Zero violence

against women
and girls
 Zero Violence against
women and girls

Table of Content
Zero violence against 2
women and girls

Voi women stand up against 3

human right abuses

Programme helps rape victim 5

seek legal action against abuse

Maasai girl opens up about bid 7

Zero violence against
to marry her off at tender age

Girl gets refuge after being

defiled by “saved” father
9 women and girls
Kuria girl defies cultural odds to 11 Women and girls have been subjected to various forms of
remain on course in education human rights abuses for a very long period of time. The abuses
Unbowed by the cut, girl 13 vary from one society to the other and range from sexual
vows to make it in life abuse, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) to domestic violence
Kuria women rally to fight FGM 15 and child marriages – which deny them opportunities in life.

The overall goal is to mechanisms, link women with networks

increase the safety
and security of women
and girls by building
community capacity to
prevent violence against
women and girls.
ActionAid Kenya has been working with
communities in drought affected areas in
Kenya, mainly Kuria in Migori County and
Taita Taveta where there are protection
issues emanating from rights abuses.
The issues that the project is addressing
in the areas include lack of access and
utilization of reproductive health services,
lack of control over land resources, Female
Genital Mutilation (FGM), rape, defilement,
incest, forced child marriages, low school
attendance and high drop-out rate for girls,
and intensified issues of Domestic Violence
(DV) in families.
The project has been working directly with
communities in these areas by bringing
together women and girls to collectively
oppose rights violations, ensure an
organised response to their rights’ denial,
build community capacity to recognise,
report and take action against violence,
enhance community based protection
and organizations that will help to create
change, and finally contribute to increasing
knowledge on violence against women
legislation and in turn influence policy and
responses to various forms of violence
challenging State accountability at both
local and national levels.
The aim of this project is to ensure that
women and girls, and the wider community
have the knowledge and skills to prevent
and respond to the various forms of
violence and discrimination against women
and girls. The overall goal is to increase
the safety and security of women and girls
by building community capacity to prevent
violence against women and girls in four
locations affected by drought. A range of
activities were designed to address the
following three objectives over a three year
period.
The specific objectives are:
1. To increase awareness and build
the capacity of women and girls to
recognize and take action against
violence affecting women and girls
2. To enhance community based protection
mechanisms for women and girls who
are vulnerable to and experiencing
violence.
3. To contribute to building knowledge on
and influencing policy on VAW/G at local
and national level.

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Voi women stand up against

human rights abuses

The chairperson
of Sauti ya
Wanawake
in Kishushe,
Voi, Margarine
Mwamburi,
addresses a
gathering of
the network’s
members.

In a patriarchal community with high poverty and illiteracy levels, children and women rights
violations is always a norm. That is the case in several villages of Voi in Taita Taveta County
where women narrate how they have suffered for long in the hands of their male counterparts.

“Here cases of women and children
rights violations range from rape, incest to
domestic violence,” says Mrs Stella Odira,
adding that there are a lot of cases of
teenage pregnancies as men prey on young
girls who are ignorant about their rights.
Stella’s daughter, for example, got pregnant
at the age of 13 while in Primary School
and due to lack of awareness about the
rights of the child, she could not pursue any
legal means that could bring to justice the
man who preyed on her young daughter.
However, there is a wave of change
sweeping through the region following a
programme by ActionAid Kenya to empower Since the group joined
women to be more aware of their rights.
Through the programme women who have the programme, they
been organized into groups have been able have been able to take
to understand their rights and are able to
challenge male dominance in the area by more than 15 cases
reporting cases of abuse to the authorities.
Mrs Margarine Mwamburi, the chairperson
mostly related to abuse
of the Sauti ya Wanawake (Voice of Women) of children rights to
group says they came together to advocate
for their rights and better living standards court and secured
after realizing a lot of violations were being some convictions
committed against them as a result of lack

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of awareness. Through ActionAid Kenya,
members of the group have undergone
several seminars on women and children
rights and are able to influence attitudinal
change in the community.
“Women used to suffer from gender based
violence in silence but since we came
together and begun attending seminars of
women and children rights we are seeing
more cases of violations such as rape and
incest being reported to authorities,” says
Mwamburi. She notes that the women
are also able to pass the knowledge they
acquire at the seminars to their husbands
who are now able to understand the
implication of some of their actions and
are able to change their attitude against
women.
Mercy Sambu says she has been a victim
of domestic violence for long but that has
since changed since she has made her
husband aware of the repercussions of
some of his actions against her. “We used
to have incessant quarrels at our home and
my husband would end up beating me but
after I began attending the seminars and
discussing with him the lessons we learn,
he treats me with respect and dignity,” says
4 Zero violence
Members
of Sauti ya
Wanawake in
Kishushe, Voi.
The group is
championing
women and
children’s rights
in the area.
Since the group joined the programme, they
have been able to take more than 15 cases
ActionAid Kenya has mostly related to abuse of children rights
also given women to court and secured some convictions.
Mwamburi, however, says most of the
an edge in economic cases get dismissed in court due to lack
issues as through the of sufficient evidence or poor recording of
statement with the police.
groups they operate
But she is confident that with more
a Merry-go-round outreach and advocacy they will be able
scheme and table to enlighten the community on how they
can ensure evidence is available to secure
banking, which help convictions when the case go to court.
them improve their
ActionAid Kenya has also given women
living standards by an edge in economic issues as through
mobilizing savings the groups they operate a Merry-go-round
scheme and table banking, which help
among members. them improve their living standards by
mobilizing savings among members.
“We also make bags from lessos and
Sambu. Mwamburi says women in the area second hand clothes which we sell to other
also face challenges related to land rights women in the area to earn a living,” says
but since coming as a group they are now Mwamburi noting that the income they get
able to stand up against land grabbers. In from the activities will sustain their human
cases of violations, ActionAid Kenya has rights advocacy work even when funds
been very supportive in helping the women from donors dry up.
access free legal legal aid.
 Zero Violence against
women and girls

Programme helps rape victim

seek legal action against abuse

Esther with her

child outside their
rented house
in Voi.

The deep panga-cut wounds that Esther Juma (not her real name) sustained on that fateful
evening healed long ago. The permanent black patches on her forehead and face are, however, a
painful reminder of the ordeal she underwent in the hands of two men who attempted to take her
life after raping her repeatedly in turns.

Esther, a mother of two, remembers vividly when he approached on a boda boda

how unsolicited sexual advances from a
man whom she knew very well turned her
life upside down after she requested for a
ride back home on a motorcycle.
“The man had on several occasions asked
me to befriend him but I turned down her
advances and explained to her that I was
a married woman with children to look
after. On the fateful day, I had just finished
selling food to labourers at one of the mines
(motorcycle taxi) and believing that he was My clothes were
on the transport business I asked him for a
ride back home since it was getting late,” soaked in blood and I
explains the middle-aged woman in her had deep panga cuts on
early 30s.
the forehead and face,”
The trip home was never to be as the rider she narrates, pointing
sped past Esther’s destination to another
village where he met an accomplice, at the several black
with whom according to the woman,
they drugged her and took her to an
scars dotting her face.

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abandoned house where they raped her.
“They must have used some drugs to
make me blackout because when I woke
up the following day in the evening I was
still feeling dizzy and unconscious. My
clothes were soaked in blood and I had
deep panga cuts on the forehead and face,”
she narrates, pointing at the several black
scars dotting her light face. Esther who
could not trace her way back home was,
however, rescued by a good Samaritan who
took her to the local administrative officer’s
home from where she rushed to the Voi
Sub-County Hospital for treatment. Although
the incident shocked the villagers, who
even launched a search for Esther before
the rescue, no action was taken against
the assailants, until later when a group
of women under the banner of Sauti Ya
Wanawake (Women’s Voices) intervened.
“Although I felt pain and traumatised, I
had no idea of how I could get justice.
Furthermore, I had heard of several women
or young girls who had been raped in
the area and their tormentors were never
arrested or punished in any way,” she says.
Esther’s assailant tried to buy her silence
by offering to give her Ksh20,000 but the
script took a different twist after members
of the women group impressed upon her
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“Although the man
was not jailed as we
expected, I am grateful
that at least there was
some form of action
that could serve as an
example to other men
with such ill minds,”
says Esther.
to take legal action against him and even
approached ActionAid Kenya for free legal
assistance.
Her assailant was later arrested and
charged in court with rape and causing
bodily harm to her setting off a prolonged
legal battle that would later see him
acquitted. “Although the man was not
jailed as we expected, I am grateful that at
least there was some form of action that
could serve as an example to other men
with such ill minds,” says Esther. Today,
she is one of the members of the Sauti ya
Wanawake network in Kishushe village,
Voi, Taita Taveta County. The network of
women is a project by ActionAid Kenya
through which women are empowered to
know their rights and stand up against any
violations. Through the project, ActionAid
has been working directly with communities
in several marginalized areas by bringing
together women and girls to collectively
oppose rights violations. Esther says since
joining the group, she fully understands
her rights and knows what to do in case
of any abuse. “Before I didn’t know that
there are laws that protect women and
girls against abuse by women but after
joining the group, I have been able to attend
several workshops where we are taught
how to prevent and respond to various
forms of violence and discrimination,” she
says. If she had the knowledge before, her
assailant would not have gone scot-free
as she could have done everything to
protect evidence that would have secured
conviction in court.
She is, however, reaching out to other
members of the community with
information to create change that would
increase safety and security of women in
the area.
Esther.
 Zero Violence against
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Maasai girl opens up about bid

to marry her off at tender age

Joyce narrating
how her family
attempted to
marry her off to
a man more than
30 years her age.

Joyce, 17, has gone through hell and back as a result of her community’s cultural traditions,
which discriminates against the girl child. She narrates how at the age of 14 her family married
her off to a 55-year-old man before she was rescued and taken back to school.

I Live in Voi, Taita Taveta County, but
come from the Maasai Community where
girls have to endure a lot of odds placed on
our way by retrogressive cultures.
Although I was determined to work hard
in school and excel in my studies to
become a medical doctor, my family kept
on discouraging me. They told me I will not
achieve my dreams because I had to get
married to take care of my husband.
According to our culture, children get
their marriages arranged even before
they are born. As I was growing up the
family introduced me to the would be
husband who was 55-years-old and started
pestering me to move to his house and get
married to him. The man even had grand
children from his first marriage. This didn’t
surprise me because I used to see girls in
the village getting married at a younger age
to elderly people.
Because I wanted to study and achieve
my dreams, one day I tried to run away
from home to avoid being married but they
caught up with me and took me back. I
was beaten up and threatened with dire
consequences should I dare run away
again.
My family argued that my father, who was
dead by then, had already taken dowry
in the form of cows from the man and in
case I didn’t marry him they will not be
able to pay back the wealth. My mother
stood by me but she couldn’t do much as
she was threatened with ejection from her
matrimonial home. According to Maasai

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culture women have no voice and are
expected to be fully submissive to men.
Left with no option I decided to oblige but
prayed that God would one day give me the
slightest opportunity to run a way and get
back to school.
They transferred me to my husband’s
village in Lunga Lunga dead at night. After
I gave birth to my first child at the age of
15, my husband took away my phone and
restricted my movement. He knew I will go
to a health facility for family planning yet he
wanted me to have another child. Luckily
I got to know the head teacher of a local
primary school in Lunga Lunga whom I
explained my situation to and helped me
access a family planning services. I also
requested her to allow me volunteer as a
nursery teacher at the school and that is
how I came to know a children’s officer at
Maungo, who I narrated my ordeal to.
The officer alerted the assistant chief who
arranged for my rescue mission from my
husband’s home while they arrested him.
The man didn’t dare come for me again
though my mother later informed me that
he at one time visited the family to demand
8 Zero violence
Joyce at her new
‘home’ after being
rescued from
early marriage.
his dowry back. I stayed at the assistant
chief for one week before I was introduced Here I feel loved and
to a woman who is a member of the Sauti
ya Wanawake (Women’s Voice) in Kishushe, I want to study and
Voi, who had volunteered to help me. pass my exams and
I am now living comfortably in her home. become a lawyer and
Life before the rescue was very difficult as
I was treated like a woman and a wife. Her
not a doctor as I dreamt
they treat me like a child and I am given before. If I study Law
all the support. I am now in Class Eight at
Mwamunga Primary School in Voi while my at the University I
child was taken to Bura Children’s Home would be able to help
where my mother always visits her. Here
I feel loved and I want to study and pass other girls faced with
my exams and become a lawyer and not a circumstances similar
doctor as I dreamt before. If I study Law at
the University I would be able to help other to mine get justice.
girls faced with circumstances similar to
mine get justice. In our village you find even
young girls of 11 years being married to take my old age as an issue. I help young
men as old as 40 years of age. I am now girls with social and psychological support.
the president of my school. I am happy for being given a second
chance in life. It is good to be treated like a
I was elected after campaigning and I must child after having missed the opportunity at
say I was overwhelmed and felt encouraged the right age. I want to thank ActionAid and
by the kind of support I received from fellow wish them well so that they can be able to
pupils even those lower primary. They don’t help other young girls.
 Zero Violence against
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Girl gets refuge after being

defiled by “saved” father

Grace got justice

after her father
who defiled her
was jailed for life.

Grace Sinaipei (Not her real name), a 14-year-old pupil at Mwamunga Primary School in Voi,
Taita Taveta County, cannot hold back her tears as she narrates the ordeal she underwent in the
hands of people who are supposed to take care of her as a child. Growing up in a family with
strong Christian background, Grace had a bright future.

Although Grace and her
siblings prayed that
one day their father
would come back,
little did they know
She was hard working in school and
nothing would stand on her way to
achieving her childhood dreams. Her
prospects for good life were, however,
shattered by his father whom she knew
to be a God fearing man who would do
everything to protect and provide for his
children.
that one day their father would come back,
little did they know that his return would
dramatically change her life for the worst.
She remembers vividly how in August 2014
when their father finally came back home to
the joy of the whole family. But on the same
night while they were asleep, he sneaked
into their room and defiled her.

that his return would
dramatically change
her life for the worst.
“My father was a saved person but one
day he just disappeared from home for
a very long time leaving us with only our
mother to take care of us,” she narrates.
Although Grace and her siblings prayed
“I raised alarm when I woke up and found
him on top of me. My mother was shocked
at what he did to me but my paternal
grandmother dismissed my story as a
fabrication and defended his son as a saved

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person who could not harm anyone,” she
says. Traumatised with no one to turn to,
Grace and her mother got help from the
local ActionAid Kenya office from where
they were taken to a local dispensary for
medical examination and treatment.
Unsettled by the guilt of defiling his
daughter, her father also followed them to
the hospital but later returned home for
his clothes and ran away after overhearing
health officers at the facility reporting the
matter to the police on telephone. “From
the hospital we went to the police to record
a statement and luckily while we were there
my father was also brought in hand cuffs.
The local chief had caught up with him
as he tried to run away,” says Grace. She
was lucky after further tests at the Coast
General Hospital revealed she had neither
contracted HIV/Aids virus nor conceived but
the events of that fateful night have left a
painful memory in her mind. As if the ordeal
she suffered in the hands of her father was
not enough, the young girl was taken to live
with her maternal grandmother, a move that
set of another round of abuse against her.
“From the hospital we
went to the police to
record a statement and
luckily while we were
there my father was
also brought in hand
cuffs. The local chief
had caught up with
him as he tried to run
away,” says Grace.
“Although I was enrolled at a different
school, life was unbearable as my
grandmother used to mistreat me by giving
me a lot of work at home and beating me
up frequently without justification,” she
says, wiping off tears from her face. When
her teachers realized that her performance
in school had begun to deteriorate as she
lost concentration, they asked her sponsor
10
to transfer her to another school and help
her get refuge elsewhere away from the
abusive grandmother.
That is how Grace ended up in the hands
of Makrina who out of goodwill is providing
abandoned girls and those rescued from
early marriages refuge at her home
Makrina, a member of Sauti ya Wanawake
- a network initiated by ActionAid Kenya to
advocate for the rights of women and girls,
explains that her love for children began
long before she joined the group.
“I have always had the passion to work
with vulnerable children and used to visit
the children’s department and follow up on
cases of abandoned or abused children,”
she says. Makrina was referred to Sauti ya
Wanawake by an officer from the children’s
department who wanted her to learn about
children’s rights so that she would be able
to contribute effectively to the welfare.
Under the network, Makrina and other
women participated in a series of seminars
where they gained a deeper understanding
of challenges and rights of women and
children. They are now advocates of women
and children’s rights in the community
where they look out for cases of abuse
and violence against the vulnerable groups
and report to the authorities. “I have three
girls of my own but my involvement with
several children who have been abandoned
or abused has made me realized that not
every child is as fortunate as mine. The first
child she rescued was defiled by a hawker
in 2011 and brought to her for refugee until
Grace narrating
her ordeal.
the man was convicted and jailed. From
then, Makrina has developed a strong will
to help girls under distress.
That is how she met Grace who was
referred to him by the head teacher of the
local primary school she was attending
while living with her abusive grandmother.
Today Grace is enrolled at Mwamunga
Primary School and stays with Makrina
who is also assisting her to cope with life
through continuous counseling. She is
also happy that at her new school there
is a forum for girls where they share their
experiences and get psychological support
from teachers. At the girls’ forums, held
twice a week, Grace says officers from
ActionAid Kenya visit and teach them
about their rights and what to do in case
of any violations. The programme is run by
ActionAid in various schools in the area to
enlighten the girls about their rights and
help reduce cases of abuse against them.
“At school we have been given telephone
numbers for ActionAid which we can call
and report any cases of abuse against us,”
says Grace, adding that the organization
has promised them quick intervention and
help in case of any violations.
Today, Grace is a happy girl and has very
good words for ActionAid, which she says
has lightened up her world. “I am happy
that justice was done. My father did that act
to me but through assistance of ActionAid
he was arraigned in court and convicted to
jail for life,” says Grace.
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Kuria girl defies cultural odds to

remain on course in education

A confident
Martha was able
to successfully
resist attempts to
be circumcised.

As a dashing young girl, Martha Boke, had set her eyes on scaling the heights of education
and achieving her dream in life. Born in a community with some of the worst cases of children’s
rights violations, Martha had all cultural odds including Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and
early marriage stuck against her way to a successful life.

She was well aware
of the dangers of
FGM and had made a
resolute decision not
to bow to any amount
of force or intimidation,
which would make her
undergo the cut.
Like most girls in Kuria, Migori County,
education was not a priority to her family
who wanted her to undergo the cut while
in Class Seven. The rite of passage would
make her ready for marriage and ensure
her impoverished family gets wealth in
terms of dowry.
However, the soft-spoken but tough looking
girl was not one to be moved by threats of
curses and discrimination. She was well
aware of the dangers of FGM and made
had a resolute decision not to bow to any
amount of force or intimidation, which
would make her undergo the cut.
“In Class Seven my father wanted me to be
circumcised but luckily I had learnt about
the dangers of the practice from the girls
forums which I used to attend in school and
I would listen to none of his threats. I was
enlightened about my rights and was ready
to report him to the children’s department
for action if he dared make good his wish
to see me circumcised,” says Martha, now
a fourth year student at Masinde Muliro

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University. Martha’s father was, however,
not one to relent in his mission to fulfill
societal expectations and would later again
revisit the issue while she was just about
to complete her secondary education. This
time, she enlisted the support of other
relatives and community members.
Stunned by her adamant stance, Martha
says her relatives shunned and promised
her a miserable life. “They told me I won’t
get married as no man would want an
uncircumcised girl for a wife, but my
determination to excel in education was
more than that of a successful marital life.
Once again I stood my ground and all they
could do was to hurl abuses at me,” she
narrates. Martha had a taste of what it
meant to be shunned by a parent when she
qualified to join the University. Her father
refused to participate in a fundraising that
was organized by the local church to pay
her fees.
His reason was that Martha had disgraced
the family by refusing to go for the cut and
associating with her would be misconstrued
to mean he condoned her actions. Lucky
enough, the church managed to raise
enough money for Martha’s admission to
the University, setting her on the journey to
realizing her dream. But in a strange turn
of events, while she was on a long break
from the University just after completing her
second year, several men paid her a visit at
their home. Their mission was as strange
as the visit itself – to ask for her hand in
marriage.
Those who find her stand hard to believe
sometimes walk up to her to ask how she “It was a surprise to
finds life, especially at the University as an
uncircumcised lady. me as these men were
among the people who
To help other girls faced with similar
circumstances, she joined a local school, used to abuse and curse
Boko Haraka, where she teaches and me, saying I would not
mentors the students.“I ask them to believe
in what they do and say No to FGM from get married or pluck
their hearts and not just because they have
been asked to do that,” she says.
vegetables from the
Although Martha is yet to graduate from garden for refusing
the University, she is a living testimony that
girls in Kuria Community if empowered can to be circumcised,”
be able to stand up against human rights recalls Martha.
violations.
“Some parents approach me to mentor Martha has so far empowered and
their children and help them with their mentored about 100 but only 25 have said
studies, but one thing that bothers me is no to FGM, pointing at how the practice is
that the same parents who come to me deeply rooted among the Kuria community.
also ask their children to go for FG M so Her advice to girls is that they should say
that they can be married to get dowry,” she No to FGM because “it is barbaric with no
explains. value to human beings”.

“It was a surprise to me as these men were

among the people who used to abuse and
curse me, saying I would not get married
or pluck vegetables from the garden for
refusing to be circumcised,” recalls Martha.
For Martha, this was the time to prescribe
to them a dose of their own medicine. “I
asked them why they would want to marry
an uncircumcised girl. I remember them
abusing me as they walked away and
saying I was refusing their proposal since I
had aborted,” she says.

All that, however, meant nothing to Martha

who had developed a thick skin and Martha with some
of the girls she
vowed never to be detracted from her
mentors at Boko
drive to overcome cultural odds in her life. Haraka School.

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Unbowed by the cut, girl

vows to make it in life

Lydia Kerubo
was able to
continue with her
education after
undergoing FGM
, thanks to a local
women’s network
championing
women and girls
rights in Kuria.

Lydia Kerubo (not her real name), 16, a student Taranganya Girls Secondary School was forced to
undergo Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) after her primary education. She narrates how she was
able to pick up the pieces in life and proceed to secondary school following the intervention of
the local women’s network initiated by ActionAid Kenya.

I am a 16-year-old girl born in a the following Saturday.

humble family of six children. Our first and
second borns are girls who are already
married leaving the four of us, two boys and
two girls. I sat for the my Kenya Certificate
of Primary Education (KCPE) examinations
three times after I failed to get someone
to pay for my schools fees. On the third
attempt, I was scheduled to finish my
examinations on a Thursday and my family
had arranged for me to get circumcised on
My two elder sisters
My two elder sisters were circumcised
were circumcised before sitting for their primary final exams
before sitting for their and were immediately married off. As for
me they decided to let me clear primary
primary final exams education first, then get circumcised so that
I can also be married. They knew I would
and were immediately not proceed to secondary level of education
married off. because of the family’s poor background.
I refused to undergo the cut because the

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only advantage girls get from circumcision

are the gifts that are given after the rituals.
Just before they undergo the purported
rite of passage into adulthood, girls are
asked to write letters asking for gifts from
friends and relatives. I didn’t write such
letters because as the gifts would not
add any meaning to my life rather than
destroy my future. On the eve of the day
they had arranged to have me face the
cut, my uncle asked me to take vegetables
to his home which I did but the following
morning he complained that they were not
enough for the day’s meal and asked me to
accompany him to town to buy more.

I didn’t suspect anything and took a ride

with him on a motorcycle to town but when
we reached the rider sped past the town
and we ended up at the hills. It was too
late for me to turn back and run away as
we found old men and some energetic
boys subdued and hand me over to the
circumciser. Although traaumatised and
pained, I resolved to continue with my

It is painful and once

you have undergone
it your mind and
personality changes
for the worst. You
lose self-esteem and
confidence.
education even after being subjected to
the barbaric act. After that year’s December
holidays, I went to the Kehancha District
Officer for assistance to continue with
schooling and he introduced me to the
principal of my school for admission.
I neither had an abode nor money to
buy school uniforms and other personal
effects and I thank God that the principal
approached the Chairperson for Kesoso
Women Network, an initiative of ActionAid
Kenya that advocates for women and girls
rights. I thank God that through the network
I have been able to get school fees and
other basic needs while I stay with the
chairperson.
Although I was subjected to Female Genital
Mutilation, I wouldn’t advise young girls to
accept to undergo such humiliation and
abuse of girls rights as it has no value at all
but very many disadvantages. It is painful
and once you have undergone it your mind
and personality changes for the worst.
You lose self-esteem and confidence. The
only reason why girls in this community go
for the cut is poverty which denies them
opportunity to go to school. I don’t think
I would have been married if there was
someone to pay for my secondary school
fees when I first sat for the final exams in
primary school. If I had the power, I would
Lydia Kerubo
has vowed to
pursue her
dreams despite
the abuse she
suffered.
order for the arrest of the elderly men and
women who perpetrate the vice a month
before the circumcision period so that when
the time comes there would be no one to
perform the rite.
I wish all girls would attend the girls’ forums
in schools where they can be enlightened
about their rights and empowered to take
action in the event of any abuse I believe
that if we every girl has the chance to
access education, none will be available to
face the cut

14 Zero violence

Kuria women rally to fight FGM
Kuria, the homeland of the Abakuria, which stretches from Migori District, Kenya on the east to
Musoma District, Tanzania on the west, is like any other rural area with large swathes of land
dotted with grass-thatched houses and lush green vegetation.
But the serenity of this countryside is
disturbed once you venture into the homes
and listen to stories of Female Genital
Mutilation (FGM) and early marriages.
Thirty two-year-old Mildred Moraa
Chacha (not her real name) says she was
circumcised at the age of 12, and married
off seven months. “I used to perform
very well in class and was focused on
studying Law at the University so that I
would uplift my family from poverty. It was
quite unfortunate that I had to drop out of
school even before doing my final primary
education examinations and here I am
now living a miserable life,” says Moraa, a
widowed mother of three.
Before her husband passed away they
used to have quarrels due to her failure to
warm up to his sexual advances, something
she blames on lack of feelings due to the
cut. Moraa’s story reflects that of many
women and young girls in Kuria who have
dropped out of school and married at an
early age after being forced to undergo
FGM as a rite of passage. Although women
like Moraa may not be able to reclaim
their lost opportunities, ActionAid Kenya is
Zero Violence
implementing a project in the area, which
is aimed at enlightening women about their
rights and empowering them to stand up
against any forms of violations.
Through the Kekoso Women Network,
comprising of women from 45 women
groups in the area, the organization has
been holding seminars to enlighten the
community on the rights of the women and
girls as a way of helping address the issue
of FGM and early marriages. According to
the acting Kuria LRP programme manager,
Lina Moraa, the project was established
after studies revealed there were protection
issues due to rampant rights abuseS.
The chairperson of Kesoso Women
Network, Merida Omae, blames poverty
and underdevelopment in the area on
lack of opportunities for women who are
discriminated against by retrogressive
culture.“In Kuria women are looked down
upon, the community would not listen to
them, and their rights are trampled on
through FGM. Our girls are married off early
denying them opportunity to go to school,”
says Merida. “The project has brought
about increased awareness among us and
Zero Violence against
women and girls
Members of
Kekoso Women
Network in Kuria
at one of their
regular meetings.
we are able to stand up against any form
of violations. More women are also going
for leadership positions,” she adds. The
network has so far rescued 20 girls from
FGM, who are always accommodated at
a rescue centre during the circumcision
period and later and taken them back to
school.
Some who were on the verge of dropping
out of school have been able to get back
and complete their education. The network
conducts exchange programmes with
networks in other areas where they learn
best practices and share experiences on
how to deal with similar issues facing them.
Kesoso Women Network also works with
the community structures like the girls’
forums in schools to help bring change in
the community.
The girls’ forums are clubs in schools
which act as platforms for the girls to
share experiences on issues they are going
through as girls. “During the forums, the
women are able to come in and work with
the teachers to teach the girls why they
need to say No to FGM and also equip them
with life skills,” says Moraa.
15
Published by ActionAid International Kenya
All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC)
P.O. Box 42814-00100 Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254 (020) 4445843
Email: info.kenya@actionaid.org
Website: www.actionaid.org/kenya