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Kenya’s Maasai and Samburu becoming women without FGM

‘When my parents called the [cutter for my sister], I warned the district officer. Our generation can bring change.’

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Maasai girls during the Candle Light Ceremony, an important part of the Alternative Rite of Passage programme, that symbolises the girls' entering womanhood and shaping their own destiny through education and informed personal decisions. [Jeroen Van Loon/Al Jazeera]
By Andrea Dijkstra and Jeroen Van Loon
Published On 6 Feb 2017

Magadi, Kenya – Girls in colourful dresses dance and sing while holding candles that light up their smiling faces.

“Extinguish the light of [FGM]. Kindle the light of education,” they sing as they lift their candles. These girls of a Maasai community in Magadi, southern Kenya, are entering their adult lives through a new ceremony designed to abandon a tradition that has injured so many before.

Although female genital mutilation (FGM) has been outlawed in Kenya since 2001, a majority of girls of semi-nomadic tribes like the Maasai and Samburu still undergo this painful and damaging ritual.

According to the Kenya Demographic Household Survey of 2014, some 78 percent of Maasai women and 86 percent of Samburu women between the ages of 15 and 49, have been mutilated, while for Kenya’s general population the figure for FGM stands at 21 percent.

READ MORE – Senegal: Breaking the cycle of FGM

Nine years ago, the NGO Amref Health Africa started training peer trainers among all age groups in Maasai and Samburu communities – elders, young men, mothers, and young girls – on the consequences of FGM. Together with several communities, the organisation developed the strategy called an Alternative Rite of Passage and now already more than 13,300 Maasai and Samburu girls have avoided FGM.

“In the beginning we faced a lot of resistance,” Peter Nguura, project manager of Amref Health Africa, told Al Jazeera.

“But step by step, and starting with the engagement of the cultural elders as the key decision makers in the communities, we managed to create a conducive atmosphere of trust and confidence to discuss these culturally sensitive issues and meaningful and fruitful dialogue is now going on led by the community leaders themselves.”

Alice, 63, did not want to be part of the training in the beginning. She, as a traditional cutter, was proud to be the one to help girls to become a woman. “‘Who are you to change our culture?’ were my first thoughts,” she told Al Jazeera.

“But I changed my mind after I learned that FGM can cause serious medical problems that can even be life threatening.”

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Young Maasai men show their strength by jumping as high as possible. This important Maasai tradition is also part of the Alternative Rite of Passage that encourages communities to maintain their cultural ceremonies and rites surrounding female initiation while abandoning the genital mutilation practice. [Jeroen Van Loon/Al Jazeera]
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Peter Nguura, left, project manager of Amref Health Africa, teaches the whole community about how FGM causes serious medical problems, including excessive bleeding, urinary tract infections and complications during childbirth. [Jeroen Van Loon/Al Jazeera]
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The whole community takes part in the Alternative Rite of Passage ceremony. 'The communities themselves are driving the change,' says Peter Nguura, project manager of Amref Health Africa. 'This makes it sustainable and guarantees that the change will continue even after support of donors and Amref Health Africa will stop.' [Jeroen Van Loon/Al Jazeera]
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Maasai community members hold banners with messages, such as 'We are against early marriage'. In the past, most Maasai and Samburu girls were married while still children, soon after being mutilated upon reaching puberty, and often dropped out of school as a result. [Jeroen Van Loon/Al Jazeera]
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During the Alternative Rite of Passage ceremony, Maasai elders give girls a book and a pen to encourage them to continue their education. By accepting a blanket, given by the girls, the cultural leaders pledge that they will neither accept the mutilation of the girls, nor early marriage. [Jeroen Van Loon/Al Jazeera]
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Young Samburu warriors in Wamba, Central Kenya, are known as 'morans'. They play a crucial role in the Alternative Rite of Passage ceremonies, as they are the prospective husbands and promise to marry the uncircumcised girls. 'They are very influential, so without their approval, we wouldn't succeed,' says Peter Nguura, project manager of Amref Health Africa. [Jeroen Van Loon/Al Jazeera]
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Maasai girls dress up for the beauty contest, another part of the Alternative Rite of Passage ceremony in Magadi, Southern Kenya. 'It encourages the girls to stand up independently and shine by boosting their self-esteem,' says Peter Nguura. [Jeroen Van Loon/Al Jazeera]
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'I prevented the [mutilation] of my sister,” 16-year-old Joseph proudly says while standing in front of the classroom, next to his sister, left, and Peter Nguura, right, from Amref Health Africa, at the Musenke Primary School in Magadi, Kenya. 'When my parents called the [cutter], I warned the district officer who interfered. Our generation can bring change.' [Jeroen Van Loon/Al Jazeera]
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Older Samburu women dance during an Alternative Rite of Passage ceremony in Wamba, central Kenya. Not everyone completely agrees to abandon FGM. Some grandparents worry that their granddaughters will never find a man to marry. Others believe that abandoning FGM will bring misfortune and that the father of a child of an uncut woman will die. [Jeroen Van Loon/Al Jazeera]
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Maasai girl, Emaculate, 16, is thrilled to participate in the Alternative Rite of Passage ceremony in Magadi. 'Now I can finish my school,' she says. 'I want to become a politician to stand up for the rights of other people.' [Jeroen Van Loon/Al Jazeera]