By Rick Montgomery | Executive Director, Global Roots
It is important for our friends at GlobalGiving to understand that you are helping us save young Maasai lives!
10% of girls who are subjected to FGM die either from blood loss just after the cut or during child birth when their wounds reopen and hemorrhage. The majority of girls who survive the cut suffer from both physical and mental complications related to FGM for the rest of their lives.
Recently, a young Maasai girl heard about our Safe House and she sought us out. She walked many miles to reach our team during an outreach session at a public high school in the rolling hills just above the Maasai Mara.
Here is a full description of our most recent rescue.
On April 1st, FGMzero rescued a young Maasai girl who was threatened with Female Genital Mutilation. The girl, a 15-year-old named Naomi, had learned about FGMzero when an FGMzero representative had spoken at her church two months earlier.
Upon verifying that Naomi was truly threatened (her father wanted to enhance the value of her dowry by making her go through the 'cut' – a brutal cultural practice that is outlawed in Kenya) she was taken to our Safe House at an undisclosed location in rural Kenya.
The rescue happened just in time because Naomi's father had planned to kidnap his daughter – against the wishes of her mother – on the night we got to her. The day after she arrived in our Safe House, our house manager Mary K worked with Siliva S (the manager of FGMzero in Nairobi) to successfully locate a boarding school that would take Naomi in immediately. Global Roots in the USA quickly wired funds and Naomi was transferred to the protective grounds of the school.
Two days after Naomi had been evacuated from our Safe House, two thugs came looking for her. They told Mary K that they represented Naomi's father and that Mary should divulge Naomi's location and give her up. The men, who were inebriated, left promptly when FGMzero security showed up.
Naomi's mother then came to visit the Safe House a week later. Mary K reports that Naomi's mother was so thankful that she shed tears. She said that If Naomi had stayed one more night in her home her father would have come and taken her away. The mother reported that Naomi's father had run out of money to pay for alcohol and had to go borrow money from friends in a distant village. He got so drunk he slept there and then came for Naomi a day later...one day too late.
Naomi's successful rescue is proof that the word of our Safe House is spreading and that the "warning net" we have worked so hard to build over the last 15 years is working.
Funding is key because, without it, we would not be able to pay boarding school fees nor would we have a place for the girls to be safe during the two months a year that they are on vacation from boarding school.
Naomi asked us to send a heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped her avoid FGM and remain in school. THANK YOU GLOBAL GIVING DONORS!!
New development for 2022. We are in the process of seeking pro bono help from a Nairobi-based lawyer who will write a template with legal terminology explaining the legal ramifications of FGM in Kenya. FGM is a felony offense in Kenya and anyone who subjects a girl to it will go immediately to jail and also be heavily fined. We plan to issue a warning letter to parents who we learn are actively making plans to cut their daughters. We have learned that parents give up plans to engage in FGM when they realize their daughter is under the protection of FGMzero.
By Richard Montgomery | Executive Director, Global Roots
By Richard Montgomery | Executive Director
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