Eradicate Female Genital Mutilation in Kenya

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is a man-made disaster. But this Spring our team and the communities we serve have also been beset by natural disasters resulting from climate change. Cattle and other livestock are suffering from drought, affecting food supplies in one area of Kenya. In another area, the opposite has occurred. Rivers have produced massive floods, washing homes, fields, and community centers away.

For communities already suffering the crushing effects of poverty, these climate disasters have led to more suffering and more inequality for almost everyone. But our girls are disproportionately affected.  The disasters have made families more desperate, increasing the incidence of FGM. To get a life-sustaining dowery, distraught families cut their girls so as to marry them off (oftentimes to someone five times their age).

Last Mile4D has fortified our teams to adapt to these crises. Our folks on the ground have made herculean efforts to stay in touch with the thousands of girls and their families that we have enrolled in our program over the past several years, so as not to erase the gains we have made in preventing FGM. To prevent and stop possible FGM in this difficult time, our teams rove from village to village, visiting the girls enrolled in our program at home to ensure their safety, and inform the authorities if we find evidence that the girls are about to be cut.

Despite the environmental challenges in this quarter, our educational and community activities have also continued. We conducted 12 community meetings and reached 1,375 community members that included 406 men and 969 women. With schools closed due to weather-related issues and spring break, we invited the girls (and boys) to come with their parents to our community meetings to get their educational modules. There the children get their training in one room, and the parents and community stakeholders get their deliverables in another room. Our surveys showed that all cohorts reported at a 99% rate that they learned something actionable from our sessions about ending FGM. In one of the meetings this past quarter, a mother stood up and said that she had suffered for over a decade the stigma of not having undergone FGM. Until our meetings and interventions, she had no idea that it was her right to refuse to undergo this damaging procedure. She told us she had suffered psychological abuse all these years and thanked us for validating her choice (and sanity).

This is just a snapshot of our work in Kenya and the hardships inflicted on the communities we serve. Send us a message at info@lastmile4d.org if you want to find out more about our work in Kenya.

It is only with your support that girls can continue to celebrate their liberation from FGM. On behalf of the girls dreaming of a better and healthier life, we ask you to continue supporting our efforts. Some of you have opted to be recurring donors, which brings us matching dollars from GlobalGiving.  A million thanks from me, our team, and of course the girls, for supporting us.

Please follow us on Instagram @Lastmile4d and Twitter @LastMile_4d. Also, visit our website at www.lastmile4d.org to learn about our work and make contribution to us, directly during the year.

Links:

• Positive Masculinity to Prevent FGM/C
• International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM in West Pokot, Kenya