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NGO takes anti-FGM war to schools
- Details
- Published on Monday, 02 July 2007 03:23
According to Ms Naomi Anyona, a programme officer with the organisation, the role of the project is to create a forum where young people discuss and share openly on issues relating to their reproductive health, enhance their basic communication skills and acquire basic counselling skills.
The programme, financed by the Conrad Adenauer Foundation of Germany, has so far targeted three divisions in Kisii namely, Mosocho, Kiamokama and Masimba. Some of the schools include St Patrick's, Kioge, Nyaore, Soko, Mobamba and Moremani.In the past one year, 50 teachers and students in various clubs have gone through the training programme."The peer educators will be able to provide an avenue where girls can be counselled against undergoing FGM," Anyona says.he says primary schools were specifically chosen because the age at which girls are circumcised in Kisii has gone down to between 6-10 years. The prevalence rate of FGM in the district stands at 98 per cent.
FGM exposes women and girls to serious health risks including disease infections, excessive bleeding and permanent damage to the reproductive organs. Improper handling of circumcision tools puts the initiates at a risk of contracting HIV/Aids and hepatitis.The Beijing Platform of Action lists the practice as a threat to women's reproductive health and a violation of human rights.
The recently passed Children Bill outlaws FGM under Section 13, states that subjecting a child to cultural rites, customs or traditional practices that are likely to negatively affect the child's life, health, social welfare, dignity and physical or psychological development is outlawed.A baseline study by the organisation reveals that FGM contributes to the high school dropout rates in the area. Every year, 130 girls drop out from schools, in the three locations targeted by the project, after undergoing FGM.
"The practice creates a false impression that makes initiates feel that they are now adults thus they become rebellious and engage in unprotected sex," says Anyona. Unprotected sex further contributes to the spread of HIV/Aids. The practice has also been linked to early marriages among girls and the slow improvement in the education of the girl-child in Kisii.
Anyona says the peer approach was chosen because peer pressure has been used to reinforce the practice of FGM and the same can therefore be used to achieve the opposite effect."Uncircumcised girls often face insults from other children who ostracise them. This puts pressure on them because at this age children are influenced a lot by what their friends think about them."
The organisation sources its training materials from Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation (MYWO) and the Family Planning Association of Kenya (FPAK)."We approached the two organisations because we wanted to benefit from their experience given their long involvement in this area," she says. Anyona adds that the training programme has received support from the Ministry of Education and the Provincial Administration officials who have participated in some of their activities and proclaimed their opposition to the ritual.
"The community has been willing to give us a chance and several girls have come up to denounce the female cut as they don't have to go through it to become responsible adults," she adds.FGM activists believe that education and advocacy is the best way to stamp out FGM. They argue that the law usually works best when it is used to enforce what the society already regards as evil.
