Why Girls?

Tharaka community has maintained most of its traditional and customary beliefs, key among them being, female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM in Tharaka, serves as a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood, and consequently it indirectly leads to early marriages. Girls are forced to drop out of schools, once a suitor present himself because they are now considered adults who can start their own families.  Poverty and payment of “bride price” is another contributory factor to FGM and early marriages. There is a strong belief within the Tharaka community, that a girl needs to be “cut” in order to get married. A girl who is “uncut” is deemed unmarriageable.  Therefore, many guardians will most likely, influence/force their daughters to undergo the “cut” to ensure that their daughters are marriageable, so as to secure the “bride price” without much difficulty.

Being a marginalized area with few livelihood strategies, majority of households practice subsistence farming and live below the poverty line. Poverty makes it difficult to access decent clothing, food, shelter, and health and wellbeing meals let alone school fees, books, or menstrual products – which extensively affects girl’s schooling.  TWWP support the community by teaching the community members, especially women new livelihood skills, supporting the girls to stay in school by offering scholarships, and creating learning opportunities such as ICT and mobile libraries. Women through adult literacy learn basic reading and writing skills so that they can better understand their family’s finances, increase their agency, and independence from their spouses. In these classes, women gain a powerful space to discuss taboo topics like money and their relationships with their peers.

Lack of education for girls has been both a cause and effect of gender-based violence (GBV) in Tharaka. Most GBV cases are not reported when they occur due to girls’ ignorance of their rights. Girls/women are often afraid to speak out about the violence or are unaware of their human/legal rights. Girls are often complaining of domestic violence between their parents which affects their ability to focus on their studies and gives them a negative idea of what a relationship should look like. We teach girls about their rights, their bodies, and what healthy relationships look like. We also teach boys to treat girls with respect, and learn healthy coping strategies for their anger/frustration.

We are working to change the belief that women and girls are unequal to, or less than, men and boys. By empowering and educating both genders, our goal is to create awareness of how a more equal society could prosper. FGM has been seen as a female issue, consequently organizations have tended to focus on women and girls overlooking the critical role of men as key decision makers and potential contributors to the perpetuation or discontinuation to FGM and other contemporary issues. To resolve this there is need for involvement of cross section of community members especially key community stakeholders, leaders and decision makers at institutional level including schools, churches and various government sectors.