Meet Samburu's fearless generation: From FGM runaways to community champions transforming Samburu
Janet Kabugi, founder of the Samburu Women Empowerment Program, speaks to GBV survivors participating in the organisation's psychosocial programs. The survivors include teen mothers, widows and about 10 girls have resumed studies after undergoing intense psychosocial support, counselling, and training.
What you need to know:
- In Samburu County, where FGM and early marriages threaten young girls' futures, three survivors represent both the challenges and triumphs in the fight against gender violence.
- Rita fled FGM at midnight to pursue her military dreams, Naomi is a former teen mother now turned anti-GBV campaigner with a land survey diploma, and Jane is an 18-year-old struggling to complete her education.
- Through the support of the Samburu Women Empowerment Program, which has helped 300 survivors, these young women are finding their voice and strength.
For Rita*, the memory of fleeing her home in the dead of night to escape Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is both painful and empowering.
"I knew very well that if I stayed, my dreams would die," Rita says.
Her decision to escape her home in Lporos area was made after she overheard her family planning her circumcision ceremony, which would have resulted in a forced marriage, in accordance with the Samburu culture.
"I loved my parents, and I knew my decision would not sit well with them. But, surely, I also knew their plans would ruin my life," she recalls with her voice trembling, but steady.
"I did not know where I was going, but I knew I could not stay at home because my fate would have been sealed, like that of my friends at that time."
Rita was accommodated by her aunt in Maralal, who supported her decision against undergoing FGM. She resumed her studies, and today, she is thriving in school, and her dreams of serving in the military are no longer a distant fantasy.
She believes that education has provided her a chance to prove that "I am more than a dowry that my parents could have received."
Like Rita, another young woman found strength in adversity. Naomi* looks resilient as she shares her story.
Once a struggling teenage mother, the 24-year-old defied the odds to graduate from Eldoret Polytechnic in 2022, where she studied land survey.
At just 16, she found herself pregnant while in high school, where she faced societal stigma and limited support.
Determined to rewrite her narrative, she juggled motherhood and her studies, eventually earning a diploma in land survey, and thereafter, her experiences ignited a passion for supporting others in similar situations.
She is now an anti-GBV campaigner in Samburu, offering counselling, raising awareness, and advocating for cultural perceptions change.
"My journey taught me the power of resilience," Naomi* says. "I want every girl to know they can rise above any challenge. The culture we are living in [Samburu] is very oppressive to the girl child, and there is a need to change the perception."
While Naomi found her path to empowerment through education and advocacy, another young mother is still in the midst of her journey. An 18-year-old Jane* is rewriting her narrative. Her journey began when she discovered she was pregnant at just 14 years when she was a grade five student.
Young motherhood
The news of her teenage pregnancy was met with a cold reception from her parents, who saw her pregnancy as a disgrace.
"They told me I had ruined my life," she recalls. Instead of receiving the support she hoped for, Jane was left to navigate the challenges of young motherhood largely on her own.
Balancing late-night feedings with her studies proved impossible and she was forced to drop out of school after she received little help from her family.
"There were days I wanted to give up. But when I looked at my baby, she was innocent, and I knew I had to keep going each day," she says.
With their encouragement and determination, she decided to resume her education two years later, but the road was not so smooth.
"There were nights when I could cry to myself and the baby crying on the other hand. Life was hard for me to cope with," she recalls.
After she resumed studies, she sat for her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education last year but could not join secondary school for lack of school fees and support.
"I have not joined any secondary school yet. My dream is not over yet, and I believe I will achieve it if I get support," she says.
Samburu Women Empowerment Programme founder Janet Kabugi says there are about 300 survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) across Samburu who they are helping with psychosocial programs.
The survivors range from teen mothers, widows, and other GBV survivors.
Janet reveals that about 10 girls have resumed studies after undergoing intense psychosocial support, counselling, and training.
"They are showing resilience. Their determination is driving them daily to keep on offering them psychological support they need," Janet says.
"When you talk to them, they are coming out bold enough to share their stories unlike before. It shows that they have accepted their situation, and that is a step of healing the scars," the activist says.
Janet reveals that about 80 women have started income generating activities after undergoing intense psychosocial support, counselling and training and "they are really doing well."
The official says survivors often seek support at the Samburu Women Empowerment Program whenever their safety is at risk.
She says that, at the moment, there are alarming cases of GBV across Samburu County and teen girls are at the centre of oppression.
Negative cultural practices continue to choke Samburu girls, with multiple reports from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) showing that Samburu County is one the counties leading in teenage pregnancies.
In Samburu, young girls are under intense pressure to undergo FGM, marry and bear children early, that is why early marriages and teen pregnancies are rampant in the villages.
Young girls in the pastoral region are facing ever increasing threats to their safety and wellbeing, including gender-based violence and exploitation.
Anti-GBV campaigners say adolescent pregnancies in the region are generally not the result of a deliberate choice, but most girls often have little say over decisions affecting their lives due to retrogressive cultural practices.
The government recently revealed plans to turn Samburu elders into ambassadors in the fight against gender violence. Samburu elders, in multiple declarations and agreements, have agreed to abolish gender violence cases on girls and women in the region.
More than 600 duty bearers recently graduated after a nine-month training period under the Kenya-Finland Bilateral Program that focused on GBV prevention and response. The training, undertaken by experts from the Kenya Professional Counsellors Association and the Amani Counselling Centre, is part of a bilateral partnership between Kenya and Finland aimed at strengthening intervention measures in response to gender violence and drug abuse.
Drug abuse
Kenya Anti-FGM Board Chief Executive Officer Bernadette Loloju says that the newly trained counsellors are expected to work closely with local communities in advocating for alternative rites of passage and fostering conversations around the harms of FGM.
Those who graduated from the training include local chiefs, a section of village elders, clergy, medics, community health promoters, a section of police, and youth representatives among others.
The participants underwent intensive training to build expertise in handling sensitive issues that often make vices like FGM difficult to address. In addition to addressing GBV, the training also covered drug and substance abuse counselling, according to Loloju, in a bid to address growing concerns in drug abuse in rural communities.
"This is an excellent program because it is seeking to address issues that affect the community daily, including teenage pregnancies, FGM, and drug abuse," the official says.
"The new counsellors will be our ambassadors in the fight against these vices in the community," she added.
Loloju is optimistic that the newly graduated duty bearers are now well equipped to provide support to affected individuals and their families, fostering open dialogues around GBV including, teen pregnancies and FGM, and their harmful effects.
She also notes that the counsellors' work will be instrumental in the government's broader plan to end FGM and other vices by 2030.
"We are witnessing positive shifts in attitudes, especially from elders who are custodians of culture, but there is still much work to be done to end this vice completely," she says.
The bilateral program between Kenya and Finland involves Samburu, Bungoma and Kilifi in the fight against GBV and other harmful practices. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) incorporates various stakeholders in multiple projects to eradicate GBV cases and other retrogressive cultural practices.
