Protect Girls from FGM in Tanzania

The current cutting season is in full swing and we have been out in the villages rescuing many desperate girls refusing to be cut. We and now have 82 girls in Mugumu and 100 girls in our Butiama safe house, and are still expecting many more. Girls are already sleeping 3 or 4 to a mattress on the floor, and feeding them all is extremely challenging.

Your donations are vital in providing them with food and basic supplies like soap until it is safe for them to be returned to their families. This process will begin when the cutting season ends in early January.

Longer term, we are continuing to support the education of girls when reconciliation fails. By increasing employment prospects, we empower girls to be decision makers in their communities and champions against gender-based violence. There are currently 44 girls in primary school, 29 girls in secondary school, 7 girls in VETA, 1 girl in high school, 10 girls to join secondary school, and 1 girl wishing to join college when we can raise the fees.

We have also been working in collaboration with Nomad Tanzania to sponsor girls for hotel management and hospitality, and every year our girls are offered to tour Sergentei National Park. We're thrilled that two of our girls have graduated from these courses.

As we continue to educate our girls, we also continue to educate our local communities. This month, we held debates with 60 community members of Bonchugu and Nyamburi Villages around the impacts of gender-based violence. We presented questions about the attitudes around FGM and challenges that girls face. And from these conversations, we were able to identify areas of growth, including a stronger sense of accountability and behaviorial change intervention.

Our work has been extremely challenging this year, but we have continued to make progress.

We're so thankful for your support in ending FGM in Tanzania, and wish you warm seasons greetings and best wishes for 2021.. 

Thank you!

Rhobi Samwelly
Hope for Girls and Women

Links:

• Our work mentioned in UNFPA report

There are now 68 girls in Mugumu Safe House, and 58 in Butiama.  Rhobi and her team have, as usual,  been working hard in the villages doing advocacy, training the digital champions, visiting the anti FGM clubs in the schools and checking that girls are safe. 

They were expecting a cutting season to have started in September, after the standard seven classes were sent home from primary school until starting secondary school in January, but with everyone having one eye on the upcoming election on October 28th this is now expected to start after that. But they have identified 250 girls who are at risk of being subjected to FGM in the next two months, which is a huge concern.

If all of these girls come to the safe houses it will put a huge pressure on resources, and lead to great overcrowding. But Rhobi and her team never turn girls away, and they will cope somehow.

Hope relies on food donations from local hotels and safari lodges to feed the girls. With tourists few and far between because of the pandemic, these are greatly reduced, as is the income they usually receive from selling the handicrafts they make to visitors.

All of the girls in the Safe Houses continue their education: in local schools if they are able to, if not in the vocational programme, where they learn tailoring, batik, basket weaving. and other skills.  This includes basic literacy and numeracy. Last month girls started making trousers  for local customers.

Hope  has also been working with .The Plaster House, a health NGO,, to identify children in the village who have cleft lips and club feet and arrange to transport them to Arusha for treatment. Ten such children were successfully treated from Mara in September. 

2020 has been an extremely difficult year for everyone, and we see huge challenges ahead, so we are particularly grateful for your support,

With gratitude, 

Rhobi