Robert – teacher
I realised that it was my duty to explain to the community why I had changed my attitude towards women. We managed to save our daughter from FGM (female genital mutilation). That’s good for me, but it’s not good for the hardliners. Some of them threaten, “Your daughter won’t get a husband!” I’m not worried about her marriage, though. The Kisii pupils from Mosocho whom I teach today will be husbands tomorrow. They are growing up with a different attitude to ours.
Charles – father
My daughter Omweri was due to be circumcised in December, along with three of my brothers’ daughters. The family had been discussing it since the start of the year and had set a date: 12 December. It was to be a huge celebration for everyone. After attending the courses in April and August, it was clear to me that Omweri would not be circumcised. What I learnt there shook me to the core. Once I realised what this tradition means for women’s lives, I knew my daughter had to be spared it. Tradition and culture are man-made. They can therefore be changed.
Helen on Zebedeoh – village elder
It was autumn 2002 when Zebedeoh, an elderly teacher, came to my home. He invited me to meet up with him and some people from the project to combat female genital mutilation. … I was sceptical – but Zebedeoh is one of the ‘elders’ here. It would have been rude to snub him, so I agreed.
Those conversations really opened my eyes. I decided to stop.
Helen, a former circumciser
The first time I helped a family decide not to have their daughters circumcised – that was amazing. Afterwards, I danced and sang, knowing that our daughters’ future would be better than ours. Thanks to the project work, more and more former circumcisers gave up their trade. Since then, our numbers have been growing. In 2004, we took an oath before the community and over 2,000 girls we had saved that we too would work to protect the health of our Kisii girls.
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