community mobilisers. Once they get notified, the police respond and action is taken, often resulting in the arrests of perpetrators.
End FGM 2022
Ms Wekesa believes that the presidential decree to end FGM by this year helped in sensitizing the ills of the practice but the cut will, unfortunately, not end this year.
On its part, the Network for Adolescent and Youth of Africa (Naya) questions the government’s commitment to end FGM since the commitment did not trickle down to changes in relevant government agencies.
Additionally, no major new directives have been issued even after the presidential pronouncement in 2019, Faith Abala, Programme Officer, Naya says.
“Yes, there is significant progress in fighting the vice, but we are still seeing many girls undergo the cut though in less public platforms. President Ruto’s regime needs to finalize the draft investment case on FGM to clearly determine and allocate the resources needed in the fight,” she adds.
Whereas the legal and policy framework on the campaign against FGM is clear, Ms Abala calls for the strengthening of the judicial processes.
“We need to see more severe convictions of perpetrators and discourage alternative resolutions when it comes to FGM. For accountability, we need an elaborate framework and tracking system to give us a real-time picture of progress at any given time,” she says.
Though all odds may still be against her efforts, Mama Bull has vowed to continue fighting the demon of FGM and until the day that she stops rescuing girls running away from it, she will endlessly campaign against it.
“The work is hard, the support is hardly there, despite the help I get here and there from my networks of people fighting FGM, I hardly have enough. This will, however, not stop me from opening my gates to my daughters who may need my help anytime, any day,” she concludes.
