Do you want to be part of something positive and historic?
Then read on and be involved. Every person who takes the time to read our posts and shares on social media is helping to raise awareness and spread the word about the horror of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and associated forced/child " marriage".
I went to Pokot last November when we took the campaign to two remote villages with high prevalence of FGM. We were reliably informed that we're the first people ever to come there to discuss FGM and how to assist the community to abandon the practice. In both places we were warmly welcomed and felt that we were successful in getting the message out that FGM must end and girls must be allowed to go to school.
We felt that the local authorities i e Chiefs and District officers have become much more proactive in monitoring their own areas of jurisdiction which hopefully will bring about change faster. We are not in the business of criminalising whole communities but rather bringing education and enlightenment so that the people decide for themselves that FGM must end.
This video shows a community abandonment ceremony from a couple of years ago in another remote area of Pokot. The chief Elder symbolically throws the knife away and then blesses the children, encouraging them to go to school. He issues an oath which the community are reluctant to go against.