Rather than spending the holidays with their families, like so many of are inclined to do, hundreds of Kenyan girls are hiding in schools and churches to avoid female genital mutilation (FGM). Where Christmas and other holidays are a relatively peaceful time for many people, for these girls it is a time of fear. Often December holidays are times of initiation rites like circumcision. Many times this means that the parents have promised the daughter to another man in order to obtain the dowry. While sanctions against this practice have been put in place, it has not been stopped, rather, pushed underground. This has made it become even more of a dangerous procedure than it had been before. Often times girls go to school in order to avoid being married off at a young age, making them refuges in the eyes of many of these children. Approximately 1 in 5 girls in Kenya have been circumcised.
The way these girls must feel during this time of year, and probably most of their lives, is truly horrifying. The fact that FGM procedures are still going on in many parts of the world is baffling when compared to all the evidence of its cruelty.
This is a horrifying example of the need for feminism and human rights around the globe.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38382837
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