Kenya and Tanzania roll up sleeves to stamp out cross-border FGM

Emilia (not her real name), aged 16, was taken by her father to Tanzania in 2018 where she was circumcised against her will.

Her parents told her they were visiting their relatives in Arusha and she had no idea that she would be cut.

“I was taken to Arusha where I was cut. My father had planned for me to stay there until I recovered and when I returned to Kenya I was told not to tell anyone that I have been cut.  I didn’t go to any hospital,” she said.

The successful circumcision was to be followed by marriage, which didn’t take place after the authorities found out and arrested the father.

The father was prosecuted and detained for one month in Loitotok but was later transferred home.

Emilia, who is in Class Eight, was later taken to a rescue centre where she joined primary school with hopes of becoming a doctor. 

Another survivor, Simaloi (not her real name), was rescued by Loitoktok police officers hours before her planned trip to Tanzania to be cut.

She said her mother (a widow), had informed her that her uncles were planning to take her to Tanzania and had already organised the trip.

“Since my father died, my mother was not in a position to help me because my uncles took over our home and our inheritance and forced us to drop out of school. They wanted my sister and I to get married so they planned for my circumcision and then later I would get married,” Simaloi said.

The 17-year-old, who is in class 8, with the help of her elder sister reported the matter to police and they were able to escape.

“My elder sister was cut but she didn’t want us to be cut too so when I told her, she organised for my escape and told the chief who brought police officers to our home and took me with them,” she said.

The sixth born out of nine children wishes to be a doctor and urges the government to ensure FGM ends completely in the community.

The ban on female genital mutilation in Kenya in 2011 forced practising communities to find other ways to continue with their tradition.

In Kajiado South, the Maasai community, where 93 per cent of women are cut, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, began sneaking girls to Tanzania for the ritual.

Families sneak out their daughters using boda boda operators at night via Tarakea on the border all the way to Arusha  where they are cut and stay there until they heal before returning to Kenya.

It is for this reason that security officers from Kenya and Tanzania have teamed up to monitor movement of women and girls across the border to ensure no one transports teenagers to either country for circumcision.

Tarakea OCS inspector Paul Kimasa said they are collaborating with the Kenyan security teams in the efforts to eradicate cross-border  FGM. 

He said the act is not only harmful but also illegal in both countries.

“We as police officers from Tanzania do not condone any kind of FGM or teenage marriage because it is a crime,” he said.

The government of Tanzania prohibits FGM under the Sexual Offences Special Provision Act 1998. 

Since it has become difficult for the women to conduct FGM in Kenya, they sneak the girls pretending to visit their relatives across the border.

“We have established strict rules that for one to cross the border with underage girls, they must give us enough reasons and where they are heading to for future reference and we ensure they do not sneak girls in pretense that they are visiting their relatives here in Tanzania,” Kimasa said.

Loitoktok senior chief Isaiah Samana said cross-border FGM has been a challenge in Kajiado over the last few years and they were working to wipe it out.

“The practice of girls being cut is still there but now the challenge is that it’s hard to find out where it is taking place because it’s done secretly  but once we find out we ensure the culprits are arrested and taken to court,” he said.

He added, “Most of Maasais from Kajiado have relatives across the border so they use it as an excuse to go and circumcise the girls”.

This led them to form a group of 52 people, Nashivai, which moves around hospitals and homesteads in both countries on a daily basis to find out if there is any girl admitted or hidden after being cut.

The group is led by the Kajiado community policing chairman Lekarokia Ole Nang’oro who has championed against FGM for the last 15 years in Kajiado county.

The director of Hope Beyond Foundation and anti-FGM campaigner Dorcas Parit said the collaboration of the two authorities has lessened cross-border FGM.

According to Parit, more than 20 girls were cut every month during the Covid-19 period in 2020 when schools were closed.

She said two years ago it was hard to get justice for the girls who had been married off or circumcised because the cases were mostly settled outside court.

“The Judiciary has been helpful for the last six months and so far over 20 cases have been successfully settled. We have already identified the cutters and we're going to make sure that the practice is no longer conducted here,” Parit said.

The foundation now hosts over 150 girls who were either rescued from teenage marriage or FGM in Kajiado county.

Here in Kenya around 4 million, or one in five, women and girls have been subjected to FGM, according to Unicef.