I’ve spent the last two and a half weeks in Narosura, Kenya.Heart of Masaailand.
Miles from nowhere.
Home to many victims of FGM – female genital mutilation (or female circumcision).
If you have no idea of what I’m talking about, then know this is heartbreaking before you know anything else.
Female circumcision is the removal of a woman’s clitoris, and it is done worldwide, but most of the victims are young African girls.
The belief is that a woman doesn’t need to enjoy sex, and that she won’t if it is removed. So they remove it before it becomes an issue.
There are people and organizations fighting against this, though.
Part of our ministry in the first week and a half of June was working at a center for victims of forced marriages and FGM (and by work, I mean construction and planting).
And our contact during our time in Narosura is also invested.
Pastor Jackson works actively in the community to raise awareness of what FGM is, and with the police to stop it from happening (it’s illegal in Kenya, but still practiced).
When families reject a daughter because it wasn’t performed, he and his church – Love Celebration Center – take these girls in.
Pastor and his family have two girls in their care at the moment, and they receive no help in order to do so.
If anything, Pastor sees persecution within the community because of it.
When we first arrived in Narosura, and went to visit Pastor Jackson’s house, he shared with the team about what he and his church were doing.
It broke my heart when Pastor told us the story of one girl he and the police tried to rescue.
They found her dead in the middle of nowhere – where the girls are often left until they stop bleeding after the circumcision is done.
The bleeding had never stopped.
If any of this makes you angry, good.
If it makes you want to do something to stop it, even better.
Here’s what you can do.
First – PRAY. Go on your knees for the girls of the Masaai people and ask God to protect them. Pray for the families who are considering doing this to their daughters. Pray for the victims. Pray for the ‘professionals’ who perform this procedure – often with instruments that are so dirty you wouldn’t touch a cockroach with them. Pray for the people who are fighting against it.
Second – get educated about the issue. Find out where it’s happening. Find out who’s doing what to help.
Third – get involved. Raise awareness about what’s happening. Raise or send funds to the people who are already out there doing something. Go to the places it’s happening in and help educate.
And, always, share God’s love.
It’s the most life-saving, life-giving, life changing message I know of.
