Africa Schools of Kenya

Well, it has been another beyond unbelievable day at Esiteti. The health week is continuing and each day new health topics are being discussed amongst the healthworkers, students and the community as a whole. Today the focus was on female circumcision, a rite of passage that is still very common amongst the Maasai people. Africa Schools of Kenya aligned with a local Maasai organization that has been teaching alternative rites of passages and the health effects of female circumcision throughout Maasailand. The response was remarkable; the room was filled with the older girl students ranging from 9 to 14 years and three elder women of the tribe who have all been circumcised and have never had access to education around this critical issue. The program went on for hours and the young girls asked the most amazing questions. By the end of the session the facilitator asked all the girls in the room to raise their hand if they would still like to be circumcised; not one girl raised their hand!!!! Nakai an elder women leader of the community stood before us and said that she would be meeting with the other elders of the community and will be speaking with them telling them that after she has been educated she no longer believes that any girls should be circumcised and that this practice needs to stop and an alternative needs to happen.
The students left the room now knowing their rights as a child, a woman and a human being; they left that room with a choice!!!