Alternative Rite Of Passage (ARP)
The Alternative Rite of Passage (ARP) is TWWP’s founding program and the heart of our mission to end Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C). Launched in 1996 as Ntanira Na Mugambo (“Circumcision with Words”), ARP was the first program of its kind in Kenya — developed in partnership with the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organization to offer girls a culturally sensitive alternative to the cut, allowing them to celebrate their transition to womanhood without harm.
How It Started
In 1996, one woman Aniceta Kiriga, a mother of three daughters refused to let her girls face the blade. She asked a radical question: what if the rite of passage could remain, but without the cut? From that question, Ntanira na Mugambo was born.
The concept was simple but bold: preserve everything sacred about the ritual the seclusion, the mentorship, the gifting, the grand initiation ceremony and replace the cut itself with words of wisdom, cultural mentorship, and empowerment. The girls themselves insisted the new rite mirror the traditional one in every way except the cut, so it was designed that way.
It wasn’t easy. Families, elders, and even churches resisted. Girls who went through the program were branded weak and unmarriageable, and some were told they would never give birth. Thirty brave girls stepped forward anyway in August 1996 to become Kenya’s first ARP cohort and the movement held on.
What Girls Learn
ARP participants are trained in: Reproductive health, Human rights, Hygiene, Decision-making, Relationships, Life skills and leadership
The program specifically targets girls transitioning from primary to secondary school — a stage that has traditionally been the most dangerous, when girls are most at risk of being manipulated into FGM/C and early marriage.
Our Impact
At Jackcerra our culture comes to life through three core values:
