- Most of the cases are from Lunga Lunga subcounty.
- The constituency has a higher number of defilement cases that go unreported because of lack of awareness, poor parental care and poverty.
Image: SHABAN OMAR
At least 20 school girls have this year been rescued and taken back to school in Kwale county by Kidscare, a non-governmental organisation.
The majority of the girls were rescued from early marriages, others got pregnant in teenage while others are victims of rape. The rescued included some who had been denied the opportunity of learning by parents despite government efforts of 100 per cent transition to high school.
According to the organisation's child protection coordinator Brian Mwangoma Tsuma, the cases are from Lunga Lunga subcounty.
"This is our area of operations and we have made efforts in tackling a number of the cases," he said.
He said the constituency has a higher number of defilement cases that go unreported because of lack of awareness, poor parental care and poverty.
Many parents consent to illegal marriages and solve the cases out of court to amass wealth.
He said there are some incidents where girls had eloped with boyfriends for months and the parents didn't take legal action.
The parents were only seeking talks with the culprits' families to solve the disputes at the community level.
Tsuma said the parents are also failing to take enough responsibility in raising their children forcing girls to be easy targets of sex predators.
He said school girls opt to live with boyfriends to get good meals and money to cater for their basic needs.
"Parents are not providing for them that's why the girls rush to boyfriends to get sanitary towels and new clothes to look presentable. To make it worse the parents use daughters to get funds," he said.
Tsuma said to restrain the cases, Kidscare has established village committees that identify the victims and do a follow-up for proper legal actions.
He said they offer trauma healing services where the abused girls receive guidance and counselling assistance.
The officer said most of the defiled girls are often very young and suffer from mental stress once they become victims hence the need for counselling.
Tsuma said the organisation also deals with prevention where they create awareness campaigns on children's rights and how to report them.
They mainly target schools and villagers of which the majority are reported to have joined the fight against the surging vice of gender-based violence.
The officer said Kidscare is also partnering with the children's department in Lunga-Lungs to tame GBVs.
"Our work is only to identify the cases, provide necessary sociopsychological support and forward the matter to the relevant authorities for the law to take its course and adding pressure for fair justice to be served," he said.
In 2021 over 10 girls were rescued from forced early marriages by Equality Now organisation in partnership with Sauti Ya Wanawake in Kwale.
Some weeks ago, county officials raised an alarm over the surging cases of teen pregnancies in Kinango.
According to County Gender officer Nelly Amoite, out of the many teen pregnancy cases reported in Kwale, Kinango was leading.
Recently, county ambassador of menstrual hygiene Christine Mwaka Mvurya reported a drop of more than 10 per cent of teen pregnancy reports in the region.
The cases have dropped from over 9,000 cases reported last year to 4,000.
-Edited by SKanyara