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Showing posts from March, 2013

She demanded school in return for undergoing circumcision ...

Kakenya Ntaiya did what most girls would consider undoable….she traded a part of her body in order to be granted the chance to go to school. She agreed to undergo the infamous Female Genital Mutilation (FGM - which we all know is against the law and a big health risk to those who undergo it) only if her dad would let her go to High School - he agreed. Like many other girls from the Maasai community, Kakenya was betrothed at the age of 5. That meant that she already had a 'husband' in waiting and she only had to wait till her initiation (as soon as she reached puberty) which would now mean that she had now become a woman - ready for marriage to her 'fiancĂ©' from since when she was 5. Deep down her heart she always knew that she wanted to study, she wanted to become a teacher. She wanted to dress in nice clothing and wear high heeled shoes. She didn't want to stay home and be a wife and mother, as that is the role of girls who attained puberty. All this inspiration