According to the World Health Organization, around 140 million women and girls are living with the consequences of circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM) around the world, most of them in Africa. It is often linked to early marriage and the end of a girl’s education. When she has been ‘circumcised,’ sometimes as young as 9 years of age, a girl is deemed ready to be married, and will attract an often sorely-needed dowry, paid in cattle to the family. FGM is often justified on the grounds that it is a ‘tradition’, but it is internationally recognised as a human rights violation. Besides the physical and emotional trauma associated with the procedure, FGM carries an increased risk of HIV/AIDS transmission, as instruments are often shared, as well as the risk of infection or prolonged bleeding, which can even result in death.
Nengai remembers being scared, but says she didn’t know how horrible the procedure would be. Traumatised and frightened, she spoke to her mother, who told her of the suffering she faced and the beatings she endured as a child bride. “Run away, my mother told me.”
Nengai ran, and sought refuge with one of her teachers, who risked her own safety by taking her to the Maasai Girls’ Lutheran Church Secondary School in Monduli. Since completing her education and training as a teacher, Nengai now works in the nearby regions of Arusha and Manyara, home to large Maasai populations, where UN Women’s partner organisation, the Maasai Women Development Organisation (MWEDO), has provided women and girls with education for years.
At the MWEDO girls’ school near Arusha, girls like (left to right) Narau Kimani, Rhoda Bakari and Naserian Elikana avoid the scourge of female genital mutilation and child marriage. Photo: UN Women/Laura Beke
Narau, 15, a girl in Nengai’s class, says that “It makes me sad to hear her [Nengai’s] story, but I’m grateful that she is my teacher because she can relate to us. She knows what it’s like. I’m not married, but if it wasn’t for the school, I would be married and have children by now.”
Her classmate, 14-year-old Mereso, says her mother and brother were elated when she was awarded a scholarship at MWEDO three years ago.
Mereso, 14, says she surely would have become a child bride had she not won a scholarship at the MWEDO girls’ school. Photo: UN Women/Laura Beke
But education has widened her horizons. “My favourite subject at school is history, learning about the colonial economy, about resistance and collaboration. I’m inspired by my country’s history, and I want to become a lawyer so I can advocate and stop young girls from being married.”
As part of this year’s 16 Days of Activism Campaign against Gender Violence, UN Women and the UN Tanzania Inter-Agency Gender Group are supporting the ‘Caravan for Change’, a bus loaded with 25 activists, journalists and NGO staff who are organizing forums, radio events, dance performances and other activities to support the country’s legislation outlawing FGM. The Caravan left the capital, Dar es-Salaam, on 26 November and will stop in several villages en route to Tarime, a district in the Mara region where an FGM procession is expected to take place on 1 December. During even-numbered years, it is customary for many tribes to start such ‘processions’ in which thousands of girls are mutilated publicly, in violation of Tanzanian law.
Nengai Lazaro teaches young girls at the MWEDO school near Arusha. Photo courtesy of Nengai Lazaro.