A Pokot girl, covered in animal skins, walks to a place where she will rest after being circumcised in …
BARINGO COUNTY Kenya (Reuters) - Draped in animal skin and covered in
white paint, four teenage girls squat over large stones in a remote
western Kenyan village after being circumcised - a life-threatening
custom banned in the country three years ago.
Like the four neighbors, over a quarter of Kenyan women
have undergone the ordeal, seen as a rite of passage for girls despite
government efforts to end it in the East African country.
"It's a tradition that has been happening forever,"the
father of one of the girls, who asked not to be named fearing reprisal
from the authorities, told Reuters from the isolated Pokot settlement
some 80km from the town of Marigat.
"The girls are circumcised to get married. It's a girl's transition into womanhood," he said.
Wrapped in bright colored shawls, the girls spent the
night huddled around a fire in a thatched-roof house as local women
gathered to sing and dance in support. One woman fell into a trance
after sipping a local wine.
At its most
extreme, circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation, involves
cutting off the clitoris and external genitalia, then stitching the
vagina to reduce a woman's sexual desire.
Practitioners use anything from razor blades to broken glass and scissors.
The U.N.'s Children's Fund, UNICEF, says more than 125
million women have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle
East where genital mutilation is carried out.
Circumcision is heavily practiced among the Pokot
community, and one of the girls' mothers believes it is a sign of
strength.
"The
pain will make her strong. She can show the rest of the community that
she can endure it," the woman said after having her daughter circumcised
by a Pokot elder donning a beaded neck collar and large brass earrings.
"I'm proud of my daughter for doing this," she said.
Kenyan law provides for life imprisonment when a girl dies
from the procedure, which in addition to excruciating pain, can cause
hemorrhage, shock and complications in childbirth.
It set up a prosecution unit in March and is currently investigating 50 cases.
Officials are optimistic they can force a change in
attitude but still worry that the practice is too ingrained for legal
threats to have an impact.
"We face a myriad of challenges," said Christine Nanjala, who
heads the prosecuting unit. "You will find the practice is something
highly valued. You will keep quiet and you will not report it - if you
do, you face reprisal."
Still, Nanjala was optimistic that genital cutting would be
eventually wiped out. "Not tomorrow but it will end, she said. "At the
end of the day, without hope, you have nothing."