Passing to adulthood without the cut

80 girls from Maasai communities undergo alternative rites of passage and become adults without circumcision

More than a hundred people from local Maasai communities are gathered between the Mwala Cultural Manyattas close to Doldol, Laikipia for a day long expected. Passage from childhood to adulthood is a great day in the maasai culture, and so people has come from far to Mwala on this Thursday April 17th.

For months it has been announced that 80 girls from two local villages has opted to take the crucial step into adulthood. According to local tradition this passage should involve FGM.

However, that is not going to happen today as the girls have chosen to undergo alternative rites of passage. In stead of being circumcised and married away they will give a pledge to stick to education and to take their destiny in their own hands.

The 80 girls are aged 10 to 16

The activities are offered by MS Kenya partner Yiaku People’s Association based in Nanyuki. MS Kenya has sponored the event through a collection campaign broadcasted on Danish TV in January.

The girls to undergo alternative rites of passage are between 10 and 16 years old although some of them do not know their own age.

As the event takes off they are not alone on the common between the manyattas. The local young men are there too, together with the wazee (the elderly men) placed in front of the speaker. The ladies form their own group in the periphery of the open grounds and the young girls are seated on the ground behind the podium.

A bull is being pulled into the common by the young men who slaughter it and extract the blood. Females stay in the background while the men cut up the dead bull. As the meat is boiling the assembled go in to groups to discuss how FGM influence young girls’ lives physically as well as socially.

Never a celebration among the Maasai without freshly slaugthered meat.

The groups are divided along lines of gender and age. During the group presentation all groups except for one agree that FGM is damaging to young girls. The wazee however disagree and stress that local communities should stick to traditions.

It takes a strong appeal from the local DC, Amos Mariba to change the rhetoric used by the old men. The DC, who is invited as one of the speakers, emphasize that forcing girls to be circumcised is a criminal act according to Kenyan legislation of 2005. The sanction of doing so  is a 50,000 ksh fine and a prison sentence of up to one year, he adds before appealing on a lighter note to the wazee:

“So how many of you would like to support the work against FGM?”

The wazees were listening - and discussing.

Although tempers get a bit heated during discussions between the wazee and the speakers, the local chief manages to restore order. The day continues with theatre and speeches before ending  peacefully with everybody gathering to eat the meat of the bull.