Fathers of change leading the charge against FGM

Some of the elders in Noomayianat location in Loitoktok, Kajiado County leading the anti-FGM campaign. [Jacinta Mutura, Standard]

Nine years ago, Joseph Lonana, a resident of the Noomayianat location in Loitoktok, Kajiado South chose a path he was so uncertain about.

He defied entrenched cultural norms to protect his sister from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

The date was set for February 14, 2015, on Valentine’s Day. Their father had prepared a party to celebrate her daughter’s transition to womanhood.

But Lonana had other plans. He knew what his father was up to, but he was resolute on saving girls from undergoing the cut, including her younger sister who was only 13 years old.

“I tipped her of my father’s plan and we agreed that I would help her escape to our grandmother’s house,” Lonana recalled. His efforts successfully shielded his sister, enabling her to pursue secondary education with their grandmother’s support. “At first my father did not know I helped her escape but information leaked that we were spotted on a motorcycle. He was furious,” Lonana explained.

The cost

His firm stance came at a personal cost. “For two years, I was hated. My relationship with my father was strained. Even during my graduation, he didn’t want me home. I was branded a traitor, and the isolation took a toll on my mental health,” Lonana revealed.

“Women are regarded as inferior in my community and men labelled me as inferior. I didn’t have friends and I felt like I was losing my sanity. At some point, I wished death but some men supported my course,” he said.

Lonana’s plight for committing to protecting girls resonates with Saruni Lenkosho, also from Noomayianat, who faced similar rejection for opposing FGM.

Lenkosho, a 48-year-old father of six, decided against subjecting his four daughters to the cut, advocating instead for their education.

 “I am isolated by other men during celebrations and there are activities they cannot allow me to participate because of my firm position on FGM. Other men disregard me as an elder in the community and I don’t get invites to particular meetings,” said Lenkosho.

“I decided not to have my daughters cut because it would destroy their lives. I want them to get the education and succeed in life,” said Lenkosho, who has since earned his position as a member of Nyumba Kumi due to his anti-FGM campaign in the region.

His motivation was drawn from his father’s decision to subject his sisters to the cut. “My sisters were cut and married off when they were very young. They dropped out of school and that saddened me because I loved them so much and I wanted to help them achieve their career aspirations.”

Lenkosho is optimistic that in the future, they will all align in protecting women’s and girls’ rights and that FGM will be a thing of the past.

“We are witnessing change as more Maasai girls pursue education and succeed in their careers. Fortunately, we are receiving support from various quarters,” Lenkosho noted.

But he has to be tactical. “When I notice a girl approaching marriageable age, I build rapport with her and her father to discourage them from considering FGM,” said Lenkosho.

Mothers are also instrumental in fighting the culture because the fathers entrust their wives to have particular conversations with their daughters. 

Such is Margaret Naiyeso, 60, who had to separate from her husband for pushing her to have their daughters cut and married off.

“I fled with all my children to my parents to protect them from their father. My children are educated and they are in one piece. Cutting girls has a life-threatening impact, especially during childbirth,” said Naiyeso.

The mother of three noted that women who are circumcised are prone to excessive bleeding during childbirth and fistula.

Kenya outlawed FGM in 2012 under the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, of 2011. Offenses linked to the tradition include aiding or abetting FGM, possession of tools to carry out the practice, and failure to report a person perpetrating FGM.

The Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act, 2011 indicates that a person who commits an offense under the Act is liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for a term of not less than three years, or a fine of not less than Sh200,000 or both.

“We grew up knowing that both girls and boys should be cut. We grew up knowing that once a girl is cut, she qualifies to be a wife and should be married off but we need more men to lead the fight against this,” said Lonana, a primary school teacher in the area. “We will also reduce cases of teenage pregnancies which is also a menace in this region,” he added.

Kenya has seen a setback in its progress to eradicate FGM, and the reluctance of men to stop practicing the tradition. The Moran’s mindset that it’s wrong to marry uncut girls frustrate the efforts.

47-year old Sterling Korduni is an isolated man. His ageset no longer invites him to key ceremonies in his community nor is he involved in decision-making and marriage arrangements for daughters. “I am no longer invited to parties where girls are being married off or circumcision parties. I’m considered unqualified to join other men because of my stand on girls’ rights,” said Korduni.

No regrets

“But that does not bother me. My children are in school and we are doing well. I do not care what they say and think of me but my girls will make decisions about when and to whom they want to get married as they wish,” he added.

According to him, most girls who undergo the cut tend to drop out of school due to the mindset that they are ‘mature and ready’ for womanhood and that those who are not cut are considered ‘children.’

“We have tweaked that narrative to convince my daughters that they are still young and that they should focus, on school. One of them got a baby but I still allowed her to go back to school,” said the father of seven.

“I have 22-year-old and 18-year-old daughters I didn’t lose anything for not getting them cut,” he added.

He aspires to see people unite to defy the long-standing culture and hardliners jump ship. “There are organisations on the ground and they are making great strides in fighting this culture. More and regular sensitisation sessions are needed to educate the community,” he says.

While progress has been made, Dorcas Parit of Hope Beyond Foundation and Rescue Centre, an anti-FGM organisation cautioned that new methods, such as secret nighttime cuttings and targeting infants, undermine efforts.

“Girls are secretly being cut late in the night. Others are cutting them at the tender age of below five years,” said Parit who has been rescuing girls from undergoing FGM and victims of child marriages.

For women who are not cut, Parit said, some are subjected to the practice during childbirth.

“You might think it’s a wound from childbirth but it is the women who cut you while delivering,” she revealed.

According to her, the numbers have dropped from 20 to 15 percent, thanks to the men leading the campaign against the vice.

“This culture is being practiced because of poverty. That is why we focus  on educating the girl child to fight poverty. We need to be consistent in the fight until we have zero new cases,” she added.

Parit noted that the stigma spread around uncut girls and the myth of being cursed by the forefathers, scare the girls and put them under pressure to undergo the tradition.

“These men are cutting girls but when it comes to marriage and sex life, they are going for women who are not cut from different communities because they have damaged their own,” said Parit.

Lekarokia Ole Nang’oro, a 66-year-old community elder lost his bid in seeking a political seat in 2022 due to his fight against FGM. “I have three wives and 19 children out of whom eight are girls and none of them is circumcised,” he said.

New ways

In his fight against FGM, the elder has observed that women and men are now cutting babies below one year and hiding them to avoid being apprehended by authorities.

“We are working with birth attendants to watch out for the pregnant women and newborns to help us identify children who have been cut to enable us take action against the parents,” he added.

According to Pina Ercolano Woodward, a consulting legal officer for Equality Now, an international human rights organization on the Ending Harmful Practices Project, cross-border FGM and medicalisation have proved to be a major challenge in the anti-FGM fight.

On medicalization of FGM Pina said that a girl is falsely taken ill and admitted to a hospital and FGM is carried out by medical officers in the wars. “We are uncertain of what is happening on the ground and collecting data is difficult due to the new ways of cutting girls,” said Pina.

Pina said they are working with grassroots organizations and criminal justice actors to draft and implement policies to prohibit FGM and implement policies on the prohibition of FGM in six counties including Kajiado and Narok.