Sabiiny cultural institution seeks sh3b to pilot new strategy to end FGM

The Sabiiny cultural institution is seeking sh 13 billion to implement the recently designed Alternative Rites of Passage (ARP) which would replace the tradition of female circumcision or Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), which the government has since outlawed.

It is now 15 years since the government introduced the Anti-Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) outlawing the practice, but the practice continues covertly.

Unlike in the past, when it was done in public, it is now done clandestinely during male circumcision festivals to hoodwink law enforcers. It is also done in secluded, distant locations in mountains, bushes, and forests, as well as across borders in Kenya, in order to avoid detection by law enforcement.

FGM, often known as female circumcision, refers to the partial or total removal of the female external genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs among girls.

The practice is common among the Sabiiny people in the districts of Kapchorwa, Kween and Bukwo, in Sebei sub region; and parts of Karamoja sub-region among the Tepeth in Moroto, the Kadamas in Nakapiripit, and the Pokots in Amudat.

The custom is considered a rite of passage to womanhood.

No need to use force

However, the Sabiiny cultural institution decided to develop a new Alternative Rites of Passage (ARP) curriculum or plan in response to the current challenges in utilizing the law to combat the practice.

They contend that this approach may be more successful in abolishing the custom than employing force.

The model preserves other traditions while doing away with the practice of cutting females.

Its goals include not only ending the circumcision of girls but also ending child marriage, which was largely brought on FGM as a rite of passage to womanhood.

During a meeting to discuss the new model proposal at ActionAid International Uganda (AAIU) offices in the Kampala suburb of Kansanga, Dr. Jesca Mary Kusuro, the model consultant, stated that the curriculum needs roughly sh10b to be rolled out after the piloting.

“We need a lot of money, about sh10b. But for piloting alone, if we get sh2b or sh3b to start with because we will be training and coaching them for six weeks, and we graduate them,” she noted.

She explained that the model will effective because it offers alternative for the FGM.

The event was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development (MOGLSD), Sabiiny cultural leaders, and other organizations working to eliminate the vice. The event was organized by AAIU in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The new Sabiiny Women ARP (SWAROP), according to Kusuro, is a comprehensive integrated curriculum designed to guide the Sabiiny girls into more responsible womanhood without putting them through the agony of FGM or mutilation.

It provides the historical background of the Sabiiny culture in addition to formal teaching in subjects like family, nutrition, and parenting, as well as computer and literacy among others.

Different sets of girls will be participating in a two-week mentorship program that follows a modularized curriculum, at different mentorship centres, during school holidays.

Last month, a total of 123 Sabiiny clan elders led by Peter Swilikei Kissa, and 55 district executives from the districts of Kapchorwa, Kween, and Bukwo approved the model during a validation meeting at Noah’s Ark Hotel in Kapchorwa last month.

Kusurio pointed out that despite the negative repercussions of FGM, many people continue to cherish it deeply because it is a custom that has endured for many years.

“Therefore, you need to present them with an alternative that they can accept if you want to persuade them to stop FGM. This strategy seeks to empower girls via formal education and put an end to early child marriages and other detrimental cultural traditions that are still pervasive in the community and mostly affect women and girls,” she noted.

She stressed after the two weeks the girls will graduate at a colorful grand ceremony with certificates, adorned in traditional regalia, complete with badges, necklaces, and bungles.

She continued, “The leaders will lay hands on them, pronounce a blessing, and pass them out as women to go make good mothers. We can bless our girls without cutting them.”

Kusuro notes that it hasn't been easy for complete abandonment of FGM because it was an entrenched issue, a norm, an attitude, and a psychological aspect that is engrained in the Sabiny community or children as they grow, the reason why an ARP is crucial.

She is certain that FGM will be absorbed and permanently eradicated once the ARP is put into effect.

However, she added that if the cultural institutions' gazetting takes longer than expected, it could hinder the curriculum's implementation.

“Because it is about their culture, the cultural institution is the only Sabiiny body or organization that can implement it when we finish it. It does not belong to the Ministry of Gender,” she continued.

Boy child inclusion  

As men are the primary FGM influencers, Kusuro clarified, they are currently creating a curriculum specifically for boys.

“The boy child badly needs mentorship because how do you prepare the girls to be good and then you have not mentored the boys. The girls are not going to dwell in families without boys. So, there is a strong suggestion by the cultural institution that the boy child is included and as a consultant we are going to develop content for the boys and because of the process of approving this we might not merge immediately,” she noted.

She stressed that since it’s a document, it is always liable to amendment.

Speaking on behalf of the Sabiiny Cultural Institution, Samauel Ngirio stated that the organization is exploring several avenues to obtain the necessary funds to execute the curriculum in order to augment the funding they would receive from partners and the government.

He revealed that they suggested that they had decided each clan would contribute one million shillings annually, while other politicians contribute sh300,000/=  per month.

With all relevant parties on board, it is hoped that the document will be legalized and printed for implementation by next year, according to Samuel Francis Ononge, the AAIU's FGM program officer for the Sebei sub-region.

This, he noted that will create an environment where women and girls are free from being subjected to FGM.

Risks of FGM

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), FGM can cause severe bleeding and painful urination due to obstruction of the urethra and recurrent urinary tract infections, pain during sexual intercourse, and genital tissue swelling, as well as complications in childbirth and increased risk of newborn deaths.

Ononge said FGM causes victims to suffer for the rest of their lives, stressing that most mutilated women must undergo cesarean sections during childbirth in order to increase the amount of space available for the child to pass through due to the large scar, while others, at times get fistula.

“Most of these women are forced to abandon sexual intercourse because of the pain they get during sex especially when they clock around 40 years. That is when their men marry other women who are not circumcised,” he notes.

Other reasons for FGM

He noted that although culture views the practice as a rite of passage for girls into womanhood, a requirement for marriage readiness, and an assurance of cleanliness, the hidden goal is to regulate women’s sexuality in order to prevent adultery.

“For this reason, in order to relieve the woman's sexual feelings, they remove her most sensitive part,” he added.

FGM is practiced among the Kalenjin ethnic communities in Kenya and Uganda, primarily located in the Rift Valley region of the country.  They are known for their rich culture, history, and athletic prowess. Among them include; the Kipsigis, Nandi, Marakwet, Keiyo, Orror/Arror, Samor/Tugen, Lembus, Sabaot/Sabei /Kony and Sabiny tribe in Uganda, Terikiek, Sengwer, Endorois/Endo/Torois and the Pokots (also in Uganda).

Other countries where FGM is practiced include: Somalia, Guinea, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt, Nigeria, Mali, Sierra Leone, Kenya and Tanzania among the Masai people, among others.

According to a UNICEF survey carried out in 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East, the practice is still being widely carried out, despite the fact that 24 of these countries have laws or some form of decrees against FGM.