Kajiado,Kenya: The name Loise Kapande Oloobis was once synonymous with female circumcision in Oldonyonyokie village in Magadi, Kajiado County.
But while her expertise at cutting women thrilled die-hard traditionalists in this ultra-conservative community, the mere mention of her name sent chills down the spines of circumcision candidates.
For Sh1,000 or less, she would ‘promote’ at least 300 girls to womanhood in a day through the razor, a process that took just three minutes for each, she says.
“The procedure was nerve-racking because there was a lot of kicking from the girls,” she says. The girls are not supposed to cry because they would be branded cowards and risk not finding men to marry them.
“And yes, it was also messy, with blood flowing everywhere,” Oloobis observes. “But in my eyes, then, it was a source of pride to be the one to do it for the whole community.”
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It is important to recognise that although thousands of girls experienced horror at her hands as ‘processed’ them into womanhood, the female cut is a deeply-rooted cultural issue that requires the concerted efforts of all stakeholders to eliminate.
Today, Oloobis, who is also a traditional birth attendant, has abandoned the knife to become a role model in the promotion of alternative rites of passage for Maasai women and girls. And slowly, communities that hitherto promoted female circumcision are gradually changing their ways to adopt alternative rites of passage for girls.
The United Nations Population Fund estimates that 140 million girls and women alive today have undergone some form of female genital mutilation (FGM), adding that if current trends continue, about 86 million additional girls worldwide will be subjected to the practice by 2030.
FGM is mostly carried out on young girls often from infancy to age 15 years. It causes severe bleeding and health issues including cysts, infections, infertility as well as complications in childbirth including the risk of new-born deaths. It also violates the human rights of girls and women.
Last December, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on member states to develop, support and implement comprehensive and integrated strategies for the prevention of FGM, including training of medical personnel and social workers as well as community and religious leaders to ensure they provide competent, supportive services and care for women and girls who are at risk of or have undergone FGM.
To beef up efforts to eradicate the practice, the African Medical Research Foundation (Amref) has also initiated activities to end the practice in Magadi, Samburu, Loitoktok and Kilindi.
Under the banner ‘Let girls be women without the cut’, the Amref project funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs aims to increase awareness on FGM, encourage acceptance of alternative rites of passage (ARP) and increase girl/boy enrolment, retention and transition in schools.
“Our approach has been unique in that we engage with the community leaders and members and through dialogue they agree to replace the cut with a safe alternative,” says Amref’s Dr Meshak Ndirangu.
“Under the alternative rite of passage, we embrace culture by taking away the negative aspects of a girl transitioning to a woman, and retain the positive aspects,” he adds. Involving the community in the project has been a big boost in the campaign.
In Magadi, the organisation has engaged 400 cultural elders, 817 morans, 85 traditional birth attendants, 246 religious leaders, 11 civil society organisations and ten schools, all of whom have publicly supported replacement of the cut with ARP.
To date, 7,361 girls have graduated to womanhood through the ARP, a process that includes training girls in sexual reproductive health, beauty pageants for self-esteem, blessings by cultural elders, girls giving gifts to their fathers as a sign that they are now accepted as having graduated to womanhood and public denouncement of FGM by girls, morans, elders and political leaders, explains Ndirangu.
However, there are serious challenges in confronting deeply-rooted traditions while addressing health problems facing a community.
“At first, we targeted the girls with little success because they were not decision makers,” says Peter Ofware, Amref programme manager for Child and Reproductive Health.
“We had to change the strategy and target the elders, religious leaders, chiefs and morans who held great sway in the community. At first it was very difficult to convince the elders because in the Maasai culture, men and woman cannot sit together — much less to discuss sexual matters.
“Gradually, while applying high-impact strategies like confronting the custodians of the culture and pointing out that this had everything to do with the people’s health, the elders and morans began to accept the message,” says Ofware.
Being involved in the campaign has influenced morans’ appreciation of their women as human beings with rights. They also now know the health risks involved in FGM, including exposure to HIV through extra-marital affairs.
At this time of the year, Oloobis would be sharpening her knife in readiness for the April circumcision season. However, today, she is sharpening a knife of a different kind — her communication skills to drive home the message against FGM.
