I ignored their curses: Elizabeth Leitoro

Meeting Elizabeth Leitoro for the first time, you would be forgiven to think she is just your ordinary woman. The disarming smile and appealing personality portrays nothing of what she has gone through to get where she is.

A little chat with her and I learn that she is from the Rendile community, where girls face many challenges such as female genital mutilation (FGM), early and forced marriages, and forced abortion in case of any early pregnancies.

Born in Kaisut, her childhood was full of tribulations.

“I used to walk barefoot to school, travelling several kilometres in the scorching sun of Kaisut desert,” she says.

After completing her primary education in Karare Primary School, Elizabeth was optimistic that she would continue with her education to secondary and university level despite the cultural values, which saw many of her agemates married off at an early age.

“This is when all hell broke loose. My uncles and dad made secret arrangements to marry me off to one of the richest men in my village after completing my Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination in 1987,” she adds.

Elusive suitors

In Rendile community, girls are married off early for fear they may miss a suitor if they stay too long. Although her father was the first primary school teacher in the Rendile community, he did not oppose plans to marry her off because the customs demanded so.

Elizabeth says she learned about the plans five days prior to the D-day. Because of her passion for education, Elizabeth, the first-born in a family of seven — three girls and four boys — wrote a letter to request her maternal uncle, who was a chief, to intervene. She also approached her primary school head teacher for help.

The chief and the head teacher summoned her father and after threats of arrest, he called off the marriage plans.  He, however, didn’t want anything to do with paying her school fees.

“My mother was a housewife and hadn’t gone to school. So, she was not in a position to pay my school fees,” she says.

Being an active member in her local church, luck came her way. Her mother explained what had transpired to the local priest who agreed to pay her school fees. “We talked with the white priest who assured me I would be guaranteed sponsorship if I maintained good grades throughout high school,” says Elizabeth.

She, therefore, joined Moi Girls High School in Marsabit. After Form Four, she was employed by catholic nuns in their parish to assist in running errands in the office.

Her father’s zeal to see his firstborn daughter married were renewed and he approached seven suitors, but Elizabeth knew only two of them.

She was married in June 1991 and two years later, she got a job as a community wildlife officer in Marsabit County.

Young mother

In 1995, she was transferred to Kitengela where she got an opportunity to enrol at the University of Nairobi to pursue a degree course.

“I was 22 years old and had three children — one girl and two boys, but my husband wanted 12 children, meaning I had nine to go. I called my father to intervene, but he took my husband’s side,” she says.

Elizabeth’s determination could not be deterred. She sought a suitable family planning method and was able to pursue her studies.

The senior warden has a degree in Social Work and Community Development and masters degree in Rural Sociology. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Sociology at Kenyatta University, and is due to graduate in April next year.

Elizabeth has rescued many girls in her community from retrogressive culture practices. She defied threats of curses and stopped her sister who was in Form Two from being married off to the same man she could have married.

“I ignored their curses and threatened to arrest the suitor and my father if they stopped my sister from pursuing her studies. Police were also on high alert and the elders postponed the marriage and wedding arrangements,” Elizabeth says.

After winning this, she became the talk of the village and was termed as bad omen and a ‘big headed’ girl who ignored the elders; the principals of the Rendile community.

The community excommunicates one who divorces or goes against the culture, but Elizabeth says that with determination and the right approach, one can beat such cultures.

Forced abortions

 She says cases of girls being forced to abort are rampant in the region.

“When a girl gets pregnant before marriage, they are forced to abort through traditional methods as the culture demands,” she says.

She says the community has a low opinion of women and no man can accept to marry a woman with a child unless the child is killed. She cites a recent case of a relative who is a victim of early pregnancy.

“The person responsible for the pregnancy refused to marry her and every man who approached her promised to marry her on condition that the baby is killed,” Elizabeth says.

Another case she cited was of a 12-year-old girl in her village who attempted suicide when she got information that she was to be married off to a 60-year-old man.

 Her greatest source of inspiration is her mother, who informs whenever she gets wind of any arrangements to forcefully marry off a girl. 

Girls against FGM

Elizabeth and her group of 15 women campaign against FGM and early and forced marriages in their community. They sensitise women who fear that their daughters may not get married if they are not circumcised.

The group is dubbed Rerina sisters, meaning girl-child empowerment in the local dialect.

They are planning for a women’s conference in December to discuss the role of women in ensuring girls go to school.

She adds that the girls face other challenges like lack of sanitary towels and pants.

“We have approached a donor who will supply sanitary towels for school-going girls for a year. We will also get pants for them,” she said.

Since there is no rescue centre in Marsabit County, she says they work hand in hand with chiefs in the region. She advises people to shun retrogressive practices that deny girls access to education.