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HEROIC 368 GIRLS RISK IT ALL TO SAVE ONE OF THEIR OWN WHO WAS MUTILATED AND THEN MARRIED OFF, TAKE A LOOK SEE THE HEROIC LEADER AND THE EMBARRASED MOTHER!!

2012-01-26T21:02:00.000-08:00

More than 368 girls of a primary school in Narok South district yesterday stormed their colleague’s home after they learnt that she had been married off to a middle-aged man. The pupils of Aitong primary school, led by their headgirl Gladys Sairowua, forced the mother of the 14-year-old standard seven pupil to put on her daughter's school uniform and go to class.

The pupils were protesting the decision by the mother to marry off Sermetei Kipeen. The pupil's father was allegedly not aware or involved in the marriage negotiations. “We were very angry when we heard that our colleague has been married off. That is why we went for her mother. We wanted her to remain in school until she realises that she has to let her daughter continue with her education,” Sairowua said.

Sairowua said she and her fellow pupils decided to take the action to set example toother parents in the area who do not take the girl child education seriously. “She was a bright pupil and forcing her for early marriageis going to render her education useless,” she said. The headteacher John Sengeny said Sermetei disappeared from school last Tuesday for unknown reasons. He said when they followed up the matter at her home, they realised that marriage negotiations had already started and the girl had been taken into hiding across the border to Tanzania.

He said the girls had, together with education stakeholders, resolved to keep monitoring each other until they all complete primary school. "They have resolved to apply the same method to protect any girl who drops out of school due to early marriage or FGM," said Sengeny. The area education officer Ambolwa Obiri said there was a growing trend in the area where women organised for their daughters' early marriages without involving their husbands. “They organise for their daughters to become pregnant with the man oftheir choice that eventually leads to marriage,” said Obiri. Obiri said many people willing to sponsor the girls in school had been put off by the high dropout rate.

DARING: Aitong primary school headgirl Gladys Sairowua (L) speaks to the press at the school yesterday.

The mother of Sermetei Kipeen (C) with class teacher Julius Ngerechi in class at the school.

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THE LESSON WE LEARN THAT ONE IS TOO FAR SO MANY!!!

Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
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FGM IS 100% AFRICAN LEADING DISATER WITH HALF OF THE CONTINENT PERFORMING THIS ATROCITY!! NOW CONTROVERSIAL ATTENTION SEEKERS EUROPEAN ORGANIZATIONS WANT TO BE IN THE LIMELIGHT UNDERPLAYING AFRICA AGAIN BY CLAIMING FGM IS NOT AN AFRICAN PROBLEM! SHAME BIG SHAME.

2012-01-24T10:27:00.000-08:00

Yes it's a 101% to admit that Africa is the leading region with FGM being performed 98% in over 27 countries!, FGM is a huge problem in Africa so for those trying to down play Africa again and claiming FGM is not African problem take your propaganda somewhere else!!! Unless you have walked a mile in our shoes only then we can reason together in your findings!!, Shame on those European organizations trying to undermine the atrocity of FGM in Africa while this plague started as a sexual enslavement punishment in Egypt the days of Pharaoh and as a result hundreds bleed to death everyday, and over 8000 are mutilated everyday and at least 3 million every year:(, and hundreds of thousands of mortality rate:( in Africa alone!!. And you dare say it's not an African problem? Shame on you!! Why do people who have never lived it or know how it hurts like using the suffering of others to gain attention? are you control manupulating freaks?!
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Hypocritical outdated findings by so called "experts" on psychological disoders associated with FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION! FGM VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN TRAUMATIZED!YOU DARE MOCK US?

2012-01-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

I find it hypocritical that so called "experts" have now discovered FGM causes psychological trauma or mental disorder, and they just found out by studying Iraq's women. Hey I have been saying this for over a decade that FGM causes high level of psychological trauma associated with PTSD!! African women survivors of FGM they deal with PTSD too and this causes lots of suicide , psychiatric disorders, mental illnesses, I work with African refugees everyday and in every state we have records of at-least 10 women every month admitted with PTSD related complexes ! Africa is the highest leading with mortality rate over 500,000 women die every year giving birth:((!! Majority of them suffer PTSD and are Fgm victims:((!! . So to the so called experts your findings are outdated, wasting precious money and time trying to add water with a cup in the ocean!!, it's simple common sense e.g "if a young girl was held down and then her genitals mutilated then left in a dark hut for weeks , unable to urinate with infection, tell me will her life be ever the same again? Will she be able to recover psychologically again? Will she be traumatized for the rest of her life? "experts" go do some research on that and surprise me!!
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Mutilating parents and tradition mutilators from Kenya take hundreds of girl across the boarder in Tanzania to terrorize their genitals!!!

2012-01-17T23:00:00.000-08:00

Kenyan parents determined to mutilate their daughters, despite the outlawing of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), are taking them across the border to Tanzania,
Traditional mutilators from Kenya’s Kuria community crossed into Tanzania to mutilate a number of girls aged between seven and 15 during last month’s mutilation season, the report said.

FGM is prohibited in Tanzania but the law is not effectively enforced.

“Nobody will marry my daughter in the community if she is not mutilated,” one father, Wario Chacha, said in the report.

“I do not want my family to be a laughing stock. My girl will have to be mutilated no matter how long it takes.”

His 10-year-old daughter was one of 400 girls taken by local non-governmental organisations to rescue centres to protect them from being mutilated.

One in three Kenyan women is mutilated, despite the practice being criminalised in the 2001 Children’s Act.

In September 2011, Kenya passed the FGM Act into law providing for up to seven years in jail for anyone who commits FGM.

Please make a donation today many girls need your help.

Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Martin Luther King Junior take on our silence to the evil around us like FGM.

2012-01-16T11:36:00.000-08:00

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King, Jr.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150127583466416&set=a.373024506415.202386.225406701415&type=3&theater

PERFECT NOW WE REWARD PERPETRATORS AND FORGET THE VICTIMS!!!!!!

2012-01-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

A Mutilator in West Pokot county was yesterday given a Sh40,000 cow for quitting the exercise. Cheposonjo Lokai Tarau who used to practice Female Genital Mutilation abandoned the job two years ago after being arrested several times. “l decided to leave the job two years ago since the money never assisted me at all,” she said. Speaking during the rewarding ceremony in Makutano, the Executive Director of Setat, Lillian Plapan appealed to the community to shun the practice saying it hinders girls from accessing quality education.

Seriously? are you kidding me? how about taking her bloody buttocks to jail? what do the girls and woman who have suffered in her arms get?,fistula repair?,reconstructive surgery? ooh am sorry victims and survivors are not to be rewarded only the bloody mutilators ,!!! this sucks!!
How can you justify that you made a living out of mutilating female genitals and killing them? and then you get a reward? for real?. sick psycotics!!! So after they commit the most horrific unforgivable crimes we reward them?.

Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

A 65 years old mutilator and a government official in Kenya on the run after mutilating 10 girls as young as 7 years old:((.

2012-01-12T06:27:00.000-08:00

, After mutilation you become a wife:(!! (sexual slavery).

Police have launched a manhunt for a chief and an elderly woman in Tana River County who subjected 10 underage girls to Female Genital Mutilation late last year.

The Kalakacha location chief is said to have allowed the girls, who included his seven-year-old daughter, to be subjected to the outlawed rite.

The chief ran away after he discovered that police were looking for him.

The woman being sought by police is aged 65 and is suspected to have conducted the rite.

Tana River DO George Kamweru said it was unfortunate that the incident took place under the supervision of the local chief who was expected to protect the children.
On Wednesday, a group of women raided the home of the chief and found ten girls recuperating lying in a Manyatta.

This government official should be fired locked up and the 65 years old mutilator should be jailed with no mercy!!
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Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Though only one community practices FGM unlike her Neighbour Kenya, Uganda Declares War Against Female Genital Mutilation

2012-01-09T02:03:00.000-08:00

In Africa, many repugnant cultures are still obtaining. A case in point is the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), which many women in Uganda are beginning to treat as an affront on their dignity and Human rights. The good news for the Ugandan women is that this practice only affects one ethnic group, the Sabiny who live in the present day Sebei districts of eastern Uganda.

Civil Society organizations and women Activists in Uganda have over the years launched a spirited fight against FGM and a lot of resources have been used as incentives to make the local population shun FGM and success was being scored in this fight. FGM in these areas of Eastern Uganda is carried out as a ritual to initiate young girls into womanhood. It involves the cruel procedure of mutilating the genitals of young girls of 10 years and above, where the clitoris and vital parts of the vaginal opening are literally mutilated with sharp knives as the affected girls are cheered on by their mothers and fathers. This is followed up by some primitive sewing up of whatever has been left of the mutilation.

Effects of FGM on young Girls

Some of the girls bleed to death while others get permanent complications which later affect their child birth, putting not only their unborn babies at risk, but also themselves. This practice has made FGM a serious social and health problem for the Ugandan Sabiny.

The other serious social and health problem of FGM among the Sabiny is that the mutilations leave the women deprived of the sexual pleasures. Sex becomes purely a reproductive gesture completely devoid of pleasure. The irony of it all is that many Sabiny men have started marrying women from other ethnic backgrounds where FGM is not practiced just because they think; their women are not sexy enough.

Many of the young girls have also been infected during the act of FGM itself because most of the knives used for circumcision are generally reused on many other individuals without sterilization. The local FGM surgeons are mainly illiterate old women who know very little about how HIV spreads.
In December 2009, following the persistent demand by women activists supported by Civil Society Organizations working among the Sabiny, a bill was passed in the Ugandan parliament prohibiting the practice of FGM in Uganda. According to this bill, any person convicted for involvement in FGM acts will be jailed for up to 10 years. Where a FGM procedure results into death of the victim, the person involved would be jailed for life. The Bill also criminalizes parents who consent to FGM to be performed on their daughters.

Many parents consent to FGM because girls who have been mutilated attract a higher bride prize, so parents are lured by the expectation of bride wealth out of their young girls. Ugandans have warmly received the clump down on FGM. We hope other parts of the world join us in this repugnant cultural practice.

To support Mashua voice for the voiceless international.inc efforts please see the donate button on your upper right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

A 10 year old girl in Kenya needs a international out cry , as she was mutilated and dragged ,she tried to run away but she is still lives in the same home where she was violated, she hopes she will continue with her education.

2012-01-03T22:32:00.000-08:00

One girl's attempt to escape the knife proved futile after the grandmother hired young men, who dragged her to the circumciser. Here now is the story of her heart-wrenching ordeal.

I would like to know what the government of Kenya doing to get justice for this girl, Her grandmother , the mutilator and the young men who dragged this girl on the ground should be in Jail as we speak!!, This young baby girl needs medical attention ASAP!! She should not be married off to those rapists perverts sycopaths from hell!!She is begging the government atleast to let her continue with her education, she is so sad traumatized and scared, why would she be living in the same house with those heartless humans? ,My loyalty remains to the voiceless my heart bleeds, it is sad to listen this baby talk:(. I told you am tired with lips service and decorations of crapy laws that are never implemeted but are use to manipulate Donars to get more aid, Shame on you for deriving attention,fame and recognition through the pain and suffering of young girls and women!! how do you sleep at night? Pathetic!

To support Mashua voice for the voiceless international.inc efforts please see the donate button on your right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Girls in Kajiado stands against FGM, They decided to fight!

2011-12-28T22:49:00.000-08:00

In Kajiado County, young girls are beginning to fight against the brutal rite of female circumcision. It started with one girl, 13-year-old Damaris Naishorua, who stood against tradition and refused to get undergo FGM. The girls are now taking charge and even reporting their parents to authorities if they threaten to mutilate and marry them off. More than 200 in Sajiloni girls graduated from the alternative rite of passage, they made that transition to adult hood without undergoing FGM. <3.
PLEASE MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO MASHUA VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS INTERNATIONAL. INC it is our first time ever to ask you for donations,please see the donate button on your right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

LEADERS OF GREAT REGION TO SIGN A TREATY AGAINST SEXUAL GENDER BASED VIOLENCE IN 11 GREATER LAKE REGION, :)) THE FIRST LADIES PUSHED FOR THIS, I AM PROUD OF JANET MUSEVENI UGANDA AND DR KASEMBA ZAMBIA.

2011-12-16T02:01:00.000-08:00

HEY GREAT REGION LEADERS THIS PICTURE IS AN EVIDENCE THAT THIS DAY YOU PROMISED AND IF YOU DON'T WELL.........

Leaders of the Great Lakes Region are expected to sign a declaration on how to handle sexual violence and negative forces.

The signing will mark the end of a two day summit at Speke Resort Munyonyo at the shores of Lake Victoria.

Delegates from eleven countries pointed out that militias use sex as a weapon of war during conflict. However they did not exempt national armies, peace keeping forces and civilians who they equally accused of perpetrating acts of sexual based violence.

Rape, defilement, sexual threats, exploitation, humiliation, assault, molestation, incest and female genital mutilation (FGM) were listed as some of the sexual offences commonly committed against women and girls.

Presidents, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Michael Sata (Zambia) Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania Mwai Kibaki (Kenya) and Pierre Nkurunziza (Burundi) are attending the summit. Sudanese Vice President Alhaj Adam Yusuf is representing indicted President of Sudan, Omar el Bashir.

The summit is organised under the theme; United to prevent, end impunity and provide support to the victims of Sexual and Gender based violence in the Great Lakes Region.

PLEASE MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO MASHUA VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS INTERNATIONAL. INC it is our first time ever to ask you for donations,please see the donate button on your right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
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LITERATE WOMEN IN EAST AFRICA TELL LIKE IT LIKE IT IS ABOUT FGM.

2011-12-16T01:53:00.000-08:00

Kapchorwa — Human rights activists have called upon the East Africa bloc to honour the commitment to end female genital mutilation, describing it as a discriminatory and a harmful practice to girls.
While addressing delegates from Kenya and Uganda and traditionalists at the 12th Sebei Culture Day celebrations on Monday held at Sebei College Tegeres, the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, said ending FGM is crucial to the success of two of the Millennium Development Goals: Improving maternal health and promoting gender equality.
She said: "FGM is a violation of the women rights. It is a dangerous and irreversible procedure that negatively impacts the general health, child-bearing capabilities and educational opportunities of girls. God is not happy about the practice."
The Sebei Culture Day, an annual event, was held under the theme 'Education and quality reproductive health are key in FGM abandonment. This is regarded as a day of zero tolerance to FGM'.
Ms Teresa Malaba, a lecturer at Kenya University, said in order to end the practice, nations must build a generally protective environment for children. The chairman Sebei Elders Association, Mr Patrick Cheborion, said progress in fighting FGM needs collective support from all stakeholders, including toughening national laws against the practice.

PLEASE MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO MASHUA VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS INTERNATIONAL. INC it is our first time ever to ask you for donations,please see the donate button on your right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

ORGANISATIONS THAT WANT THE CREDIT OF ENDING FGM AND OTHER ATROCITIES-DON'T SPREAD PROPAGANDAS ,SPREAD THE PAINFUL TRUTH AND LET YOUR LOYALTY REMAIN TO THE VICTIMS. FGM IS NOT A SHOW IT IS AN EVERYDAY NIGHTMARE TO THE VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS,SO STOP MAKING IT ABOUT YOURSELVES!! by Lucy Mashua

2011-12-13T10:09:00.000-08:00

10 years ago in Senegal the village of Malicoundo Bambara declared their abandonment of FGM and 2,657 other villages have declared since then , what is shocking FGM is still practiced and girls are being mutilated everyday, some villagers told IRIN news same women dancing and showing off on camera declaring abandonment of FGM behind their closed doors are still mutilating :((. Yes that is Africa for you they will tell foreigners what they want to hear and even pose for the pictures hoping to get something out of it, but girls and women continue to suffer , I am telling you only Africans know Africans so foreign journalist and organizations that want to get credit so much for ending FGM or other man made atrocities make sure that you get the truth from the root don't buy lips service and dancing or any propagandas being spread !!

Let the truth be told, don't compromise the truth to please the perpetrators . The truth is your loyalty should remain to the victims!!

PLEASE MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO MASHUA VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS INTERNATIONAL. INC it is our first time ever to ask you for donations,please see the donate button on your right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
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KENYAN GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BLOODY MUTILATIONS THAT HAPPENED OVER THE WEEKEND WHERE HUNDREDS OF GIRLS WERE MUTILATED UNDER POLICE WATCH!! I AM SO UPSET TOO UPSET WHAT KIND OF GOVERNMENT THAT WATCHES AS CHILDREN ARE BEING MUTILATED AND MURDERED AND SAYS NOTHING?

2011-12-09T06:46:00.000-08:00

All the hundreds of girls mutilated over the weekend and all mutilated after the new FGM law was passed, and all who have died should sue the government of Kenya for not protecting them!!! Here is what the constitution of Kenya state!!.The children are protected under the constitution as evidenced here:
Children. Rev. 2010] Constitution of Kenya 37
(b) to free and compulsory basic education;
(c) to basic nutrition, shelter and health care;
(d) to be protected from abuse, neglect, harmful cultural
practices, all forms of violence, inhuman treatment and
punishment, and hazardous or exploitative labour;
(e) to parental care and protection, which includes equal
responsibility of the mother and father to provide for the child!!.
Kenyan government arrest those mutilators and their supporters ASAP.!! And after that may be your sentence for crimes against humanity committed under your watch will be lighter one day!!! . Human rights lawyers please step in , The state department,UNICEF and all the global human rights organisations.

Some of the tortured girls:((.
PLEASE MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO MASHUA VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS INTERNATIONAL. INC it is our first time ever to ask you for donations,please see the donate button on your right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

MUTILATORS OVERPOWERS KENYAN POLICE AND HUNDREDS OF GIRLS ARE MUTILATED:(( FROM AGE 8-16 AND ARE READY FOR MARRIAEGE THAT MEANS NO SCHOOL FOR THEM!!.AND ONE SHAMELESS LOCAL GOVERNMENT CIVIC LEADER DEFENDS FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION IN NYANZA PROVINCE KURIA DISTRICT!! AM STILL COMING TO TERMS POLICE WITH GUNS AND VILLAGERS WITH MACHETTES/PANGA!! I HATE DECEMBER THIS IS THE MONTH MANY GIRLS LIVES ARE RUINED FOR GOOD!!!

2011-12-08T06:45:00.000-08:00

Girls are congratulated and decorated after their genitals are mutilated !!called Esaro as friends and relatives join in the celebrations. so sick!!!!!

The sound of gun shots pierced the air as seemingly intoxicated youth joined girls and women in wild celebration.
Tradition had triumphed over law as hundreds of girls, some as young as eight years old faced the knife in a procedure that is internationally loathed and outlawed — female genital mutilation.

The setting is Kuria East and West districts. It’s is the third year since the last rite, and so a fresh set of girls are supposed to undergo the FGM among the Bugambe and the Buiregi clans.

Tuesday was the culmination of three days of activities that saw the villagers throng footpaths in wild celebration, armed with home made guns, machetes, spears, knives, clubs and other weapons that would ordinarily have their wielders jailed.

Hundreds of schoolgirls underwent the traditional rite of passage that now allows them to get married, raising doubts as to whether they will continue with their studies in the New Year.

Among the health concerns associated with the practice are complications during childbirth, heavy bleeding after birth and prolonged hospitalisation, with the degree of complications increasing depending on the extent and severity of the mutilation that can also cause infections and death.

The killer virus, HIV, is also readily transmitted this way.

Teachers in the area said that while the practice had been part of culture, it lead to significant deterioration in the standard of education as girls dropped out of school soon afterwards.

But Guitembe ward councillor from Kuria constituency Protrus Kohe defended the practice, arguing that the constitution protected cultural practices of communities.

Early in the week, two women mutilaters were arrested by police while “cutting” five young girls. The law enforcers laid a trap near the mutilaters’ homes and nabbed them soon after they began the “surgery”.

But the locals, who are predominantly members of the Kuria community, blocked the police vehicle, demanding immediate and unconditional release of the women.The officers were then forced to fire in the air several times to scare off the adamant protesters.
But more drama was to unfold when armed youths joined in the protests and blocked the busy Kenya-Tanzania highway for several hours.

They then engaged the police in running battles along the highway in a move that paralysed transport and blocked cargo trailers heading to or coming from the neighbouring country.

Even attempts by the Kuria West DC James Mugwe to calm them down bore no fruit.

The DC however insisted that they would not allow FGM to continue in the region, saying the practice was illegal.

FGM is practised in at least 26 of 43 African countries and prevalence varies from 98 per cent in Somalia to 5 per cent in Zaire/Congo.

PLEASE MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO MASHUA VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS INTERNATIONAL. INC it is our first time ever to ask you for donations,please see the donate button on your right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

TOURIST AND INVESTORS FLOCKS ARUSHA REGION AND IGNORES THE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION TOWARDS WOMEN AND YOUNG GIRLS, LIKE FGM AND EARLY MARRIAGES .

2011-12-01T14:08:00.000-08:00

Arusha, christened the Switzerland of Africa, has in recent days been a centre of political tension and not to mention of the several human rights violations against women.
The northern Tanzania region of Arusha occupies third place in the country in terms of the vice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) after Dodoma and Manyara.
Apart from the outdated tradition, so-called investors are clamouring for Arusha’s fertile land wanting to put up their investment projects.
The booming tourism industry has made the town one of the most potential investment destinations in the country, a situation that could be partly to blame for the land-grab phenomenon.
In the same rich Arusha region, there are poor people who have failed to convert their land into wealth. Perhaps one of the most notable achievements would be to see more people become aware of their rights, a task which is being done by the Arusha Legal Aid Clinic.
This clinic has managed to provide legal services to 2,822 clients, surpasssing its goal of serving 2300 clients per year.
As of October 32, the clinic won 31 cases and the number of clients could even jump by the end of the year.
Furthermore, the clinic has managed to reconcile 27 out of the 38 matters brought before it while 114 clients have been educated to represent their cases in court.
Apart from the provision of legal aid, the clinic has been making a follow-up on human rights violations in the area and this year alone, has managed to follow up on seven issues, including the Mererani saga where teenage girls were forced into early marriages.
The problem of early marriages is common in Arusha, and it is not surprising for a teacher on leave to come back find that half of the schoolgirls have absconded schooling.
Rose Mwapinga, a former teacher and District Education Officer admits that there were times when a teacher would make a roll-call in class only to be told that so and so “ameolewa”(the girl pupil has been married off).

PLEASE MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO MASHUA VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS INTERNATIONAL. INC it is our first time ever to ask you for donations,please see the donate button on your right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
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Senator Harry Reid introduces our FGM bill to the Senate bill S 1919 to strengthen our HR 2221 girls protection act of 2011, after a great call from his DC office I am happy that good men exist and are ready to fight for women's right. Ambassador Mashua,

2011-11-30T12:06:00.000-08:00

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday introduced legislation that would make it a crime under U.S. law to take young girls out of the U.S. for the purpose of genital mutilation.

Reid's bill, the Girls' Protection Act, follows up on the successful passage of another Reid bill in 1996 that criminalizes this procedure in the U.S. on girls under the age of 18. But he said that law has what he called a "vacation loophole" that allows female genital mutilation, or FGM, to take place on U.S. girls when they are out of the country.

"While it is difficult to know precisely how many girls in the United States are at risk of being subject to FGM, estimates from various sources suggest that approximately 200,000 women living in the United States have been, or are at risk, of being subject to FGM," Reid said Tuesday. "Enactment of the Girls' Protection Act would help to better protect these girls by serving as a deterrent for those parents who are considering sending their young girls to their home countries to undergo FGM."
Under his bill, S. 1919, transporting women or girls for that purpose would leave them open to fines and up to five years in prison.
Female genital mutilation is recognized around the world as a human-rights violation that nonetheless has been carried out on an estimated 100 million to 140 million girls and women. Reid called the procedure a "harmful cultural ritual with origins in Africa, Asia and the Middle East," and said it has no medical justification.

Reid said estimates from several sources indicate that over 200,000 women and girls in the U.S. are or have been at risk of FGM.
PLEASE MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO MASHUA VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS INTERNATIONAL. INC it is our first time ever to ask you for donations,please see the donate button on your right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. and S 1919 introduced by Senator Harry Reid,
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

After my plea and hope Kenyan government to arrest mutilators and their helpers/parents they finally did, but the angry villagers and mutilators did not make it easy,they were forced to FIRE IN THE AIR, FOR US FGM ACTIVISTS WE DON'T HAVE GUNS JUST GUTS YOU CAN IMAGINE AN ANGRY MOB CRYING FOR YOUR BLOOD!! Ambassador Mashua

2011-11-29T06:41:00.000-08:00

Police in Kuria West District were forced to shot several times in the air to disperse angry villagers who wanted to block them from arresting a MUTILATOR in Mabera division.The rowdy villagers, had stormed the district officer's office to protest at the arrest of the woman and her aide. The two had been arrested along the Isibania -Migori highway while dancing with villagers and two girls whose genitals they had just mutilated.It is very sad that the two girls were already mutilated:(( but it shows great step by the Kenya police to even protect the mutilated girls, on the other hand who told this angry sympathizers of mutilators they can storm at a local police station and demand the release of this two blood suckers? . KENYA POLICE AND THE SKEPTICS NOW YOU CAN SEE THE DANGER WE TRED ON AS ANTI FGM ACTIVISTS AND RESCUERS , SOME HAVE BEEN KILLED, SOME FORCED TO FLEA THE ONLY HOME THEY KNEW AND LOVED:(, SOME HAVE BEEN RAPED, BURNT JUST AS A LEASON,SOME LIVE EVERYDAY WITH THREATS AND A PRICE ON THEIR HEAD:((. IF VILLAGERS COULD STORM A POLICE STATION WHAT CAN THEY DO TO A RESCUE CENTER OR AN ANT FGM ACTIVIST HOME? YOU DO THE MATH.
ON THE OTHER HAND AS THE GOVERNMENT OF KENYA CONTINUE TO PROTECT THE GIRLS AND DO SOME SERIOUS ARRESTS TO WHOEVER TRIES,THINKS,DREAMS TO MUTILATE GIRLS. MY EYES ARE ON YOU AND THE WORLD IS WATCHING WITH ME.GIRLS DESERVE EDUCATION AND A BETTER LIFE!

EDUCATION TO ALL GIRLS IS A GREAT INVESTMENT.

PLEASE MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO MASHUA VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS INTERNATIONAL. INC it is our first time ever to ask you for donations,please see the donate button on your right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Over 200 girls have run away and camping in Kuria district Kenya asking the government to save them from FGM. I expect the government of Kenya to save every single girl in Kenya!

2011-11-28T08:17:00.000-08:00

Following FGM cases going on in Kuria District whereby young girls are taken for the mutilation in the month of December annually, more than 200 young girls are camping in Ikerege village at a rescue camp fearing forced female genital mutilation. Speaking to press at the center, the girls said the Government must now come out strongly and save them from this culture. But according to one of the Kuria elders, men should not be blamed over FGM but the girls must blame their mothers who take them for the procedure.(ooh yeah that is "right" who are you kidding?)
This girls should be taught and believe it is their human rights not to be mutilated!!!
PLEASE MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO MASHUA VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS INTERNATIONAL. INC it is our first time ever to ask you for donations,please see the donate button on your right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Kenyan government walk the talk and give a 100% protection to the girls this MUTILATING (FGM )SEASON! AND EARLY MARRIAGES,We want to see some serious jail terms for all the crooks and pedophiles !! Ambassador Mashua

2011-11-28T06:42:00.000-08:00

According to a reliable source and an article, most of the mutilation are executed deep in the night which has been an obstacle to the fight against FGM. And most girls are forced to marry after undergoing FGM.
December holiday when such ceremonies are rampant. With the passing of Bill in April this year, Kenya joined other African countries prohibiting FGM.
The bill provides that any one found practicing FGM and convicted will be sent to jail for seven years or fined 500,000 shillings. (5,250$)!! Anyone who causes death in the process of carrying out FGM will be liable to life imprisonment.Those convicted of aiding, abetting or carrying out FGM will be liable to imprisonment for a term between three and seven years or a fine of between 100,000 shillings and 500,000 shillings (5,250$). Kenyan government it is time you walk the talk we want to see some serious jail time for the crooks and also life imprisonment especially to all the crooks, handlers and helpers involved in the mutilation murder of the 16 years old girl who bleed to death few weeks ago in POKOT!!! We are watching and we are on to you!! And every girl that will be mutilated we will count at least 3 crooks jailed so 1 for 3!! meanwhile we will continue rescuing girls because its still so clear they are not safe!!! Do your job and keep the children safe!!

PLEASE MAKE A TAX DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO MASHUA VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS INTERNATIONAL. INC it is our first time ever to ask you for donations,please see the donate button on your right hand side of this blog.
Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Hundreds of girls are escaping FGM and crossing the boarders from Kenya, this girls are at risk of human traffic as they are running to anywhere and into anyone, please donate to help keep girls safe .

2011-11-22T15:15:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of girls are believed to have crossed over to neighbouring Tanzania for fear of being forced to undergo female genital mutilation.

According to residents in Kuria, hundreds of girls, some as young as ten years old, have fled their homes to avoid the traditional rite which is scheduled for December among the Abagumbe clan.

The girls are reported to have escaped within a period of one week to avoid forced female genital mutilation (FGM).

Mr John Gichoro, a resident of Nyabohanse village, said that preparations for the cultural celebrations were already ongoing even as the Government issued a stern warning that it would arrest and prosecute any parent or guardian subjecting children to the backward practice.

Speaking in the area, Nyanza PC Mr Francis Mutie who toured the region last week described the rite as retrogressive and asked the community’s leaders to find alternative ways of ushering their children to adult-hood.

"This is something that has to change as it denies our girls a chance to lead a normal life," he said adding that researchers have confirmed the practice has no benefit to the girls or the community.

There have been reports of some parents believed to be faking their daughters’ disappearance to enable them mutilate them secretly in their homes.(holding them hostages in their own home)

A number of organsiations fighting the vice in the region have been urged to establish secluded camps where girls would be trained on alternative rites of passage.

Kuria west district children’s officer John Langat said his office in collaboration with a number of NGOs the police, the provincial administration and churches, had taken the necessary measures to protect girls from being forced to face the knife.

"We are aware of those planning to launch this rite within the abagumbe clan but we are not going to allow them infringe the rights of their daughters this time round," Mr Langat warned.

The Kuria community has four clans, which practice the outlawed rite of passage in liaison with their kin in Tanzania.

This is also an opportunity for human traffickers to get this girls, believe me many disappear for good:(((. please donate today to Mashua voice for the voiceless international.inc a tax deductible for a donation of 10 or more we send a personalized post card to a girl rescued, we can also send you a bumper sticker or a button. in that way we give shelter to the girls as we have families who are ready to take them in, on the right side of our blog you will see a donate button, I have rescued girls every year with the help f foot soldiers on the ground using my own money but this time around for the first time I am asking for your financial support.

Ambassador Lucy Mashua
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Leading the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Mashua voice for the voiceless.com: Why in the world some people who have no clue abou...

2011-11-04T15:06:00.000-07:00

Mashua voice for the voiceless.com: Why in the world some people who have no clue abou...: Why in the world some people who have no clue about the agony of FGM on women and girls that have undergone FGM think it's sexist to have la...

Why in the world some people who have no clue about the agony of FGM on women and girls that have undergone FGM think it's sexist to have laws that protect girls from FGM?

2011-11-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

Why in the world some people who have no clue about the agony of FGM on women and girls that have undergone FGM think it's sexist to have laws that protect girls from FGM?
It is so disappointing to have people who don't care what happens to other people who don't look like them, or different colours , FGM is declared as a human rights violation on girls and women because it's evil and for those of us survive it we know. Just because it didn't happen to you or your people it does not give you the right to interfere with our fight against it because we are fighting for other innocent girls and women at risk trying to save them not to undergo what we dreaded!!! so women haters or selfish people saving a girl or protecting a girl who does not look like yours or speak your language from mutilation is it SEXIST? When a girl is mutilated at any age that makes them viable for childhood marriage to older men, if girls are not mutilated they don't get married off and so if we can stop FGM we are stopping rape( childhood marriage) and sexual slavery. I have heard enough selfish egoistic characters wining because I am fighting hard with other survivors around the world to get tougher laws on FGM and you call me a "SEXIST"? and our HR 2221 GIRLS PROTECTION ACT OF 2011 a "SEXIST" bill? are you out of your mind? do you know how it feels to be held down, gagged on a tree then with no warning your genitals are chopped off ,then you are sew shut together?, all this time you are screaming and no one is there to help?,then your legs are bound together for days and you can't urinate? do you have any idea? I DON'T THINK SO! Because if you had any you will never accuse ANTI FGM activists or law makers as SEXIST!!! Leave us alone with our cause and mind your own business if you can't support us. Thank you US Congress for our HR 2221 Girls protection act of 2011 this will rescue over 280,000 American -immigrant girls at risk thank you to all of you who have Cosponsored and I believe it will be in the Senate soon and next year it will be inacted into law , thank you so much MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA.

"THIS IS MY VOW I LUCY SEMEIYAN MASHUA WILL CONTINUE TO BE AN ACTIVIST FIGHTING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS, AND UNTIL FGM IS HISTORY I WILL NOT STOP! BAD MOUTH ME, FIGHT ME, TRY TO BRING ME DOWN AND I WILL USE THAT ENERGY TO FORGE FORWARD:).

Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 2221: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

CEDAW NEED TO BE RATIFIED AND PRACTICED ENOUGH WITH EMPTY TALKS AND EXPENSES WHILE THE AFFECTED WOMEN CONTINUE TO SUFFER! Global Ambassador against FGM and standing for human rights Lucy Mashua

2011-11-03T07:00:00.000-07:00

Thirty years after the adoption of CEDAW (United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women), many women and girls still do not have equal opportunities to realise rights recognised by law. In most countries, women are denied the right to own property or inherit land. They face social exclusion, ‘honour killings’, FGM (female genital mutilation), trafficking, restricted mobility and early marriage, among others.
Women in Africa face dual legal systems wherein customary laws on inheritance, property ownership favour the men over the women and patriarchal traditions which consider men as heads of the family. Cultural marginalisation severely limits women’s education opportunities, which results in high illiteracy levels and a lack of qualifications and skills. These factors block women’s participation in politics, decision making and leadership positions. It is often notable that traditional and religious practices relegate women to traditional households roles.
Violence and discrimination against women are social epidemics and despite the progress made by women’s rights movements in identifying, raising awareness, and challenging impunity for women’s rights violations, serious discrimination continues to target women in Africa. In conflict-ridden areas like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Ivory Coast, and Darfur region in Sudan, women are raped as a weapon of war with no impunity.
In the past years, there has been some encouraging progress regarding gender equality in Africa. Some states have made considerable advancements in protecting women from sexual violence and encouraging women to participate in politics and election. Most have gender policies or some kind of national women’s mechanism, such as a Ministry of Gender or Ministry of Women’s Affairs. There are aspects of gender equality in many constitutions and some countries have passed other laws on different aspects of women’s rights.
Despite growing numbers of women’s parliaments, women’s participation in politics is still far from adequate in Africa. However, according to the UN MDG’s (Millennium Development Goals) 2011 report, Sub Saharan Africa has registered an increase from 13 percent in 2000 to 20 percent in 2011, with North Africa also seeing a similar increase, with 3 percent in 2000 up to 12 percent in 2011.
There has been some recent progress regarding women’s political participation with Ethiopia, Madagascar and the United Republic of Tanzania recording improvements in 2010. Women’s representation in parliaments in Sub-Saharan Africa is now higher than in South Asia, the Arab states or Eastern Europe. Rwanda has proven to be a regional leader in terms of gender main-streaming, access to legal aid and women’s political participation with 51% of females holding parliamentary seats; the highest in the world.
In April 2011, The president of Mali appointed Cisse Mariam Kaidama to be the country’s new prime minister. Kaidama is the first woman to take on the top job in Malian politics. In July 2011, Angola took a step forward for women’s rights by enacting a Law to criminalise domestic violence and offer protection and support to victims and their families. Kenya and Guinea-Bissau have become the latest countries to make genital mutilation illegal by passing a law prohibiting the practice, and Equatorial Guinea ratified the Maputo Protocol and so became the 31st country to do so.
Most African countries have ratified CEDAW (with the exception of Sudan and Somalia), and so far, 31 out of 53 countries have ratified the Maputo protocol with the latest being Equatorial Guinea. Last year the African Union declared 2010-2020 as African Women’s Decade. The theme of this year is “Health, Maternal Mortality and HIV/AIDS”. This decade is a promise from African governments and the African Union to promote women’s rights and achieve gender equality in Africa.
The African Women’s Decade is quite significant and unique. It officially puts women at the centre of every initiative or work that will be undertaken in Africa by the African Union, and its member states in the next 10 years. By placing women at the centre of it all, African women and girls will have an opportunity to flourish and become advocates and leaders. However, there is a need for African Governments to back up their commitments with actions. We need to empower African women and girls with the tools they need to become agents of change. In 10 years, we need to look back at the African Women’s Decade and be proud of what we have achieved as individuals and as a global community.
(Enough with the CEDAW talk move from talks to action, big conventions and meetings will alone in the cities will not solve women issues. you need to be involved on the ground with locals and activists from the community to get things done!)

Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Mashua voice for the voiceless international.Inc supports Women in Somalia who are fighting the ban on FGM.

2011-11-03T06:44:00.000-07:00

We support the women of Somalia and the activists, we know it is not going to be easy but keep on fighting,Women's groups in the Somali town of Galkayo are lobbying the authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland to enact a law banning female genital mutilation (FGM), saying the practice was becoming widespread. Activists say FGM causes serious health problems to the women and is against their religion.

"Unfortunately, we have noticed that instead of decreasing, the practice seems to be re-emerging, particularly in camps for the displaced,” said Lul Madar, head of the Mudug Women’s Development Network, one of the organizations pushing for the enactment of an anti-FGM law.

Madar said the increase in FGM seemed to correspond to an increase in the incidence of rape, particularly in internally displaced people’s (IDP) camps.

"We have many parents who believe that if the girl is mutilated, it will make it hard for the rapist; unfortunately, it won’t stop the rapist but will only add to the suffering of the woman,” she said.

Madar said women’s groups like hers were lobbying the Puntland authorities to pass a law criminalizing the practice, adding that although such a law may not stamp it out, “it will have a fear effect and can be used by activists to fight FGM.

Hawa Aden, executive director of the Galkayo Education Centre for Peace and Development (GECPD), a group that advocates for women's issues, told press the women were not only seeking a law but “also a religious fatwa [decree] proclaiming that FGM is Haram [illegal] under Islam.

“This will have an impact on the practice,” she said. “We must attack it on all fronts.”

Farhiya Jama, an anti-FGM activist, said she was determined to ensure that young girls did not undergo FGM. "I am 40 years old now and I still vividly remember when I was cut. It gives me nightmares.”

We want to tell these men that mutilation does not enhance or add to a girl's value as a wife and a mother but actually diminishes itJama said she suffered during childbirth and whenever she menstruates. "I dread the days when my period is close because of the pain I go through; it gets to the point where the pain makes it impossible to do anything. I don't want any girl to be subjected to this kind of suffering."

“Gudnin", or infibulation, as practised in Somalia, involves cutting off the external genitalia and sewing up the vagina, leaving a small hole for urine and menstruation.

Apart from the risks of severe blood loss, shock and infection, longer-term problems associated with FGM include infections of the urinary and reproductive tracts, infertility and a range of obstetric complications, such as postpartum haemorrhage and death of the baby, said Abdulkadir Jama Dhaga’ade, a gynaecologist-obstetrician and the director of Galkayo Medical Centre.

Dhaga’ade said FGM was one of the main contributing factors to the fistula cases he had been seeing. “It leads to prolonged labour and causes what is medically known as Uterine inertia.”

Convincing men

Madar of the Women’s Network said it was engaged in awareness campaigns targeting "not only the mothers and the girls but the men, particularly the young men of marriageable age, professionals and religious leaders. We want to tell these men that mutilation does not enhance or add to a girl's value as a wife and a mother but actually diminishes it."

The group is also taking its campaign to rural areas where the practice “is widespread”, she said.

Madar said convincing and winning the support of traditional elders and religious leaders was crucial to the group’s efforts.

"It is therefore very important to involve men, particularly religious leaders, in the campaign to eradicate FGM to debunk some of the myths that somehow the practice has a religious significance, or adds to the woman’s value," she said. .
Come on Somalia yes you can do this , Women and activists in Somalia I fully support you and yes attack it from all sides , Religion and culture there is no excuse for this atrocity!!

Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 2221:The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

In some community FGM thrives despite being outlawed in Kenya. and they say they will not stop.

2011-08-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

As KENYA joined in marking the international human rights day, in Kuria several girls lined up to undergo the ritual of female genital mutilation that is currently outlawed in Kenya. Many members of the community say this an integral part of their culture that cannot be discarded overnight. They say they will not stop even if they will be killed one of the mutilators said...and she bragged of how much money she makes per blood shed 400ksh per victim 5$:((. can you imagine government watches this and does nothing? she can mutilate up to a 1000 girls a day:(( ,
This girls are locked up in a dark hut for three weeks to cop with the pain:(( not all make it:(( this is freaking murder!!! I swear I will fight this atrocity until it's history help me GOD!

Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 2221: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

SEVEN GIRLS RESCUED AFTER BEING MUTILATED AND ONE OF THEM PREGNANT FIGHTING TO SAVE HER UNBORN BABY.10-16YRS. IN KENYA

2011-08-10T21:24:00.000-07:00

They were rescued this monday.
Seven girls who were on Monday rescued after they had undergone female genital mutilation in Meru are set to be discharged from hospital. The incident had left one of the girls unconscious, and another who was 3 months pregnant fighting to save her unborn baby. Although FGM has been outlawed in Kenya since the ratification of the children's act in 2001, it is alive and kicking especially in the region. But as sally Mbilu reports, parliament is set to debate a proposed bill criminalising the act. What a shame that the four girls they are daughters of a pastor (Christian). Though the other pastors have condemned this evil atrocity!!!
This is just disgusting we are fighting so hard and yet no arrest have been made?
Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 2221: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

US CONGRESS,THE SENATE,HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE,US GOVERNMENT,: Save over 280,000 girls at risk of FGM, HR 2221 GILRS PROTECTION BILL ACT OF 2011.

2011-08-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone my names are Lucy Mashua and I am the global ambassador for fighting female genital mutilation and standing up for women's right. I am a survivor of FGM and for that reason I chose to be the voice for the voiceless . in the US we have over 280,000 at risk of undergoing FGM, some with a kitchen knife in their US kitchen, some will be taken to some doctors like Dr. Dix P. Poppas, head of pediatric urology department at Cornell University's New York who performs FGM on girls and then uses his finger or vibrator weeks later to test arousal:(( disgusting) , we will deal with him later I just want you to know what we are dealing with,some girls will be transported back during holidays to their parents country of origin and they will undergo FGM, this bill will hinder all that ,HR 2221 GIRLS PROTECTION ACT OF 2011, introduced by Rep Mary Mack Bono (republican) and Rep Joseph Crowley (democrat), I have been working with both office and the state department on this issue and now as a face of this bill I am humbled and honored, here is the list of the 19 co-sponsor we have already ,here is what am kindly asking you to do please call them and thank them if they are your representatives, tell them you appreciate them and they rock, also tell them a big thank you from me , for those of you that you don't see your representative name please call them and ask them to co-sponsor , I will keep you posted ,
Cosponsor Statistics: 19 current (includes 19 original)
Rep Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI-2] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Berkley, Shelley [D-NV-1] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN-7] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Blumenauer, Earl [D-OR-3] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Bono Mack, Mary [R-CA-45] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Dent, Charles W. [R-PA-15] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Franks, Trent [R-AZ-2] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Jones, Walter B., Jr. [R-NC-3] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep King, Peter T. [R-NY-3] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [D-NY-14] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Matheson, Jim [D-UT-2] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep McDermott, Jim [D-WA-7] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep McGovern, James P. [D-MA-3] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Nadler, Jerrold [D-NY-8] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Pitts, Joseph R. [R-PA-16] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Schmidt, Jean [R-OH-2] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Schock, Aaron [R-IL-18] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Tiberi, Patrick J. [R-OH-12] - 6/16/2011 *
Rep Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL-20] - 6/16/2011 *

FGM is a violation of girls and women human rights see this atrocity as sexual slavery ,and not a political issue thank you our leaders for recognizing this.GOD BLESS AMERICA.

Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 2221: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

FGM SURVIVORS ACTIVISTS SHOULD LEAD IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FGM, WITH GREAT SUPPORT FROM PEOPLE AGAINST FGM.

2011-07-31T22:31:00.000-07:00

I am saying this from the bottom of my heart we are tired of hearing theories from researchers who have no idea what it feels to be mutilated and honest truth is in general the voices of Survivors and Victims of FGM are not heard or are relegated to sensationalized news and magazine articles:(. A permanent space within international discourses of female genital Mutilation needs to be created so that these women’s voices can be better heard and respected. Survivors activists leads in the fight and not researchers!!!

The special credence currently bestowed upon negative health outcome based arguments potentially marginalizes the women most affected by FGM. These medical arguments make health outcomes the most salient issue in discourses of FGM to the detriment of other possible considerations and assume a uniform experience of health and illness. Issues of culture and agency become subsumed under medical arguments. Additionally, basing discussions of FGM eradication on medical arguments requires specific specialized forms of knowledge and access to scientific studies. For this reason, international discussions of FGM eradication are often inaccessible to mutilated women in the developing world. And that is why we who know the pain and live it we educate our people on the ground though with no any financial support but we do what we can, we might not see the sudden eradication but one day this silent genocide will end!!

Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 5137: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Please sign our petition

2011-07-10T22:55:00.000-07:00

Refrain racism

Greetings, From US immigrant women who feel discriminated by racist terms.

I just signed the following petition addressed to: Anti male circumcision using the racist terms THE CLITORIS WOMAN and VULVA GIRL..

----------------
Refrain racism
We ask department of state global women issues,UNHCR,UNIFEM,AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL,CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT,AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL,ALL WOMEN RIGHTS MOVEMENT,PRESIDENT OBAMA, FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA,ALL THE REFUGEES AGENCY to ask the anti male circumcision campaign led by Mike Anderson of intact America to refrain from the racist terms VULVA GIRL AND THE CLITORIS woman and making it as a comic book it's not funny!!!
This is important because most of FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION SURVIVORS live with only half or less of their genitals. hundreds bleed to death every day, We are in America because this country was founded on human rights and respects all people and does not discriminate. But the use of VULVA GIRL AND THE CLITORIS WOMAN in a comic book(they think its funny well I don't!!) is RACISM against Refugees and immigrant girls,women.

Greetings everyone,
My name is LUCY MASHUA I am also the global ambassador for fighting against FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION and standing up for WOMEN RIGHTS.
as you all know the anti male circumcision in the US have new campaigns using female genitalia parts I wonder why they are not just comfortable using their own parts. Anyway since only the immigrant women and girls are directly affected by the atrocity of FGM in the US we find it a racist and a discriminating disrespecting and insensitive term!!!!We have been working on a petition against the racist,disrespecting term(THE CLITORIS WOMAN THE VULVA GIRL) the anti male circumcision are using for their campaign (mostly WHITE MALES)...and since only the female immigrants are affected by FGM it's racism and sexist and it is an insult to all Female genital mutilation survivors and victims. also when it comes to FGM the parts that are mutilated it's not only the clitoris. As a woman I feel so disrespected and as an immigrant discriminated upon,as a FGM survivor I feel stripped naked my dignity as a woman.have in mind all FGM survivors and victims have half or more of their Female genitals removed:(.
We are not against male circumcision campaign we are against the racists terms used in the campaign.
Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM Leading in lobbying for HR 5137: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack. http://twitter.com/Mashua http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415
After talking to many immigrant women and refugees this is our petition on behalf of our daughter and FGM survivors in the US.hope even if this term does not directly affect you and you think or believe we have a right in this country to protest please join us.
----------------
Sincerely,

[Your name]
please go to change.org to sign or copy this to your URL bar
http://www.change.org/petitions/anti-male-circumcision-campaign-refrain-from-racism-terms-and-discrimination

Mashua Against FGM Global Campaign join hands with the women activists of indonensia to say NO TO ANY FORM OF FGM.

2011-06-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

In recent years, the law that prohibited the performance of FGM by health professionals has led some communities in Indonesia to continue practicing FGM in secret, for example in their own homes. As a reaction to this development, the Indonesian government revoked its 2006 law and adopted a new regulation that states that mutilation should be performed only my legal medical workers, a decision that sparked anger and disappointment among human rights and women’s rights activists in Indonesia and around the world.

Activists urged Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih to immediately revoke a ministerial regulation on female genital mutilation because it not only legitimizes violence against Indonesian women but also may neglect their abilities to fully exercise their fundamental rights on reproductive health and freedom.

National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) deputy chairperson Masruchah said Thursday the issuance of Health Minister Regulation No. 1636/2010 on female genital mutilation had tarnished the commitments recently shown by the government in protecting women’s reproductive health and freedom.

“It is so sad to see such a setback as we have achieved some improvements in protecting the rights of our women,” Masruchah told a press conference held by Amnesty International and Indonesian Civil Societies.

As part of commitments to protect rights on reproductive health and freedom, the Health Ministry’s public health directorate general issued in 2006 a circular letter prohibiting professional health workers, including nurses, midwives or physicians, to perform female genital mutilation.In 2006, Indonesia, which has one of the highest rates of female genital mutilation in the world, made the practice of removing the clitoris of newborn babies illegal. In Indonesia, the mutilation is usually performed shortly after the birth of female babies by midwives or other health workers. As a result, the rate of FGM in Indonesia is estimated to be as high as 98 percent.“In Bone, South Sulawesi, followers of Islam who have deep-rooted patriarchal cultures define the female genital mutilation as a total removal of the clitoris. It is very dangerous because it will not only hurt women but also badly affect their reproductive health,” Masruchah said.How can they now permit female genital mutilation, whereas they have previously prohibited such inhumane practices? It is a setback,” said women rights activist Ratna Batara Munti.

The Komnas Perempuan demanded the ministry prohibit FGM altogether.I Lucy Mashua the global ambassador for fighting female genital mutilation and standing up for women rights and speaking from experience I agree this is a major setback and making our efforts as activists useless. any kind of FGM is unacceptable and it's against human rights of women! NO GOVERNMENT,RELIGION,CULTURE OR MAN has the right to sexually enslave a woman by disabling her God given genitals!! Women we don't exist just to give babies,satisfy men sexually...we exist because we are the givers of life and we are human beings!!! We should be treated with respect at all times anywhere in the world.

Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 5137: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

No more warrants to raid female genital mutilation dens the new Anti FGM bill in Kenya states:)I pray it passes.

2011-06-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

The police will not be required to have an arrest warrant to enter premises where they suspect female genital mutilation is being carried out.

This is according to a Bill that will prohibit female genital mutilation.

The Bill has been amended to include the establishment of an advisory board on female genital mutilation in preparation for the next stage in Parliament, nominated MP Sophia Abdi Noor said.

Spells out mandate

The proposed law spells out the mandate and roles of board members, among other details that will be discussed by the committee behind the Bill in conjunction with representatives from the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Development.

The Bill, moved by Mt Elgon MP Fred Kapondi, has been through the second reading in Parliament and the lawmaker is confident it will sail through Parliament.

“The amendment stage is the easiest part of any Bill,” he said.

The proposed law will criminalise the practice and make those involved in its practice offenders.(I LOVE THIS)

“There are existing laws which touch on it but they have loopholes that expose girls to the process,” Mr Kapondi told an advocacy forum organised by the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association in Nairobi.

The Constitution protects women from harmful cultural practices. Article 27 (4) says no person should be compelled to undergo a cultural practice.(FINALY MY PEOPLE).
Article 55(d) states that the government shall take measures to protect the youth from harmful cultural practices and exploitation.

Section 14 of the Children’s Act of 2001 also protects children from harmful cultural practices.

WHEN WE FIGHT FGM WE DON'T FIGHT A CULTURE OR RELIGION WE FIGHT A CRIME!!

Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 5137: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Ines Laufer, Simone Schwarz, and followers are permanently banned from Maasai Men Against FGM.

2011-06-18T14:57:00.000-07:00

As I have said please be aware of this two women they are not true to the cause of eradicating FGM, they are RACISTS and CYBER BULLIES everything they say they know they don't have facts they are just attention seekers and we EAST AFRICAN /KENYAN community we say they have nothing they do for us only adding insults and slander they have never helped any project in our community and NEVER TRUST THEM THEY TRIED TO SLANDER ME ,SMEAR MY NAME BUT THEY NEVER SUCCEEDED BECAUSE GOOD PEOPLE KNOW LIARS AND SCAMMERS!!! IN MY OWN WORDS LUCY MASHUA
Take a look of this note from another dedicated ANTI FGM GROUP Maasai Men Against Fgm.
Ines Laufer, Simone Scwarz, Roser Lackner and Nora Splite are permanently banned from MMAFGM.
From The Management of the Maasai men Against FGM.
Honorable Members;
It has come to our awareness that a group of ill-meaning individuals have infiltrated our noble cause. These individuals harbor malice intentions to peril our positive campaign for Education against FGM in Maasailand and elsewhere.
These individuals begun their first attacks by intentionally creating chaos, diverging attention from the issues to their personal ideology. Disguised as foot soldiers against FGM, the individuals arrogantly force their way with the Know-it-all attitude dis-respecting the noble cause against FGM, the members and scaring away other potential members who may not join us due to such archaic behaviors projected by these individuals.
Maasai Men Against FGM have observed that Ines Laufer, Simone Scwarz, Roser Lackner and Nora Splite inhibit a twisted view on humanity as reflected by their comments on this cause's page. It's a pity that people whom we banked on are turning to be a threat not only to our dream of an FGM free zone, but the unity of purpose that brought the group together in the first place.

After issuing a first warning to the cheer leader of these individuals, Ines Laufer, she continued to disrespect our cause, spreading rumors with intent to cause havoc and tarnish the good name , our focus and niche against FGM. We found no otherwise than to permanently terminate their membership in this group.
Our intention is to participate as Agents of positive change and development in our society. We very much welcome individuals as well as a diverse spectrum of other actors to discuss with us on the best ways to eradicate FGM. We're learners but we don't encourage bad teachers. We keep off from unqualified guides or people full of hate for Men or other cultures apart from theirs as the MMAFGM has observed in the case. We do not encourage people who think their culture is superior than any other! We detest racist and ethnicists, people who use racial or ethnic cultural or biological diversity to oppress, undermine or in anyway, dis-respect others.
This group was initiated for the LOVE of our fellow women human beings. We LOVE our women, our daughters our nieces. We belief in the notion that all human beings are created equal. Regardless of their gender, color of their skin, their ethnic belonging, religion or ideological background. We belief that no culture is superior than any other. All cultures have flaws. They're dynamic and flexible. Maasai culture has a lot of bad parts just as the culture that led Hitler and the Nazi Germany to commit a genocide against the Jews for example. Maasai culture is changing to the better, just as the Nazi Germany is washed away and Germany is now one of the best countries to live in. We do not use the genocide history against the present German children. Equally, we find it twisted that someone uses the bad part of our culture against us, even when we've initiated a page for such required reforms.

We as a group knows that Education creates a foundation for open mind, wider perspective and provision of a diversity of alternatives of livelihood and tolerance. Ines Laufer and her disciples should have been a good example for open mindedness.
Our expanded indigenous moral boundaries supports us to embrace the best parts of other cultures as we share the best of our culture with those around us. We do not shy away from learning and we can also be very good teachers. BUT, we dis-like people who fist down their twisted ideologies into out throats. We do not just dis-like these kind of people, but we cut them off from anything to do with us, our people and our ways of life! We say, we do not want their help! Let them take it back to where they come from and leave us alone to solve our own problems.
The Enkishui E Maa taught us to keep focus, to switch off noise as we concentrate on our niche against FGM. Our niche against FGM is education and good morals promoted with love in a humble environment. Meeli Maa repeatedly advised Ines Laufer to focus on issues, be tolerant to other views and keep an open mind.
The writer applied all diplomatic means to keep Ines Laufer in the group even after receiving calls from concerned members who felt they were repelled by Ines' presence. The writer have seen Ines slashing our members and contributors immediately someone mentions EDUCATION as the most effective way against FGM. Ines Laufer even thought that those promoting education lacks empathy for what she calls “slaves of men from the mutilating communities” Every individual in this group mentions education as the most effective means of empowerment not only for the girl-child, but also for the boy-child and the adult in societies where FGM/C is practiced. Thuku, Mwirichia and 181 other members mentioned Empowerment with Enlightenment as a Ines Laufer and her followers trash it as nonsense. Members in this group who originates from societies where FGM/C is practiced have all vowed to protect their sisters against the cut. They are empowered and can retain their ethnic identity but without cutting their girls, or marrying them off too early. They'll let them choose men of their own choice. They'll let them own the right to their own bodies. This is the attitude the Maasai Men are promoting. This is the true empowerment education and good morals provides us with.
Ines believes that there is no need for dialogue, that the “mutilating societies should all be imprisoned”. The writer mentioned to Ines that it may not be practical to build prisons for about 3 million Kenyan Maasai, the same in Tanzania, the Kisii, Pokot, Nandi, parts of Kikuyu, Somalis of Kenya Tanzania and Somalia not to mention the majority of the Islamic world.

Enlightenment brought diverse ways of seeing the world to the West. It does to Africa too. But for Ines Laufer and her disciples, Africans do not deserve to benefit from education because it has now proven not to work for them according to the research papers she claims to be highly reliable. Ines does not believe in dialogue, she wants to drop cluster bombs on “mutilating societies in Africa and Islamic world” to force them drop FGM. She wants to keep them away from education because education according to her, is a waste of time, money and energy. Ines ideology and perception is exactly the opposite of what this group believes in. This are therefore the few reasons the management could provide for the permanent banning of Ines Laufer, Simone Scwarz, Roser Lackner and Nora Splite.
To our noble members, Education is the foundation for positive change and development and a sure way to eradicating FGM in Maasailand! As the Ilaikipiak Lamayio says, Give us wings! Talk to us.

EDUCATION IS A VITAL INGREDIENT TO THE ELIMINATION OF FGM.
Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 5137: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

The only Radio dedicated to End FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION hosted by a survivor of FGM.

2011-06-11T14:19:00.000-07:00

Listen to internet radio with Mashua voice for the on Blog Talk Radio

A Kenyan member of Parliament moved the house to tears as she narrates her own horrifying FGM experience.

2011-06-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

Never before in the history of the august House had a member used her life experience to move debate as Ms Sophia Abdi did when supporting Bill to outlaw female genital mutilation.
Everyone believed it was a Islamic religious obligation to undergo the torture, and the conviction was that a woman who was not mutilated was unclean and not fit for marriage.
It was also believed that God could not hear prayers of an unmutilated woman. The MP was brought up to believe it was an Islamic religious rite.
Nominated MP Sophia Abdi Noor tends to speak forcefully on most issues she is concerned about. But when she rose to contribute on the Bill to outlaw female genital mutilation in Parliament last week, her voice dropped as the House went silent.
It was perhaps the first time an MP was giving a deeply personal story which contributing to debate.
FGM, said Sophia, was the cause of a harrowing experience during menstruation, her first sexual experience, and the eventual childbirth.
This, she said, is the driving force behind her passionate fight against the practice, which Parliament now seeks to outlaw with the Bill sponsored by Mt Elgon MP Fred Kapondi.
She was barely eight years old when together with seven of her agemates, she was handed over to a traditional circumciser who took them through the painful process of FGM. It has been many years since, and she has accomplished so much in life, but the incident remains fresh in her mind.
The old woman who took them through the process was going blind, she says, and three of the eight who underwent FGM died due to excessive bleeding. One of them was her very close friend.
Luckily for her, the bleeding was not too much and she had a saviour at hand. Her father, who was a policeman, took her to a hospital in Garissa using a police Land Rover.
Completely changed
She was in hospital for a week and underwent a transfusion of four pints of blood. After she left the hospital, her life completely changed and her mother was also affected as she felt guilty for ‘blessing’ her daughter to undergo the rite.
The beginning of her complications was her first menstrual period, which was slow as the opening of her vagina was small, restricting the flow and her period lasted up to seven days. This would mean missing classes for the whole period and she would often lag behind in class.
Sophia does not remember her wedding day as the happy occasion it usually is for most people.
“It was a night I literally don’t want to remember,” she said. Her husband was equally affected due to the frustrations they encountered trying to consummate their union.(HAVE SEX)
It took them three days before her husband could open up to friends about their frustrations of being unable to consummate their marriage.
“I was completely closed and we could not even share with our mothers who kept checking our bedsheets for blood (a custom to make sure you were completely shut only to be reopened the first night of marriage parents had to see blood to confirm FGM worked:(). They got worried and asked the very young couples of our age to come and find out what the problem was,” she recalls.

More problems
She was later taken to hospital for an operation although the eventual consummation was still difficult because of the wound from the operation.
She would also have problems later as she gave birth to her first child, a baby boy. She had prolonged labour for four days and she could not undergo a Caesarean section because the child had already moved to exit position. The baby had to be removed by a vacuum, slightly injuring his head.
Ms Noor says it is this experience of her life that propelled her to launch anti-FGM campaigns.
“So many girls have died out of this, there is no documentation because this is done in secret, but this is killing and that is why I am talking about it,” she said.I Lucy Mashua I can testify under oath that this is 100% true:(
She said it’s a very painful psychological experience. with some dying and that “there is no homestead that has no sad story arising from FGM,” says Ms Noor.
She explains that as a child from a pastoralist community, FGM was a compulsory rite.
“It was not a matter of consultation, it was even a taboo to talk about i. It was a very strong belief,” she says. (YOU CAN IMAGINE WHAT HAPPENS TO SOMEONE WHO SPEAKS AND SACRIFICE HER LIFE AS AN FGM ACTIVIST.)
Everyone believed it was a religious obligation to undergo the rite, and the conviction was that a woman who was not mutilated was unclean and not fit for marriage.
It was also believed that God could not hear prayers of an unmutilated woman. But the MP does not blame her mother for the ordeal. She understands too well that like many other women in her community, she was brought up to believe it was a religious rite.
Going through the process meant cleansing daughters for marriage. “No one wanted their daughter to be a ‘haram’(Arabic) for unfit for marriage,” she explains.
A part from the belief that mutilating the girl made her clean, it was also believed that the process protected her virginity.
“Once taken to her husband, he would know that she had been properly taken care of,” the MP explains. The third reason for FGM is that the community was scared of girls who were not mutilated, easily branding them prostitutes.
This is because it was believed not going through FGM left a woman sensitive sexually hence could easily turn to prostitution.
My parting shot
O.M.G we undergo all these to satisfy a man's world? purely hidden in pretense of culture and religion? FGM is a crime against women and all the perpetrators should be locked up! as a victim myself at the age of 9 I can totally relate to Ms Noor. I can not say male circumcision is equal to FGM there is no comparison!! with the number of over 200 girls bleeding to death everyday , you can imagine if in one homestead (Boma) 8 girls bled to death one morning how under reported is FGM deaths? The mutilators are sometimes murderers, and deserve prison for torturing killing girls. This sounds like an exaggeration, but death occurs sometimes years later for slow infections, childbirth, and lifelong illness. Working with immigrants everyday this happens everyday and with our girls protection bill currently to be reintroduced to congress doctors can be of very much help to catching this mutilators, USA believes in human rights and if you want to live freely in united states you need to not violate any human rights!!!
Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 5137: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Germany organisation exposed for using FGM activist Marie Nareku as a plat form. be aware of,Simone Shwartz,Ines Laufer

2011-06-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

This organisation - looking so innocent and solid and heart warming - is nothing more than a big scam and shame!! Founders accusing real victims of FGM of lying about their suffering, lying about being raped, lying about having families, children, and actively works to put those people in harms way!! Never trust them, never join them, and spread the word - they must be stopped. Name and shame!!
It is such individuals that make our work to fight against FGM difficult, if confronted they will just slander you and discriminate you. They attacked me personally by using my story to mock me and my children, and as a survivor of FGM I felt discriminated on. if anyone can use your pain, your children to try to bring you down while they claim they are against FGM they are no good.
They did this after I told them I would let them use my painful experience and my children for their own hidden agendas before I could say anything officially they went online and called me a fraud. come on this people who I met once now think they know me? anyway I had a great support system from friends and families who called this unintelligent silly joke:). Anyway I filed a formal complain after I contacted my local FBI office . Thank you for all of you who have stood by me since then. here is their latest Kenyan activist targeted prey asking them to stop using her name to make their organisation look legit .http://with-heart-against-fgm.com/tabu-e-v/resignation-of-marie-nareku-as-patron-of-the-task-force/
Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 5137: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

After the silly untruthful attacks from the Germany organisation made of two people my sister Linda May wrote this on my behalf.

2011-06-09T08:31:00.000-07:00

This organisation in Germany made of two angry women Simone schwarz,Ines Laufer ,their only work is to look for African victims to use their name to get fame and donations as they tried to use me and when I said no they went ahead and slandered me Lucy Mashua I only met this people once they claim to have given me 500$ to use for my children,but guess what Simone schwarz donated 0$, Ines Laufer sent me 150$ the rest was from their friends, WHEN I REALISED THEY WANTED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MY PAIN AND SAY THEY ARE THE ONES WHO HELPED BRING MY CHILDREN...WHILE I HAVE WORKED HARD WITH THE HELP OF FAITHFUL FRIENDS FOR 4 YEARS TO BRING MY CHILDREN HERE, WITH A BUDGET OF OVER 20,000 DOLLARS ,I WIRED THEIR 500 HUNDRED BACK AND 0$ TO SIMONE SCHWARZ WHO NEVER GAVE ANYTHING.SO DON'T BE LIED TO , TRUE EYES REALIZES TRUE LIES AND LIARS LIKE SIMONE SCHWARZ AND INES LAUFER OF "TASK FORCE FGM".
! now they have been lying and using Marie Nareku from Kenya as working with them but she said no!it is all about victimizing the victims, and attacking and slandering people who are working towards eradication of FGM, it is a big shame for everyone working honestly, humanly, ethically, and empathic with this issue. Makes me both sad and angry that they use and abuse people, survivors, for their own dirty agendas.
Many thanks to my sister and friend Linda May Kallestein for standing with me then and now. and not forgetting my faithful fans on facebook and twitter.
http://www.lindamaykallestein.com/Linda_May_Kallestein/Blog/Entries/2010/2/20_Lucy_is_Reunited_with_her_Children!!.html

Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 5137: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

FGM IS THE WORST CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY IN 21st CENTURY 04/23 by Mashua voice for the | Blog Talk Radio

2011-04-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

FGM IS THE WORST CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY IN 21st CENTURY 04/23 by Mashua voice for the | Blog Talk Radio

FGM crime ensures a cycle of poverty among my people. just like any other high in crime areas!!

2011-04-13T21:58:00.000-07:00

A woman who underwent female genital mutilation at an early age. Now aged 20, she developed complications (obstetric fistula) during birth at Nyeri Provincial General Hospital, last year. Her child died, while her abdominal walls collapsed.

Little Mary Wangwe walked five kilometres from her home to escape from the mutilators.
Just 11 years old, Mary* had expressed her opposition to FGM but her parents would not listen.

They went ahead and organised everything, including food for the feasting that would follow the ceremony.

But Mary thought her future was more important than the rite of passage. So she decided to disappear from home shortly before the traditional mutilators arrived.

She was among more than 400 girls from Kuria West and Kuria East districts staying at the Komotobo Maranatha Mission church , set up by non–governmental organisations as a rescue centre.

In the rescue camps, the girls are told about the dangers of FGM and the spread of HIV/Aids.

Elsewhere across the village, a group of people celebrated with loud drumming after a 13-year-old girl was mutilated against her wishes.

Wearing a loose leso(tradition wrap) and with her face decorated, the victim was sandwiched by the mob singing her praises.

Meanwhile, her elder sisters and brothers were slaughtering three goats and preparing busaa so the clan members could enjoy a feast at sunset.

School holidays usually present Kuria girls with mental trauma and anguish instead of joy and relaxation.

It is a period when the traditional mutilators charge between Sh200(2$) and Sh500(5&) for each FGM crime..

And the mutilators have not been properly sterilising the scissors and razor blades used in this operation in spite of the HIV/Aids scare.

Some of the girls who run away have been forced to face the knife soon after returning home from the rescue centres.(I always say there is need for permanent rescue because this girls always go back and the worse mutilation happens.)

And even those who undergo alternative rites of passage funded by the NGOs have not been spared, in spite of the Government keeping a close watch.(I said it alternative rights of passage is like a pain killer for a day then the girls are mutilated when the NGO people or activists go back to their comfort home or hop a plane.)

Since the children’s departments in most districts have skeleton staff, the matter has not been adequately addressed.

Chiefs from this border district have always condoned Female Genital mutilation (FGM) with some actively taking part in the practice in spite of it having been outlawed.

One girl was rescued after her parents had tied her hands and feet then placed her in a thicket where she was about to be forcefully mutilated in spite of her protests.

The Kuria community has refused to discard FGM in spite of the spirited efforts of NGOs such as Action Aid Kenya and the Government.

The practice has greatly affected girls’ education with most of the initiates being married off by their dowry-hungry parents.(agrrrrrr)

Most girls drop out of school each January after facing the cut because of their subsequent marriage, said education authorities.

Area MP Wilfred Machage commented: “The girls attain a false status of womanhood after facing the knife.
The community must change its attitude or we will forever remain backward.” Dr Machage is asking the locals to allow their daughters to reach 18 years before being subjected to FGM.

“At this age, they shall have completed their Form Four education and will be able to make a sound judgment on the matter. I appeal to my constituents to change with the times,” he said.

The community must realise they will only get out of abject poverty when they educate both boys and girls, Dr Machage explained.(I agree)

Many Kuria parents believe an unmutilated girl is an outcast whose future is doomed.

Yet a study by the Kuria Girl Child Organisation that has been in the front line of fighting FGM in the districts, showed that in spite of mutilating their girls, many Kuria men prefer to marry unmutilated Luo and Luhya women because they were reportedly more enthusiastic about sex.

Some of the elite Kuria families smuggle their daughters to Tanzania to stay with relatives to escape from community pressure to be mutilated.

Others take their daughters to relatives in Tarime, Tanzania to be mutilated, for fear of being arrested in Kenya and charged in court.

The Kuria live on both sides of the border. Whenever schools close for the December holidays, Kuria girls struggle to break away from cultural stereotypes in their pursuit for quality education.

The primary pupils have to contend with many difficulties as they strive to break away from the cage of illiteracy.

They are yet to benefit fully from the free primary education programme introduced by the Narc Government in 2003.

The Government and some NGOs have been supporting their wish for education but the problems remain.

Maureen Chacha* and Jane Ghati* are aged between 14 and 17, but they are already the wives of elderly tobacco farmers in Kehancha division in Kuria West.(PEDOPHILE)

Others are working in the farms with their parents although they were supposed to be in school.

In Mabera division, a provincial administrator dissolved one marriage, between a 14-year-old girl and a 40-year-old widower.(good for the PA)

The man was thrown into the cells for marrying a minor who was neither physically nor psychologically prepared to face the challenges of marriage and child bearing.(good)

Some girls dropped out of primary and secondary schools and are now working as barmaids and house-helps in the nearby towns of Isebania, Migori and Kisii.

Most are the victims of broken marriages into which they were pushed by their parents, eager for dowries.

Girls’ education has been threatened by outdated cultural stereotypes and illiteracy amongst the Kuria.

A survey showed that the introduction of the free primary education encouraged only boys to fill the classrooms. A few girls did enrol but they were married off immediately after facing the knife.:(((.
About 62 per cent of girls who enrolled in primary schools in the two districts did not make it to secondary because of the cultural bias.(this breaks my heart).
“Since Kuria is among the poorest districts in the country, parents opt to educate their boys instead of girls. They believe the latter are just a source of wealth and dowry,” said Mr Lucas Chacha of Action Aid.

National examinations

There are 145 primary and 17 secondary schools in Kuria East and West and most of them are ill–equipped, leading to poor performance in national examinations.

Although Action Aid has been providing information about the benefit of educating girls, illiteracy levels are still high, as is a refusal by parents to change their attitudes, he added.

“We also lack women role models in this district who our girls can envy so they study harder. That is why several organisations have come together to build a Western Kenya Anti-FGM network to enable us to build on the initiatives happening elsewhere”, he said.

Mr Chacha wants the Government to take stern action against parents and guardians who still take their children to the mutilators.

“The State must get tough on the child rights violators. There are not enough children officers in Nyanza who have the mandate and skills to handle child matters,” he said.

A meeting for Kuria elders from both Kenya and Tanzania was held recently with a view to stopping FGM on the basis that it was holding back the community’s social and economic development. It remains to be seen if it will bear fruit.
*The names of the girls have been changed to protect their identities.

Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 5137: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Kenyan women in Parliament push for a life time sentence for FGM Perpetrators while Men Mp push for 3 years.

2011-04-06T15:49:00.000-07:00

People who practise female genital mutilation should be jailed for life, a Cabinet minister has proposed.

The practice, according to Gender and Children Affairs minister Esther Murugi, was entrenched in all but four communities in Kenya and the prevalence was alarming.

Ms Murugi said previous attempts by the Government as well as local and international organisations bore little success, going by the number of incidents reported.

“Past interventions have been a drop in the ocean, going by the statistics. FGM must be seen as a violation of human rights,” said the minister.

The highest figures were recorded among the Somali, Kisii, Kuria and Maasai communities. The prevalence rate in these communities averages 90 per cent .

Others were Taita Taveta (62 per cent), Kalenjin (48 per cent), Embu (44 per cent) and Meru (42 per cent.)

The rate was lesser among the Kikuyu with 34 per cent and Kamba at 37 per cent.

The Luo, Luhya, Turkana and Teso communities do not practise FGM, according to the statistics.

The minister was launching the National FGM Coordinating Committee, a body empowered to provide a common guide for all those involved in the fight against the practice.

She said the Government still supported other methods aimed at ending deep-rooted traditional beliefs that encouraged female mutilation.

The State and non-governmental organisations would continue campaigns to inform the public about the negative effects of FGM, Ms Murugi said.

Legal measures

The Sexual Offences Act, the Children’s Act, the National Commission on Gender and Development Act, the Affirmative Action Bill and the Domestic Violence Bill are some of legal measures aimed at curbing the vice.

Alternative rites of passage have also been organised for girls and traditional mutilators educated on alternative means of earning income.

“But we’ve noted a trend whereby parents are taking their daughters to be circumcised secretly in hospitals, thus frustrating our efforts,” said Ms Murugi.

Monday’s launch at a city hotel was attended by, among others, representatives of the United Nations Population Fund. This is good news KWOPA keep pushing. 3 years imprisonment is nothing!!!
Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 5137: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Can you imagine as a woman...your life without a clitoris and labia minora? and it is performed by midwives licenced in the US?

2011-03-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

At age 18, I was told the time had come for me to go through Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). I didn’t want to. It was my mother and maternal grandmother’s idea: they’d also been responsible for the initiation of all of my female siblings. My mother cried and pleaded with me, begging me not to bring shame to my family. She told me it was not going to be hard because I was having it done in a hospital. I didn’t know it could be done in hospital; at the time this came as a shock.

My father, despite being a devout Muslim, was never in support of it. He always said he had never seen any part in the Quran that supports FGM. But according to our Sierra Leonean culture it is the role of the mother to ensure her female children are initiated into the ‘secret’ Bondo society; a society solely responsible for FGM initiation.

Even though it is illegal in many countries, in Sierra Leone FGM is still carried out in hospitals for the middle and upper classes, usually by trained medical personnel. I was escorted by my siblings and some relatives to The Family Clinic on Wilkinson Road in Freetown. It is owned by a midwife based in the United States, where she works as an FGM practitioner for children of African parentage.

She comes to Freetown during the holiday period and performs the practice on children from the west (more affluent) side of Freetown. I was anaesthetised while the act was performed. The midwife works with two assistant nurses. The wound is treated medically but the impact of FGM is the same as if performed in a non-clinical environment, where the majority of these procedures occur. I couldn’t walk normally for about two weeks. The sore was very painful. I found it excruciatingly painful to pass urine and it didn’t heal easily.

According to the United Nations Population Fund, FGM is practiced in about 28 African countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Tanzania. It has only been outlawed in 15 of these countries and the World Health Organisation estimates that as many as 130 million girls and women have undergone the procedure. Although there are different types of FGM, in Sierra Leone it mostly means the removal of the clitoris and the labia minora.

As dreadful as it is, every level of Sierra Leonean society seems to have accepted FGM as a reality that we must live with. And it has become highly politicised, making it much more difficult for human rights activists. It is said more than 90 per cent of Sierra Leonean women have undergone the procedure and despite international calls for criminalising it, many of my country’s politicians continue to secretly support it.

Another Sierra Leonean woman I know, Moijama Brima*, recently offered herself up to be initiated into the Bondo society at 24-years of age. Brima decided to undergo FGM because she wants to be a politician.

‘I was laughed at. I was called names such as an unclean person, a non-initiate, a promiscuous woman,’ she says. ‘Besides I realised that I will never become a successful female politician if I am not a member of the society. I must be a part of it to get the vote of the majority of traditional people.’
Even though politicians have expressed public commitment to stop the practice, they’ve given it their full support privately by paying huge amounts of donor money for the high costs associated with initiating young girls. They know it will pay dividends at the ballot box, especially in rural communities.

Brima’s initiation was paid for by the former Sierra Leone People’s Party government.
‘Hundreds of us were paid for by the government through the member of parliament in that constituency. The activities were done in four districts of the country and this is done every year,’ says Brima.

In Sierra Leone, FGM is big business, with hundreds of girls initiated annually, especially during school holidays, normally between July and August, and around Christmas season.

However, reporting on it is not easy. I remember when a female journalist was sent telephone death threats for presenting a radio discussion programme about FGM on the day of zero-tolerance to FGM in 2008. These threats were followed by mass protests from members of initiation associations across the country. Later, in 2009, several female journalists in eastern Sierra Leone were stripped naked and forced to walk through the streets because they had reported on the negative effects of FGM. While this was widely condemned by human rights activists, nothing significant was done to bring the perpetrators to book. Politicians greatly depend on members of the FGM society for success in elections.

I now live in the UK, where FGM is illegal. Despite that, many African families here seek traditional initiators to perform the act on their daughters when families find it difficult to send their children to Africa on the pretence of going for holiday.

The UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health considers FGM a fundamental human rights problem with adverse health and social impacts.

Indeed, girls and women must be given sole power to take all decisions regarding any physical action done on their bodies. There is also need for adequate sensitisation so girls can have options rather than being frightened or coaxed into the procedure, as I was.

While efforts in the UK are directed towards preventing the act in the UK, and providing counselling and medical support for women affected by it in the UK, I think the UK Department for International Development and other international donors should do more to help eradicate the practice in countries where it is still legal and acceptable, countries where governments are quite possibly spending donor funds to pay for girls to undergo FGM.

A woman like Brima should be able to run for political office without having to endure FGM; a woman like me should be able to fulfil her familial obligations without going under the knife. Perhaps if more international efforts are put toward prevention and education at the source of the problem, our daughters will have another choice.

Real names have not been used.(BRAVO SISTER BRAVO...LETS SMOKE THIS HYPOS OUT11!!!!)
MY PUNCH LINE!!
Now you know why I simply don't get exited every time someone introduces them to me that they are fighting FGM....I learned that lesson in 2009 (that is a story for another day)...many claim to care but all are not what they seem in your eyes, some are real fake they are in for ,fame,money,attention and all the crap you can think an emotional vampire has!!! But I have met few purely dedicated to the cause, very genuine people who bleed purple (FGM COLOUR) from day one and remain true purple warriors, some we may not agree on their method,terms but they really do a great job:).
Writing this note it's been exactly two weeks since I had my surgery the doctors told me to take it easy for 3 months but I will not take it easy damn it!! and I am very mad because FGM is still happening in the west !!! and performed by African women,men,and Western doctors !!!! I curse and curse!!!
In this particular case there is this woman an African woman (I CALL YOU A WITCH!!) who has everything here going for her in the USA asks for funds and donor to help build clinics back at home to help "poor women" and she goes build a bloody sucking clinics where the same poor women pay and FGM is sponsored right from your pockets!!!, May be this bloody sucker get invited to big meetings to speak about women...and she shows the slides ,videos of this clinics full of women in pain and unsuspecting donors give more money thinking this women suffer from malnutrition ,malaria ,HIV no one knows that vital organs have been mutilated by this bloody suckers using your own money., please know that even western doctors are doing this too here abroad and back home!!! the impact of FGM with Anaesthesia or not it's the same!!!
There many big organisations that sponsor such crazy people without their knowledge...after the visitors are gone who is left out supervising the use of the funds? or they just take their words for it? the young girls are told to shut up not to say a word BUT NOW MY VERY OWN PURPLE WARRIOR FROM SEIRRA LEONE HAS CALLED THEM OUT:) , Many of you are deceived by the pictures ,videos you see but am telling you for the sake of greed they will stage any play you want to see to give your money,lies,deceit,slander, (PROPAGANDA) it's all out there in the name of humanity. as I SAY REAL EYES REALIZES REAL LIES. by Ambassador Mashua

Ambassador Lucy S. Mashua, President of Mashua Voice for the Voiceless, International
Assisting and advocating for U.S. refugees and women’s rights
Global Ambassador for Ending Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
Chairperson of the Worldwide Campaign Against FGM
Leading in lobbying for HR 5137: The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Two mothers among 168 girls were Mutilated in Marakwet East and Pokot Central districts on December 7th 2010

2011-01-06T15:17:00.000-08:00

Two women, including a mother of four, were among 168 teenage girls mutilated in Marakwet East and Pokot Central districts on Tuesday.
Nineteen girls were the first to go through the outlawed rite at Tigenuo Village in Kombases sub-location in the Kerio Valley.

They were mutilated early in the morning, following observation of the position of the moon, a traditional indicator.

A 37-year-old mother of two, who had resisted the rite, gave in at Karamwar Village after her husband allegedly demanded that she be mutilated or he would not continue living with a “child” any more.

Another mother of four, 39, consented to the mutilation in Chepsigot Village in Kerio Valley, saying she had been ridiculed for far too long.

A woman who is not mutilated in the area is not recognised as an adult.

The mother joined teenage initiates in seclusion where they will stay until mid-January this month, this year, when they will graduate.

The other initiates were girls aged between nine and 11 years, from villages in the area, even though mutilation of girls is banned by the government.

A number of girls fled their homes for fear of being forcibly subjected to the rite of passage.

Lobby groups accused the local district children’s department of doing little to protect the rights of innocent and under-age children!!! yes I agree shame on them.

However, the Marakwet district children’s officer, Mr Peter Kutere was, not available for comment. probably hiding because of guilt or he doesn't care!!!!

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocacy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
Leading in lobbying for the HR5137 The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Joseph Crowley and Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

More than 2,500 boys and girls underwent Genital mutilation in the month of December just in two district in Kenya.

2011-01-06T14:55:00.000-08:00

About 2,500 boys and girls have been mutilated in Kuria West and East districts since the beginning of the month of December last year.

About 2,000 boys and 500 girls, some as young as nine years old, were initiated during the first two weeks of the month-long traditional rite of passage.

Parents and guardians have been playing hide-and-seek with the provincial administration and police after the government declared mutilation of girls illegal.

At least eight parents were being sought yesterday after they forced their daughters to face the knife.

Leaders and government officials led by area MP Wilfred Machage have vehemently opposed the mutilation of girls, commonly referred to as Female Genital Mutilation, and have vowed to bring the perpetrators to book.

The leaders say the tradition had retarded socio-economic development in the region.

More than 400 girls have sought refuge at two rescue camps set up by the government in collaboration with non-governmental organisations and community and faith-based organisations to shelter girls threatened with forced mutilation.

But there are fears that the efforts to save girls from mutilation could be fruitless because in previous years, almost three quarters of the girls who underwent alternative rite of passage training in such rescue camps were forced by parents or guardians to undergo mutilation on returning home.(this methods hardly work after all the girls return home eventually after all is said and all the FGM activists goes home.)

Although the Children’s Act outlaws mutilation of girls below 18 years of age, parents from this community have continued to indiscriminately mutilate their young daughters with impunity.

For the past two weeks, mutilators have been doing a roaring business, charging up to Sh500 per initiate.

NGOs including Action Aid Kenya, Adventist Development Relief Agency (Adra) and World Vision are sponsoring the alternative rite of passage training at the two rescue camps at Komotobo and St Teresa’s primary boarding school at a cost of more than Sh3 million so sad that all this money goes in the drain.

Adra programme coordinator Mr Robert Onsando said Fgm would take time to be eradicated because it was part of the community’s culture.(come on this is not culture it is pure crime !)

Please NGOs stop wasting money on this alternative rites of passage this girls always goes back home to the villages while you pack your belongings and leave...they go back and they are mutilated as the parents threaten to disown them not pay their school fees or peer group stigma discrimination. instead invest on tougher laws.
As I recall this was once a village that 20 boys could not urinate or walk for months after circumcision went wrong and they had to be flown overseas for reconstructive surgeries:(.

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocacy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
Leading in lobbying for the HR5137 The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Joseph Crowley and Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

At least 300 girls underwent FGM in the Christmas week in Kenya.

2011-01-06T14:28:00.000-08:00

At least 270 girls were lined up for mutilation in Marakwet East and Pokot Central districts in on the Christmas week:(.
Though the number of girls undergoing the rite of passage has significantly dropped over the past few years, most of them are taking part voluntarily.

After the cut, scores of the girls who may not proceed to secondary school, will be married off to already waiting suitors after coming out of seclusion in mid-January this month.

A crusader against female circumcision, Ms Lilian Plapan of Setat Women’s Group, has called for an end to the practice.

“We want chiefs in the respective villages to stop the cut since the lives of young girls are going to be wasted,” she said.

Mrs Plapan, who visited Propoi Girls Secondary School at the weekend, urged girls to identify the talents that they fit in and develop them through education.

About 74 girls in Kapsogom, Kachenyut, Kapchemila, Kakisoo, Tinyar and Kasui villages will be initiated in Kerio Valley from Friday.

Another 86 will be undergoing the rite in Sibou, Kotut, and Kapsiren villages in the second weekend of December. Another 100 in the far flung Arpolo, Embobut and Endo-Kaben locations in Pokot Central and Marakwet East will also join the queue.

Only 10 girls may be circumcised the same Friday in Kamariny and Karamwar villages neighbouring the home of local MP Linah Kilimo who campaigns against the rite.

“last year’s initiation went on as scheduled by the mutilators given that traditional signs have been observed... these include the position of stars, the weather pattern and the year’s harvest,” said Mzee Kipkaino Wero-Merei, 71.

“Most of those that were lined up to face the knife fled their homes to rescue centres in 2006 for fear of being mutilated by force but are now willing,” said another opponent of the mutilation, Ms Rose Kilimo.

Apart from curiosity to graduate into womanhood, Ms Kilimo, claimed the girls opted to get mutilated in a bid to please their parents after engaging them in four years of rebellion.

Ms Kilimo said: “This lot comprises the 2010 Kenya Certificate of Primary Education candidates who have come of age and would want to be loyal to their parents”

Some parents had quietly vowed not to pay even a cent for secondary school fees to any girl who refused to undergo the old age custom of mutilation.(Black mail:()

in Summary
They include schoolgirls who had fled to rescue centres and had alternative right of passage in 2006(right after I left) because of forced mutilation
Please tell me what would you do if your parents black mail you into robbing your womanhood?
Another sad notice that things haven't changed enough yet! How "voluntary" is it when the parents refuse school fees, the chiefs condone and promote it, and the girls have few options but to give in? This practice needs to be eradicated eventually, and any assistance given to girls to change their options needs to be. If there are laws that can be used to punish those who perform this ritual--- use them! The parents need to be shamed to allow this damage to their daughters! Breaks my heart...

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocacy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
Leading in lobbying for the HR5137 The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Joseph Crowley and Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

One blade,knife,piece of broken glass, a scared girl, lots of blood the Rape of childhood

2011-01-06T13:38:00.000-08:00

The three young girls shuffle along, their faces a mask of fear and anxiety as they trail their headteacher into her office. Two of them, barefoot and skinny, are in nursery school, while the third one, in plastic sandals and school uniform, is in Standard One.

Once inside, their faces crease into innocent smiles in response to their headteacher’s words of endearment and encouragement and, albeit shyly, they extend they tiny hands in shaky greetings as they are introduced to their visitors.

Introductions done, the girls retreat back to their little shells, the smiles gone. That was all they could afford, all the courage they could muster. Deep inside them, they are still grappling with a mental struggle so huge it could fell the strongest of souls.

The scars of their torment are yet to heal, and the blot left behind by their collective ordeal is as evident in their faces as it is in their interactions with their peers.

Brutal, mandatory rite

At the tender age of less than seven years, these girls have joined thousands of others across (especially) the northern frontier who have gone through a brutal yet mandatory rite of passage: circumcision. The activists in this part of the world, however, prefer to call the torment Female Genital Mutilation.

And wherever the word ‘mutilation’ appears, you can be sure it is used to describe a scene full of tears, struggles and blood.

We traced these little angels to their humble Furaha Primary School, buried deep inside Village Nine, one of the 10 dusty hamlets that form the Bura Irrigation Scheme settlements.

Located some 370 kilometres north of Mombasa along the Garsen-Garissa highway, Bura falls within the Tana County, which comprises Tana Delta, Tana River and Tana North districts, and is home to the Malakote, Wailuana, Munyoyaya, Wardhei, Orma and Wata sub-tribes.

The communities here have resolutely clung to FGM as a rite of passage for girls, making the region one of the best known last bastions of this brutal, outdated and illegal practice.

The two nursery school girls, whose names are withheld to protect their identity and cushion them from any form of stigma, were among seven that were subjected to the FGM by a grandmother in her smoky mud hut inside Village Nine in early August.

Time to heal

The villagers chose the April, August and December school holidays for the activity as the children have time to heal before they resume learning.

“When they do it during the holidays, it is difficult for teachers to know. They ensure the children have already healed by the time they return to school,” said the school’s headteacher, Ms Margaret Githire.

This way, the matter is kept from the knowledge of teachers as the girls do not miss school and, after their ordeal, resume class and continue with life as if nothing has happened.

This time round, however, luck eluded a group of 10 parents, the circumciser and relatives who had turned up to witness the event.

Shortly after the circumciser finished her gruesome job and laid the girls in her room to recover — where they were to endure weeks of agony — armed policemen stormed the compound and arrested all. The officers from Bura Police Station had been tipped about the ritual and tactfully left their car some kilometres away, then sneaked into the passage ceremony.
After arresting the adults, they took the minors to the Hola District Hospital, where they were immediately admitted for treatment.

Out of the 10 suspects, eight — among them mothers of the girls and the elderly grandmother who carried out the circumcision — pleaded guilty to the charge and were sentenced to serve varying durations of community service, while the two who denied are still awaiting the determination of their case.(come on community service for the rape of childhood and womanhood give me a break:()

After weeks of treatment and convalescence, the girls were released, went back home and have since resumed learning in their different schools. But this is only one of the few instances when the law has come to the rescue of the victims, albeit belatedly, and brought justice their way.
Multiple interviews with sources within the villages across the three districts reveal that scores of young girls are seasonally subjected to FGM, but little comes to light due to a conspiracy of silence among family members.

The interviews unearthed deep-seated cultural stereotyping that has served to buttress FGM into the society.

Women, and particularly the old grandmothers, have been accused of fuelling the act as they are directly involved in the entire process, from identifying potential initiates, organising the rite and taking care of the convalescing girls.

And it is all aimed at making the targeted girl a complete woman; one that would not be shunned by her peers or, later in life, her husband.

Khadija Maro, a mother to one of the seven girls, says this is one reason why a grandmother would pull all stops to ensure her grand-daughter is “cut”.

As a bonus, a grandmother who oversees circumcision of her granddaughter(s) is also guaranteed higher social recognition and the prestige that comes with it, she adds.

“The traditional rule is that if a woman does not circumcise her granddaughters, she is cut off from her group,” adds Ms Maro of this cultural predisposition that smacks of pure female jingoism.

Girls taunt peers

Girls who have undergone the rite also taunt their uncircumcised colleagues, fuelling the stigmatisation that drives many to embrace FGM.

But the women are also quick to point an accusing finger at their menfolk, who, they say, would not marry or allow their sons to marry a girl who is not circumcised.

“When a man marries a woman who is not circumcised, his colleagues also taunt him. The woman also becomes a subject of ridicule. These are the things that many opt to avoid by allowing their daughters to be circumcised,” says another villager, Ms Asha Abdullahi, 27 and a mother of five.

But these are the stereotypes that anti-FGM campaigners want to stamp out as they take the bull by the horns in a bid to rescue the girl-child from this painful and outdated cultural practice.

Sadia Hussein, 21, is the face of the anti-FGM campaign in the three districts of Tana, and says time has come for the Kenyan society to unequivocally reject FGM, and for communities still embracing it to be told, in no uncertain terms, to discard it.

The married mother of one girl is herself a victim of the same and does not hide her loathing. To her, FGM is not only a tool for subjugating women, but also an unnecessary painful act.

“After going through it all, I resolved that I will never allow my daughter to experience it,” she told the DN2 team in Hola town, the base of her FGM campaigns.

Women champions
Sadia is particularly bitter that it is the womenfolk who champion the practice. She also had a feel of the pain at seven years, and the episode is still fresh in her mind, the passage of time notwithstanding.

“My father did not want me to go but my mother, and my grandmother insisted that I must be circumcised until he relented. They were joined by five other women early one morning, then, together, escorted me to a nearby forest.”

As one woman planted her palm against Sadia’s mouth to prevent her from screaming, others spread her legs and pinned her down with their weight, allowing the circumciser to carry out her work unhindered.

From her recollection, the violation took about half an hour, but it was like eternity. Wave upon wave of agony swept over her as the sharp razor blade dug into her most intimate part, drawing flesh and torrents of blood.
“Before the experience, I had been sweet-talked into embracing it with pride, believing it would make me a whole woman. But the pain made me decide that it was not worth it,” Sadia narrates, her face burning with indignation.

So serious were her injuries that she was bedridden for two months. All this time, the only medicine she was given were herbal concoctions, some of which were used to clean the wounds.

Though the blade wielder has since died, Sadia says the central role women play in administering the cut has made her focus on them with her message.

The hands of a mother are meant to impart love and affection, not needless, excruciating pain, she says.

“I am shocked that it is mothers who hold you down to be cut just because it is a tradition,” she says, adding that arguments in favour of FGM, such as that it helps girls preserve their virginity by lessening erotic feelings, are misplaced.

“I have seen circumcised girls engaging in prostitution and having children whose fathers they cannot tell. The feelings are in the minds and if one is inclined to go astray, circumcision alone cannot prevent that.”

Her efforts attracted the attention of government departments and non-governmental organisations such as Action-Aid, which have since been giving support to her outreach programmes that target schools, villages and other forums.

In 2007, Sadia founded the Tana River Women Against FGM and HIV/Aids Group, and has since teamed up with others such as Women for Peace, Maendeleo ya Wanawake and Sauti ya Wanawake to mount a united front against FGM.

Speakers at a meeting attended by representatives of these groups concurred with Sadia, saying the practice exposed girls to all forms of traumatic experiences, among them complications during childbirth later in adulthood.

“A good number of women who have been circumcised have to undergo a second operation while giving birth to enable the child pass. We must stop this practice,” Ms Fatuma Galgalo, chairperson of Women for Peace, told the meeting.

A resident, Mr Hassan Barisa, agreed, citing a recent case in Garsen where a young woman on the throes of giving birth died due to complications arising from FGM-related deformities in her genitalia.

“The child could not pass out due to the narrowness of the passage and she died as we watched. The doctor at the hospital could not do anything as only a Caesarian Section would have helped,” said Mr Barisa.

Medical complications

Dr Fred Mokano, the Hola District Hospital medical superintendent, says FGM exposes girls to a host of medical problems, particularly if they have pre-existing conditions such as anaemia and diabetes.

The unhygienic conditions under which the villagers carry out the circumcision expose the girls to many risks as well, among them that of HIV infection.

To eliminate other infections, girls brought to the hospitals are given antibiotics to ward off bacterial infections. For HIV, medics administer a form of medication referred to as Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), which, however, is only effective if the victims are brought to hospital within 72 hours after exposure.

“The problem is that some of the girls are brought to hospital even a week after the incident. In such cases, we only deal with treating the wounds until they heal,” Dr Mokano said.

With the practice now outlawed, many girls are suffering in their hidden villages as parents fear they would be arrested should they bring them to hospital, he adds.

A senior education officer in Tana River District says the vice is to blame for the decline in the number of girls in upper primary classes across the three districts.

The officer, who asked not to be named as he is not allowed to comment on education policy issues, said whereas girl:boy enrolment is nearly 50:50 in lower primary, the numbers change in favour of the boys as a good number of girls drop out to get married, more so after mutilation.

Summary
Sadia Hussein is just one among tens of thousands of girls who are herded into smoky mud huts every year to face a mutilators’s blade. Hidden deep in the remotest part of Bura is a hamlet curiously name Village Nine, and it is here that the harrowing, bloody tale of Sadia and her unfortunate peers begins:(

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocacy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
Leading in lobbying for the HR5137 The Girl's Protection Act sponsored by Joseph Crowley and Mary Bono Mack.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://mashuavoiceforthevoiceless.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

NTV Investigates: Dreams and nightmares human trafficking Pt. 1,2,3

2010-12-21T14:42:00.000-08:00

It is said to be Africa's largest human trafficking syndicate. Its route stretches all the way from Southern Ethiopia to South Africa. It is an illegal trade involving immigration officers and human traffickers, churning up to 200 millions shillings from desperate Ethiopians, fleeing economic hardship. Some make it in through that long journey south, while others end up in Kenyan jails. In the first of a three-part series, 'Dreams and Nightmares,' NTV's Yassin Juma begins our coverage of this illicit trade from the border town of Moyale.

In our second part of the investigative series Dreams and Nightmares, Yassin Juma crosses over into Ethiopia to track down the traffickers and get to the core of the illegal trade of human trafficking. The main trafficker, a feared man of Ethiopian nationality, is unmasked.
450,000 shillings an hour for an immigration officer !!!! at current rates that is around 5625 u.s dollars an hour!!!
In the last of our three part investigative series, Dreams and Nightmares, Yassin Juma and Mustafa Mwalim are arrested on their way from Ethiopia as powerful men behind the human trafficking trade become uncomfortable with their presence. The two NTV reporters later manage to track down illegal aliens from Moyale, Marsabit and Isiolo into their hideouts in Nairobi.

My question is where are the hiding thousands of women and children?

16 children from Congo rescued from human traffickers in Kenya.

2010-12-21T14:06:00.000-08:00

Sixteen children and two adults from the Democratic Republic of Congo were rescued from alleged traffickers after they were found stranded at the Railways Station bus terminus. The sixteen say they are refugees who had taken a four day trip to seek asylum in Kenya but children's rights NGO The Cradle believe they were about to be trafficked and Mashua voice for the voiceless agree that they are victims of human trafficking. Police are investigating the matter.

Human trafficking is very much on the rise and corruption is fueling the trade.

Human trafficking syndicate thriving under Kenyan Govt. watch

2010-12-21T13:52:00.000-08:00

Following NTV's unmasking of probably Africa's largest human trafficking syndicate that has seen hundreds of Ethiopians being smuggled to South Africa through Kenya, questions are now being about who should take responsibility for abetting this illegal trade. While immigration and police officers at Moyale's border point continue to mint millions of shillings out of this illicit trade,
I wonder where they are hiding the female victims:(

Young girls hide in forest to evade mutilator's knife some are not so lucky I wish we could do more:( please read and share

2010-12-07T22:53:00.000-08:00

Two sisters have been taking refuge at a forest in Marakwet West District for three days to escape forced mutilation.

A vegetable vendor on Tuesday found the two in the middle of Kamotony Forest in Marakwet West District.

"I spotted them conversing in low tones in the heart of the forest and they told me their predicament," said the vendor, who requested not to be named for fear of reprisal from the community.(Even helping with accommodation to the innocent kids you are considered a traitor:)

It, however, took the better part of the day to persuade the girls to accept to go and stay with her.

"The girls suspected the vendor could inform their parents of their whereabouts. They were reluctant to accept her help," said Newton Chebii, a resident.
The girls, aged 14 and 16, are in Form Two at Cheptulon High School. They fled home on Saturday when they learnt they were to be circumcised the following day.

Their mother had reportedly prepared them for the rite, but the girls are said to have maintained they would not go through with it.

It was alleged the mother had reportedly threatened not to pay their school fees should they refuse to be mutilated.

The minors are said to have reported the matter to Provincial Administration officials who did not take action. (Am not surprised because the authorities in Kenya take no action)

On the material day, their mother sought help from other women to lock them in the house so that they would not escape.

"We heard a commotion and came out in the darkness to find out what was happening," said a neighbour.

Marakwet Children’s Officer Peter Kutere declined to comment on the matter...(ooh I wonder why?)
Residents appealed to local DC John Ondego to intervene as many girls in the area were at risk of undergoing the illegal rite(Atrocity).

FORCED RITUAL

Forced mutilation continues unabated, despite the Government’s declaration that the ritual is illegal.

By last week, more than 20 underage girls had been forced to undergo the atrocious ritual in Kuria West and Kuria East districts.

And in Rift Valley(Where I come from so far Mashua voice for the voiceless international have rescued 66 girls they are safe and we never disclose the hideouts or even name names because it is so risky for the girls and our grass root rescuers aka(Snatchers) , hundreds of schoolgirls have been subjected to FGM’ in the past week.( so sad that the number have gone down but it feels so hopeless now:((..sometimes I just want to give up!! but I keep on moving one girl at a time..I pray if we could only save 100 girls by the end of year....

In Marakwet alone, reports indicate more than a thousand girls have undergone the outlawed rite, and hundreds more lined up for the mutilation before Christmas.

Last week, 42 girls were reported to have fled their homes due to forced mutilation in Marakwet West District.

In West Pokot, more than 200 girls have undergone the ‘FGM’ despite of the alternative rite of passage invention:(.

Residents say that in most instances, mutilation ceremonies are held at night away from prying eyes of rights activists, provincial administrators and the clergy.(I told you I know my people during the day they will put on a different face to impress a guest..wait the guest goes away and the night comes......

Fighting FGM by all means!
Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Strong girls who said NO TO FGM in Kenya Garissa district. courtsey of NTV and Mashua Against FGM by Siasa bora

2010-11-15T13:12:00.000-08:00

Early marriage and female genital mutilation has been party and parcel of the Somali community in Kenya. But one group of girls has defied this old time tradition and found a place to call home.
This is permanent rescue girls don't need to go back:).This is what am talking about<3.
Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International

Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocacy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

An atrocious doctor Dix Poppas and his crew at Cornell performing FGM in USA and then sexually molesting the children:((.

2010-11-10T06:55:00.000-08:00

I never thought I will bring this up again but this doctor is getting publicity he doesn't deserve!!!!!
He should be in jail !!!!!
People are horrified by the disgusting mutilations of girls in foreign lands and it is entirely justifiable. Wee ones have their future lady parts cut, burned, and sutured due to local customs or parental pursuit of "normalcy". It is not a part of any specific religion, it is locational, with little ladies tortured to fit unrealistic norms and to stunt their sexuality. Female Genital Mutilation is a hot button issue for sure, but it seems like something confined to foreign lands. But it is not. It is here in North America under the guise of medical research and profit.

Dr. Dix Poppas and his crew at Cornell University have been operating on girls between 3 and 6 months of age who they deem to have "oversized" clitorises. While he claims that the procedures are "nerve sparing", they are absolutely unnecessary and cause serious emotional and physical distress. During the operations, which promise to cure future masturbation or gender "abnormalities" (see: homosexuality) , the glans is excised and tossed away and the tip of the clitoris is sewn back on. If you think of a clitoris as a little penis (which is basically what it is) it is akin to someone hacking off your penis ( men) and sewing only the head back on. (Feel free to cross your legs right now.)
But if this isn't appalling enough for you, then comes the "aftercare" research. Beginning around age six, the doctor begins checking to see if the nerves have been damaged. How does he do this? (This would be the time to grab your barf bag) The doctor begins stimulating the little girl's lady bits with a cotton tip and vibrator . The little girl is touched not only on the mutilated member, but her thighs and every possible part of her netheregions. She will be asked to rate the level of sensation in all areas to determine if Dr. Poppas has destroyed anything, which he clearly has. The perverted examinations are conducted on a yearly basis afterward. I get that it may have some "research" value, but this can only be incredibly psychologically damaging. It's not like you can put the damaged tissue back since the doctor threw it in a waste bin years prior. The child is involuntarily damaged and then humiliated for a lifetime because some doctor thinks that some clitorises are too large.:( He is a child molester in disguise as a doctor!!
Children come in all shapes and sizes and so do their little bits. I've heard many a dad proud of his little boy's outward development because infants' genitals seem disproportionate compared to those of adults. There are NO parents lining up to have their boys' stalks shortened. They are KIDS and little girls don't go around checking other girls crotches to see if they are "normal". Children should never be used as experimental playthings, not to mention have their most sensitive areas lopped off and then molested because some deviant wants a grant.

Parents often trust doctors as being a higher authority on health matters, but it is clear to me that the only way of assuring normal psychological and sexual development would be to leave your little girls alone. Not only are these procedures damaging in the short-term, they essentially assure that your future Mrs. Someone is not going to have a great time making your grandbabies. It is the ultimate responsibility of parents to reject requests by doctors to cosmetically alter their infants, and while it might be difficult to turn down a man with 3 PhDs, it is your job.
Whether overseas or on our shores, destruction of the bodies and emotional wellbeing of little girls occurs because we are too obsessed with gender norms and cannot leave well enough alone. Masturbation is not a physical or mental disease and just because girls might enjoy it is no reason to ruin their entire sexual lives. The psychological effects of mutilation and subsequent molestation are so well known that these draconian procedures must be halted immediately and everywhere they occur. There is nothing ethical about involuntary genitotorture. Whether conducted by a shard of glass in Egypt or with a scalpel in America, you KNOW this is wrong.

Protect your now and future daughters.

Thank you to Dan Savage, Alice Dreger, and Ellen K. Feder. To review Drs. Dreger and Feder's report on the bioethics of FGM .

The question is whether Female Genital Mutilation is still legal in united states:( in any form of disguise?
I say this doctor and the likes of him should never be allowed to have their license back (if revoked) and should serve a jail term!!! please tell me what are your thoughts....

Fighting FGM by all means!Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless InternationalAssisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasyThe Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

In Africa Season of plenty and Christmas holidays brings misery for teenage girls ..FGM seasons

2010-11-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

As soon as the long rains begin, many walk hundreds of kilometres to find rescue in bid to escape fgm. some falls into the wrong hands.

Fifteen-year-old, Elizabeth Loengetunya dreads the long rains season.

Although residents of East Pokot revere it as a time of plenty, the Standard Six pupil at Choru Primary School would rather the three-month period was scrapped from the calendar, or that the rains would incessantly fail.

It is a sentiment she shares with most of her age-mates, who during the long rains that normally fall in April, May and June are forced to undergo the age-old practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) to prepare them for marriage.

The season of plenty is also the time when schoolgirls as young as 10 get married off, some to men as old as their grand fathers.

“I would rather die than be mutilated. Once mutilated, a girl is forced to leave school and get married,” Elizabeth says bitterly.

Threatened

Two years ago, her mother fled from her matrimonial home when her husband threatened to kill her for resisting his plans to force Elizabeth, who was then 12, to undergo mutilation and get married to a man he had already identified.

“My father almost killed my mother because she would not let him have his way... He had already negotiated and got part of the bride price,” she says.

They now share a small hut in Chepelo Village, provided by a sympathetic relative. They have no land and sell goat and camel milk to make ends meet.

“My father lives with my eldest brother and one of my sisters. I am afraid he might marry her off instead because she is already eight,” Elizabeth says.

Mini-exodus

In Nginya’ng, 100 kilometres from Chepelo, Reverend Christopher Chochoi of the Anglican Church also views the rainy season with foreboding.

The cleric and his wife, Nelly, run the Cana Rescue Centre, which was started in 2005 to shelter girls fleeing their homes because of FGM.

As the first of the grey rain clouds touch the hilltops in the East, a mini exodus of teenage girls begins, all on a journey towards Cana.

They walk hundreds of kilometres to get there, and even though they are aware that some will be turned away, the mere thought of what awaits them if they stay in their homes is enough to strengthen their resolve to get away.

From Loruk, where the tarmac road ends, it is an agonising one-hour drive through to Nginya’ng. When we get to the centre in Rev Chochoi’s compound, he is not at home but his wife shows us around.

“The long rains season is a time of absolute madness. We usually get hundreds of girls, some from as far as El Chamus, Laikipia and Samburu,” Mrs Chochoi says.

“They all want to be admitted to the centre, even though we have limited space. We are forced to turn most of them away after the FGM period because we cannot afford to shelter them all.”

The centre currently houses 59 girls, 26 of whom are in secondary school. They are clothed, fed and their school fees paid.

Mrs Chochoi shows us a grass thatched hut, previously used as a kitchen, where the first girl was housed.

“Her name was Antonine Chebet and she was in Class Seven. She walked 300 kilometres for two weeks to our home because she believed the reverend would save her. She told us that her father was forcing her to undergo the cut then get married to an old man.”

Antonine opened the floodgates and more girls started pouring into the couple’s home.

“When they heard that the reverend’s home was open to girls fleeing FGM, they came in droves. In 2005, with the help of a missionary society in America, we built the first hostel for the girls and admitted 10 of them as full-time boarders.”

Mrs Chochoi says the Pokot view girls as a source of wealth and marry them off as soon as they start to develop breasts.

“For the girls, this centre is a source of hope. My prayer is that as many of them as possible are opened in future so that our girls can study in peace,” she says.

Currently, the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation is supporting five girls in various schools, including Loreto High School, Limuru, and Moi Girls High School, Eldoret.

Community leaders are also being targeted in the fight to help girls.
he Churo Division education officer, Ms Joyce Kamain, says that her office has started an education programme for community leaders, to enlighten them on the negative effects of FGM.

“Most of our girls go to school only up to Standard Four because of FGM and forced early marriages. To reverse this trend, we need to teach our people that there is a productive life for girls beyond marriage,” she says.

Stem the tide

Organisations such as ActionAid Kenya have also stepped in to stem the tide of the destructive practice.

The non-governmental organisation is in the process of building boarding facilities in primary and secondary schools in the area to double up as shelters for girls escaping FGM.

“We are beginning to see some change. In the last three years, enrolment for girls has shot up by 200 per cent. About 20 per cent of the girls in East Pokot do not undergo the rite nowadays. Our aim now is to reach out to the remaining 80 per cent,” says ActionAid vice-chairman Hala Ikedido.

He adds that only education will save the community from the stranglehold of FGM.

Area MP Asman Kamama, who is also the Higher Education assistant minister, recently gave Sh1.3 million from the Constituency Development Fund kitty to primary and secondary schools in the area to boost education standards.

Mr Kamama says that FGM is “persistent” among the Pokot and eradicating it will be a “herculean task”.

“We are fighting the practice through the help of churches and community organisations,” he says.

And I say we continue with boosting education and building more rescue centers where girls can live permanently not just for few weeks then they go back to the homes they abandoned? the punishment becomes more severe and most girls commit suicide in the process. more boarding schools could work and also taking lawful steps to the parents who subject their daughters or who threaten others who are against FGM.
Mashua voice for the voiceless is planning to build boarding schools which doubles as rescue centers.

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless InternationalAssisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasyThe Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

http://www.facebook.com/notes/mashua-against-fgm/with-maasai-in-east-africa-tribe-female-genital-mutilation-is-100/117787008281934

2010-10-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

Mutilating girls is something our people have done for hundreds of years," Nashiru, the senior FGM 'surgeon' in the Maasai community of Ol Donyo Nyokie, told IRIN. "No one can convince us that it is wrong."

Like all six FGM practitioners who carry out hundreds of procedures every year in and around the community, Nashiru sincerely believes in the virtues of FGM.

The women believe that an unmutilated woman has sexual feelings for every man she comes across, and is likely to stray from her marriage. In fact, they see FGM as a tool to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in their community.

"When you mutilate a girl, you know she will remain pure until she gets married, and that after marriage, she will be faithful," Nashiru explained. "But when you leave a girl unmutilated, she sleeps with any man and brings the disease into the community."

Asked about cleanliness during the procedure, the women said nowadays they used a different disposable razor blade for each girl, instead of the traditional use of one knife to mutilated several girls. In addition, they now used gloves, and had replaced the cowhide base sheet with a plastic one.

Toshi Mahmoud, was mutilated just a month ago, is 11 years old and still has the bright-eyed curiosity and boundless energy of a young girl. She does well in school, is popular with her friends, and seems to have a happy, carefree existence.

Born into the very traditional community of Ol Donyo Nyokie in central Kenya's Kajiado district, Toshi had no qualms about relating her own experience, but winced as she recalled the pain she endured when the practitioner sliced her clitoris off.

"She [the surgeon] slept in the same bed as me the night before. My mother woke me up at six o'clock in the morning and poured a bucket of ice-cold water over me, and then I was taken back into the hut and was mutilated," she said in Kiswahili.

At just 11 years of age, Toshi is below the traditional age of mutilated, but said that often, when the oldest girl came of age, her parents might have all her younger sisters mutilated to save the cost of having several ceremonies.

She said she dreaded the pain, but looked forward to 'becoming a woman' - she wanted to be mutilated because it would make her more acceptable in the eyes of her peers and her community.

"If you are not mutilated, no one wants to talk to you; the girls and boys in school laugh at you because you are still a child," she told IRIN. "No man will want to marry or have sex with you if you are not mutilated."

But Toshi said that despite her own willingness to be mutilated, she did not support the practice of FGM, and insisted that she would not permit her own children to be mutilated.

"We are taught in our school health club that FGM is a harmful practice, and I wish the Maasai would stop forcing girls to do it," she said.

Several mutilated teenage girls in Ol Donyo Nyokie told IRIN they would never put their own children through FGM, having been educated about the dangers of the practice. They were adamant that they would not bow to the community's pressure to have their daughters mutilated, as many of their parents had.

Toshi and her friends, who were all mutilated in the same month, described how their wounds were coated with a paste made from cow dung and milk fat to stop the bleeding and accelerate healing; all maintained they had healed perfectly, and said they had never heard of any deaths or health complications arising from the operation.
However, the head teacher of the Ol Donyo Nyokie Primary School, Rebbeca Pateli, told IRIN there had been several incidents of injury and even death from FGM.

"You hear of girls who die, but there is never an admission that it was FGM-related. The practice is so hidden that it is hard to know how many, but they do get sick, and some die," she said.

Pateli, an ardent anti-FGM campaigner, painfully narrated how she was forced to circumcise her own daughter when the community threatened to ostracise her and her family. "I had hardened, but my girl was under so much pressure from her peers and elderly women that she eventually begged me to take her for the procedure," Pateli recounted.

The young men in the community, known as 'moran', or warriors, strongly believe that FGM is a useful practice that keeps women chaste. "I am married to a woman who is mutilated, and will be mutilating my daughter when the time comes," Kapande ole Saitoti, an Ol Donyo Nyokie moran, told IRIN. "You cannot claim to be a Maasai man or woman if you are not mutilated."

In fact, the girls in the community reported that men were the biggest hindrance to the fight against FGM, because they continued to reject women who were unmutilated.

Change in Ol Donyo Nyokie is slow, but it is happening. More sanitary conditions during the procedure means fewer women suffer hygiene-related complications, and the use of a different blade for each girl has mutilated down the risk of passing on infections, such as HIV.

Samson Ntore, a community-based health worker with the African Medical Research Foundation, said most practitioners in Ol Donyo Nyokie had greatly reduced the severity of the mutilated, and merely made a symbolic incision rather than removing the entire clitoris. However, the women could not make this public knowledge, for fear of the repercussions if they were found to be shirking their duties.

The Ol Donyo Nyokie community is a society fighting to cling to their ways in the face of pressure to change from all sides. Most of them support education, and education tells them to abandon FGM. Today, the prevalence rate of FGM in this community is 100 percent. But the young girls of the community insist that their daughters will never have to undergo the painful procedure.

The Maasai and FGM

The Maasai are a nomadic community who move around several districts in central Kenya and northern Tanzania in search of pasture and water for their animals. Kenyan Maasai number about 377,000. They are a proud people who have steadfastly clung to their traditional values and customs, despite the fact that most other communities around them have been influenced in one way or another by modernisation and western culture.

Their lives revolve predominantly around their cattle, on which they depend for meat, milk and blood - the main components of their diet. As they have no need of the food grown by other communities, they have been less exposed to the influence of other cultures, and have therefore been able to maintain their traditions.

While admirable, the strength of Maasai culture makes it resistant to change, especially traditions as deeply ingrained as the practice of FGM. Like many other cultures, the Maasai have myths about their origins, and the origins of their customs and traditions.

Folklore explains the origin of female genital mutilation in the story of Naipei, a young girl who had intercourse with the enemy of her family, and whose punishment came in the form of mutilation, a decision her family took to prevent her from feeling the urges that had led her to commit the crime.

Since that day, in a bid to protect their honour and the honour of the Maasai society, all Maasai girls who reach adolescence have been mutilated. The aim of FGM is therefore to limit the sexual desire and promiscuity of girls.

The ceremony of FGM marks the coming of age of a girl; she sheds the last vestiges of childhood and joins the league of womankind. It is traditionally performed between the ages of 9 and 14 and is part of the traditional rites of passage for girls, in order for them to be considered adults in their community. A 2005 survey of the Maasai community in Ol Donyo Nyokie (population: 665), found that 100 percent of girls above the age of 15 had undergone FGM.

Following the ceremony there is a period of seclusion, during which girls are educated about their rights and duties as women - they learn how to prepare food, take care of a home and children, and how to look after their future husbands. Once this period is over, a girl is considered an honourable woman and is free to marry.

The importance of this practice among the Maasai is considerable. FGM is perceived as bringing honour to a girl and to her family; by making her eligible for marriage it raises the status of her family in the eyes of society. The Maasai have held to the custom in the face of widespread criticism by Kenyan society and the international community, and despite criminalisation of the practice by the Kenyan government in 2002.

FGM ceremony
Many educated Maasai men and women still favour the practice of FGM, not because they are uninformed about the risks involved, but for fear of the social repercussions, should they reject the custom. An unmutilated woman remains a girl in the eyes of the community, however much education she may have, or whatever status she may attain in the outside world. For a woman who refuses to be circumcised, the risk of isolation is great, the chances of finding a Maasai spouse are reduced to almost nil, and her status in society will always be that of a child.

The Maasai FGM ceremony

The FGM ceremony takes place once a year and brings together all girls who come of age during that year. It is a large community event, marked by joyful revelry and feasting. A traditional circumciser, usually an elderly woman with great experience, performs the actual procedure. All the girls are mutilated on the same day and, until recent times, with the same instrument, usually a sharp knife known as an "ormurunya". A paste made from cow dung and milk fat is applied to stop bleeding. The end of the period of seclusion is also marked by celebrations officially welcoming the girls into womanhood.

The Maasai practice type-1 FGM, also known as a clitoridectomy, which involves the removal of the clitoral hood and all or part of the clitoris. Physical effects of the clitoridectomy include:

- reduced sexual desire- bleeding, often severe enough to cause death- infection, particularly due to poor sanitary conditions- risk of HIV transmission due to sharing of knives- complications during childbirth, often leading to stillbirths

Can the Maasai change their behaviour?

Despite their firm hold on their culture, certain aspects of FGM have begun to change. In the era of HIV/AIDS, the Maasai are aware of the risks involved in using the same knife for several procedures and, more often than not, today each individual is mutilated using a different blade. Studies by the non-governmental organisation, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (MYWO), show that only 14 percent of circumcisers still use the same knife for several girls.

This change may be slight, but observers and campaigners consider that it nevertheless displays an openness among the Maasai to the idea that aspects of their traditional culture can be altered for the better.

One of the main approaches used by agencies trying to address the widespread practice of FGM is the introduction of alternative rites that are still acceptable and relevant to communities and allow girls to have a coming of age ceremony, but exclude mutilating of the girl's genitalia. MYWO and the Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health spearheaded a series of alternative rites ceremonies across Kenya in 1996, and have continued to hold them annually since. In these alternative ceremonies, girls are still educated about their role as women in society, but receive more relevant instruction, such as lessons about reproductive health and the importance of formal education.

The alternative rites approach has had mixed results in Kenya, and among the Maasai has met with only limited success. Well-intentioned as the alternative rituals are, they do not provide the guarantee of low sexual desire that FGM does and, therefore, cannot satisfactorily replace the custom as far as the Maasai are concerned.

Conclusion

FGM is illegal in Kenya, but the law is rarely applied against practitioners or parents who make their children undergo it. The Maasai are a close-knit community who live largely by their own rules, and have resisted modernisation. It is this adherence to their own traditions that makes the eradication of FGM among the Maasai such an uphill task for those seeking to end the practice.

Nevertheless, the outside world is slowly influencing the Maasai way of life, with more girls and boys being enrolled in formal education institutions and learning about the risks associated with FGM. As this happens, it is hoped that the struggle to change harmful traditional practices, such as FGM, will become easier.

The eradication of FGM brings with it the consequence of forever altering the traditions of what is one of the few remaining authentic African societies. The tenacious hold the Maasai have on their culture is unusual, and many feel it should be protected at all costs. The challenge anti-FGM campaigners face is how to change this one harmful aspect of Maasai tradition without tainting the authenticity, or undermining the richness, of their culture.(A question I ask my self up to date)

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.

FGM demographic in Kenya you can see 4 of the tribes that practice FGM over 90% and my tribe is among the top.

2010-10-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

At the end you will see my good friend and member of parliament Hon Lena Chebee Kilimo ...that we worked tireless with other Women members of Parliment, Hon Alicen Chelaite,Hon Beth Mugo ,Hon Cecily Mbarire, and Hon Njoki Ndungu....and the 4000 women from all over the republic Kenya representing all 42 communities and seven provinces that we convened at KENYATTA INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE CENTRE (KICC) to put an End to VAW against women and misuse of women funds by some large organisation and male politicians!!!!! O.M.G I will never forget the tear gas and police brutality as we marched peacefully and singing women freedom songs (Wamama misilale lalelale wamama msilala bado mapambano...bado mapambano bado mapambano x4) translation "Women do not sleep please don't sleep the figh is still on ...the fight is still on x4"...few days later we were in court ..14 strong women and guess who was the leader the youngest and the most vocal ? hahahaha lol....... ooh the long nights ,threats, and sleepless fearful nights:(.

Ambassador Lucy Mashua
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.

Women raped by Security forces 7 men at a time in Kenya 26 years ago during Moi regime. still no justice One victim was 8 months pregnant and she lost her baby:(

2010-10-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

Women had no where to run to and hide ...this beasts gang raped each woman...mothers and daughters as they kill their sons and husbands....in this video with English subtitles they pour their heart out and it is very sad and heartbreaking.
Kenyan government I know this happened during the past regime...but the security forces are still at work and still rapes women during tribal clashes to date:((. kindly do justice to this women and all the security persons involved to be brought to justice! here is the video grab some kleenex 26 years ago as remembered by the women who experienced it... their voices finally revealed.

By Lucy Mashua
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.

My Maasai sister Neema of Daughters of Africa singing this heartfelt song at the Hague which reflects the pain and struggles of African daughters....

2010-10-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

My Maasai sister Neema of Daughters of Africa singing this heartfelt song at the Hague which reflects the pain and struggles of African daughters....this choir was put together by Leoni Jansen from Netherland when she went to Nairobi Kenya the choir is composed of African daughters from East Africa,South Africa and East central Africa. enjoy this familiar but deep rooted true struggle expressed...Am proud of my little sis and all the the Daughters of Africa.

Death sentence to Judith Koriang a HIV mother after killing an abusive husband.

2010-10-07T01:41:00.000-07:00

Kampala — As the court martial handed the death sentence to Judith Koriang on Wednesday afternoon, the mother stood still with teary eyes.

She bowed down as her eyes swept across the courtroom, from chairman Lt. Col. Eugene Sebugwawo to the other members of the 3rd Division army court. Koriang, a 20-year-old widow with a young son, heard her fate sealed by the court martial sitting in Moroto. She was advised by the court to appeal against the death sentence within 14 days.
Koriang shot dead her husband, Pte. Nelson Okello, on May 1, 2009, at Nakiloro army detachment in Moroto district, a few kilometres to the Uganda-Kenya border, following a domestic fracas.

The discordant couple was residing in a makeshift hut, popularly known as mama ingia pole. After Koriang tested HIV-positive and her husband negative, it triggered endless insults from the husband. Koriang told the court that Okello was the only man she had known in life; and his persistent demand that she goes to the man who infected her, sent her mad.

On the fateful day, the husband went back home but refused to eat supper and asked her to leave. She narrated that she played it cool until midnight when she woke up to execute her mission.
She picked her husband's gun stealthily and tiptoed out. She then sprayed bullets on the makeshift structure, knowing that by the time the gun went silent, her son and husband would be dead.

Miraculously, the son survived but the husband was hit by a few bullets out of the 30 she sprayed and died instantly. "After all the mistreatment, the only answer was to kill my son and husband and then turn the gun on myself. Unfortunately, the gun ran shot of bullets," Koriang told court.

She said after the shooting, she entered the hut and carried out the baby and started walking to Moroto Central Police Station, over 30km away, to hand herself in. However, she got tired on the way and decided to rest at Rupa sub-county headquarters after walking for 20km in the night.
Koriang has been on remand in Moroto prison for 14 months. Pte. Francis Masereka said after the shooting, a search was mounted along the main road to Moroto and Koriang was found seated with her one-year-old baby and taken back to the detachment.

Pte. Ariama Okello, the immediate neighbour, said the quarrels started after a UPDF team of doctors tested soldiers for HIV and found that Koriang was positive yet the husband was negative.

After reading the judgement, the court chairman said a number of soldiers' wives had killed their husbands. "To cut the rising trend, Judith Koriang, I am sentencing you to suffer death as a deterrent to others planning the same act," Ssebugwawo said.
After the ruling, Lt. Dan Madaba, her defence lawyer, allowed her to talk to her relatives briefly before she boarded a military truck to prison. The 3rd Division army spokesperson, Capt. Deo Akiiki, yesterday explained that Koriang, a civilian, was tried in the military court because the UPDF Act allows anybody in the company of the armed forces, who uses firearms to commit a crime, to be tried by the court.

Koriang is the second woman to be sentenced to death by the court martial. The first was Grace Ichakuna from Bukedea, who participated in killing her husband in 2008.

There are about 500 inmates in Luzira and Kirinya prisons on death row. Some were sentenced by the army court and others by the civil courts.

can we save this woman's life? what would you do? millions of this soldiers get away with masses of rape and murder but one woman who is a victim herself is sentenced to death after being in a police cell for 14 months without trial!!!!!!! in Africa do we women exist?

Fighting FGM by all means!
Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Fgm death tolls on the rise in Same district Tanzania.by Mashua Against Fgm East Africa

2010-10-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

Translation by Lucy Mashua

Tanzania is one of the countries with many ethnic groups, where each tribe have its traditions.
So far there are tribes in the country that still can not change his religion despite the fact that the world has changed and is now on globalization and science and technology system.
In ethnic regions of Shinyanga, Mwanza and Tabora is taboo for a woman to stay the same table with a man they have to eat together, be it night or day and these are traditions that can not be changed by globalization.
There are numerous examples showing clearly that systematic changes have no place in the traditions and customs of ethnic groups in the country and even other African countries.
But there are traditions that in one way or the other is repressive, not incompatible with the teachings of Allah /God and in general are a cruel and sexual abuse is not omithirika.
These rituals are those associated with mutilating baby girl by removing vital organs in their genitals.
Riding the brutal actions of mothers who are part of the parents and are known for the famous name of mutilated, who is paid a great wage and parents of children who are mutilated
Despite the persecution they suffered these children when they underwent the same violence that leads to deaths, the parents seemed thrilled to watch them celebrate by playing drums.
Despite these children mutilated, they are married at a tender age to older men who are twice as old as their fathers.
In some tribes, a girl you prepare all kinds of abuse, including isolation and called 'baby' even if his age is great, just because they are not mutilated and called names a lot of ridicule and large can not marry until they are mutilated.
Tests conducted by the Tanzania Always in the district of Same in Kilimanjaro and Babati in Manyara for the support of institutions of the Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSAT), a branch of Tanzania, has revealed that acts of mutilation for girls is rising pace despite the existence efforts by non-governmental organizations (NGO's) fight against such acts.

In the Same District, in partnership with parents mutilators transport have developed techniques to children and Handeni Mheza districts, Tanga Region where they are mutilated before they return home.
In villages Hedaru, Masandare, Kisamri, Billions, Emuguli and razor district Same, Kilimanjaro, girls who reach school age and those schools have been mutilated.Rose Mnyone is activist against violence against girls in the district of Same from non-profit organization The civil war of mutilation of NAFGEM lupiga, says in Same District is a chronic problem of mutilating girls, which so far can not be eradicated due to the absence of genuine pressure from the government.
she says FGM is harmful to girls, including the many lives lost due to bleeding a lot.
Iyeka dance is very popular dance in the Pare tribe, which takes place during the mutilation should make a woman's first birth to his offspring.
To answer the Mnyone, who is a retired community development officer, says that culture is a permanent mutilated woman who delivered but Pare culture has led to the breakdown of many marriages.
It is stated that many men are forced to abandon their wives by their partner and they were physical changes during sex, which occurs more than once after delivery.
The mutilating culture is quickly spreading to other areas like Bendera, Kihurio, Makokane, Karemawe, Kamadufa, Islander and elsewhere in the lower zone.
In trying to eradicate the practice, there is a strategy set by the activists including involving health centers, dispensaries and hosiptali make observations of infants who were sent there for treatment to see if they are mutilated.
The goal of this strategy is to ensure riding acts are arrested and brought to the state forces, though it is stated that the campaign is difficult due to some executives of media dollars and involved acts of corruption from the suspects.
Same District General, Ibrahim Marwa, he joins the activists to fight practice and ordering a campaign to hunt and encourage parents mutilators courteous riding practices to be sustainable.
"The child is entitled to his basic needs and protection, Tanzania has been in collaboration with various institutions to fight violence like this," he said.
the mutilation culture these woman have brought much harm to the children who underwent acts.
you all can remember our article on Debora Daniel (4) of the Village of Imbilili Babati District, Manyara Region is one of the children who were mutilated and died from bleeding a lot.
Studies have revealed that the child had been suffering from frequent colds was mutilated by the command of her parent, believing the right way to heal they sought mutilation but she bled to death for 8 days:(
The child was mutilated on October 11 last year and died October 18, after many days bleeding genitals and there was no effort to save her life until death .
Confidence of the executive officer of the village reported the child's father arrested him, who was arranging a quick burial after our public out cry and asked the police to give us the cause of death and arresting Deborah's father last year through our petition and grass root mobilization (Mashua against fgm foot soldiers)the body was taken and subjected to investigation and identified that the child had been mutilated.
Regional Police Commander Manyara, Parmenas Sumary, he acknowledged that there is much work to educate the community about the cruel practice of female children mutilation, where many are dying by bleeding a lot.
Sumary says the problem is happening events go un reported to police stations, as some parents use deception to claim their children have died of convulsions disease.

Fighting FGM by all means!
Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Mila Ya Ukeketaji...FGM in Swahili for http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-dhidi-ya-Ukeketaji-jumuiya-ya-Afrika-ya-Mashariki/113483418711942?ref=mf

2010-10-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

Je umewahi kuchanwa au kakatwa na wembe? natumai uchungu unaufahamu..lakini mjini Pokot wasichana wanataabika,haswa wale wanaoolewa kwani baada ya kukeketwa wakiwa wasichana wadogo, sasa kizaazaa ni kufunguliwa njia na la kushangaza ni kwamba wanawake hulazimika kutumia pembe ya ng'ombe.Naam bila kukupotezea wakati tupate taarifa hii kutoka Pokot iliyoandaliwa na Lulu Hassan,ambaye anasema kwamba wenyewe wamechoshwa na zoezi hili na kuamua sasa kulitupa katika kaburi la sahau.This woman demonstrates how after Fgm they reopen the vagina using a bulls horn:( where the man waits outside then comes in to have sex with the agonizing bleeding woman....in pokot district my province rift valley. join our East Africa page for more info.

Madhara au athari hizi zinakuwa jinamizi linalomfuata mwanamke maisha yake yote.
Balozi Lucy Mashua ,
Balozi wa kukabiliana na ukeketaji duniani.
Msaidizi wa wakimbizi hapa Marekani
Mwenye kiti wa kamati inoyopinga ukeketaji duniani.

FGM gone wrong September 11/2010 a 12 year old in Kenya fights for her life:( one year with no URINATION! Research by Siasa bora /KTN and Lucy Mashua

2010-09-12T00:41:00.000-07:00

VERY URGENT!!!!

This is very sad just yesterday September 11th 2010 this beautiful innocent young girl in Kenya North Eastern Province Garissa district hospital fights for her life...yesterday one of my many secret FGM soldiers alerted me and at first I got sick:(....Am very sad very sad can you imagine living with a rotten vagina and with a deadly urine infection for A year? ONE YEAR WITHOUT URINATION AND BOTH KIDNEYS FAILED! We need a A quick petition and a Small quick fund for Khadija...please let us save our baby girl Khadija .
This has to STOP NOW!!!!!!!! How many will die and suffer?

A 12-year-old Somali girl is fighting for her life at the Garissa provincial general hospital after developing complications from a genital mutilation performed a year ago. The girl has had problems passing urine for the past year and is now in dire need of urgent medical help. Her plight has led her uncle to call on women in his community to end the initiation practice.
Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Genital mutilation on the rise as UK combats the crime ..so sad that no one has been convicted!

2010-08-29T01:25:00.000-07:00

Medical officials in the UK say the number of women who've been subjected to genital mutilation is on the rise. Although the practice is illegal in the country, thousands are considered to be at risk annually -- and no one has ever been convicted of the crime.
MY MESSAGE TO SURVIVORS IT IS OK TO SAY THAT WE WERE MUTILATED...WE WERE HELD DOWN AGAINST OUR WILLS, WE DIDN'T WANT THE ATROCITY TO HAPPEN TO US, WE WERE VIOLATED AND THE ONLY CLOSET DEFINITION OF THIS HORROR IS MUTILATION!!!!! ALL SURVIVORS SPEAK UP NOW IT IS TIME TO TELL WE HAVE A VOICE NOW LETS SAVE THE VOICELESS!!!!!

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Vote for Us! Leading Moms in Business Competition

2010-07-30T15:52:00.001-07:00

Vote for Us! Leading Moms in Business Competitiongreat free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

Hirsi Ali is now an atheist, BUT she believes Christianity can combat the rise of conservative Islam. she was talking Against FGM .

2010-07-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

AYAAN Hirsi Ali is shivering in the teal, wool coat that envelopes her on this wet winter day in Sydney.

She looks bird-like. But behind the fragile-looking exterior is a steely mind that has earned her the distinction of being one of the world's most controversial writers, feminists and activists.

Somali-born Muslim Hirsi Ali was a refugee turned Dutch MP when she helped make Submission, the anti-Islamic short film that led to the assassination of its maker, Theo Van Gogh, in 2004.

Ali received death threats, exacerbated by her public rejection of Islam. Since then she has had bodyguards 24/7. Even in Sydney, plain-clothes police shadow her every move.

Hirsi Ali was eight when her family left Somalia. She was granted asylum in The Netherlands in 1992, after she ran away from an impending arranged marriage. She now lives in the US.
Hirsi Ali emphatically rejects calls in Australia to allow a limited form of female circumcision. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has discussed backing "ritual nicks", a modified form of genital mutilation.

University of Newcastle's professor of perinatal and infant psychiatry Dr Louise Newman said some doctors had been approached to perform the procedure.

Hirsi Ali, herself a victim of genital mutilation, says girls who underwent a ritual nick in hospital would probably be subjected to the more radical form anyway.

"Most parents who believe in female circumcision believe in the full form," she says. "I can understand where the Australian doctors are coming from, but it's wrong."

Hirsi Ali favours a strict detection system, where girls at risk are medically examined every 12 months to make sure they haven't been mutilated. She advocates severe penalties for parents who try to force their daughters into mutilation.

"An annual check that takes two minutes is far less traumatic than the alternative," she says. "Educating parents against the practice is also key."

Hirsi Ali has written several memoirs: Infidel, The Caged Virgin and the most recent, Nomad, in which she recounts her life after breaking with her family, her religion and how she struggled to be educated and assimilate into Western society.

"I had to learn to question, to fight for my rights and not to submit to everything bad that could happen to me," she says.

Hirsi Ali urges the West to help Muslim immigrants integrate and overcome the temptation of fundamental Islam.
It's not parents putting children and vulnerable young people in ghettos, but fundamentalists who want them isolated from society.

"Fundamentalists do not want integration," she says." They teach young people that democracy, free thinking, is bad."

Hirsi Ali is now an atheist, and counts British atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins as a close friend.

But she believes Christianity can combat the rise of conservative Islam.

"Churches should do all in their power to win this battle for the souls of humans in search of a compassionate God, who now find that a fierce Allah is closer to hand," she writes in Nomad.

Thank you Margaret Colomb (Ma wa oz) in Sidney for the research..

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

British girls undergo horror of genital mutilation despite tough laws:(.

2010-07-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

This summer, at least 500 British girls will be subjected to the barbaric practice of genital mutilation. For some it will happen abroad;( others will be Mutilated in the UK. Survivors talk about the traumatic effect the practice has on their lives.
WARNING: CONTAINS DISTRESSING AND DISTURBING IMAGES
Like any 12-year-old, Jamelia was excited at the prospect of a plane journey and a long summer holiday in the sun. An avid reader, she had filled her suitcases with books and was reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when her mother came for her. "She said, 'You know it's going to be today?' I didn't know exactly what it would entail but I knew something was going to be cut. I was made to believe it was genuinely part of our religion."

She went on: "I came to the living room and there were loads of women. I later found out it was to hold me down, they bring lots of women to hold the girl down. I thought I was going to be brave so I didn't really need that. I just lay down and I remember looking at the ceiling and staring at the fan.

"I don't remember screaming, I remember the ridiculous amount of pain, I remember the blood everywhere, one of the maids, I actually saw her pick up the bit of flesh that they cut away 'cause she was mopping up the blood. There was blood everywhere."

Some 500 to 2,000 British schoolgirls will be genitally mutilated over the summer holidays. Some will be taken abroad, others will be "cut" or circumcised and sewn closed here in the UK by women already living here or who are flown in and brought to "cutting parties" for a few girls at a time in a cost-saving exercise.

Then the girls will return to their schools and try to get on with their lives, scarred mentally and physically by female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice that serves as a social and cultural bonding exercise and, among those who are stitched up, to ensure that chastity can be proved to a future husband.

Even girls who suffer less extreme forms of FGM are unlikely to be promiscuous. One study among Egyptian women found 50% of women who had undergone FGM "endured" rather than enjoyed sex.
Cleanliness, neatness of appearance and the increased sexual pleasure for the man are all motivations for the practice. But the desire to conform to tradition is the most powerful motive. The rite of passage, condemned by many Islamic scholars, predates both the Koran and the Bible and possibly even Judaism, appearing in the 2nd century BC.

Although unable to give consent, many girls are compliant when they have the prodecure carried out, believing they will be outcasts if they are not cut. The mothers believe they are doing the best for their daughters. Few have any idea of the lifetime of hurt it can involve or the medical implications.
Jamelia, now 20, who says her whole personality changed afterwards."I felt a lot older. It was odd because nobody says this is a secret, keep your mouth shut but that's the message you get loud and clear." She stopped the sports and swimming she used to love and became "strangely disconnected with her own body". Other girls have died, of shock or blood loss; some have picked up infections from dirty tools. Jamelia's mother paid extra for the woman to use a clean razor. It is thought that in the UK there are one or two doctors who can be bribed by the very rich to to carry out FGM using anaesthetic and sterilised instruments.

Comfort Momoh works at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London, in one of the 16 clinics up and down the country who deal with FGM and its health repercusssions. Women who have had much of their external genitalia sliced off and their vaginas stitched closed, but for a tiny hole, also come to be cut open in order to give birth.

There are four types of female circumcision identified by the World Health Organisation, ranging from partial to total removal of the external female genitalia. Some 140 million women worldwide have been subjected to FGM and an estimated further two million are at risk every year. Most live in 28 African countries while others are in Yemen, Kurdistan, the US, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Canada.

The UK Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985 makes it an offence to carry out FGM or to aid, abet or procure the service of another person. The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003, makes it against the law for FGM to be performed anywhere in the world on UK permanent residents of any age and carries a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment. To date, no prosecutions have been made under UK legislation.

"Obviously in summer we get really anxious. All activists and professionals working around FGM get anxious because this is the time that families take their children back home. This is the time when all the professionals need to be really alert," said Momoh.

"There is no hard evidence in figures about what is happening in the UK because it's a hush-hush thing. It's only now that a few people are beginning to talk about it, which is good because change will only come from within and the numbers coming forward are rising. But there is a lot of family pressure. When I first started in 1997 we had two clinics in the country, now we have 16."

One woman told the Observer how a midwife examining her had raced retching and crying from the room. She had no idea she was "abnormal" before that happened. There is a clear need for women who have suffered FGM to be able to visit health professionals who understand what has happened to them. Momoh said that for those who wanted it, some surgical reversal work could sometimes be done on women with the most severe FGM procedure, Type III. For those with other types, counselling and support is all that can offered.

"Periods are agony – you get a lot of women who are determined to have reversals while they are having their period but then when the pain has stopped they lose their nerve again," said Leyla Hussein, 29, who has had to have years of counselling to cope with her own anger and distress at what was done to her as a child. It has helped her forgive her own mother's complicity in the mutilation she endured, though the older woman could not understand why Hussein would not have her own child, now aged seven, cut. But Hussein has vowed that she will be the last generation of women in her family to suffer.

"It was my husband who said on our honeymoon, 'We are not going to do this thing to any child of ours.' I was quite shocked, I hadn't questioned it. But I now realise a lot of men are not in favour of FGM, not when you tell them the woman is not going to enjoy herself."

Hussein is among a slowly but steadily growing band of women who have reacted against what happened to them with courage and a determination to stamp out FGM. Hussein has run support and discussion groups for affected women and for men, and formerly worked at the African Well Women's Centre in Leyton, east London.

"I can really relate to some of the women who are very angry, but how do you blame your mother, who loves you yet planned this for you? There is a lot of anger and resentment. Many women blame themselves and of course there are flashbacks to deal with. I had blackouts – anytime I had to have a smear test, I would pass out because lying in that position brought it back to me, but the nurse is used to me now and allows a little more time with the appointment." (EVERY SURVIVOR OF FGM GO THROUGH THIS WITH EVERY GYNO APPOINTMENT IT IS HELL ON EARTH! BY MASHUA) For Jason Morgan, a detective constable in the Met's FGM unit, Project Azure, the solution lies with those girls themselves: "Empowering youth, giving them the information, is the way forward. They are coming from predominantly caring and loving families, who genuinely believe this is the right thing to do. Many are under a great deal of pressure from the extended families.

"Sometimes it might be as simple as delivering the message of what the legal position is; sometimes we even give them an official letter, a document that they can show to the extended family that states quite firmly what will happen if the procedure goes ahead. The focus has to be on prevention."

Project Azure made 38 interventions in 2008, 59 in 2009 and 25 so far this year. For Morgan those statistics are just as important as getting a conviction. "We know it happens here although we have no official statistics, but we have seen very successful partnerships and we don't want to alienate communities through heavy-handed tactics.

"While a prosecution would send out a very clear message to practising communities, really it is very difficult and you would be relying on medical evidence, and in turn that would all hinge or whether the child consents to an examination."

But Naana Otoo-Oyortey is not so content with the softly-softly approach:( WHICH I STAND WITH HER AND 100% AGREE PEOPLE STOP BEING SOFT OR BLOODY CULTURE SENSITIVE WITH THIS ATROCITY LISTEN TO US WE HAVE SUFFERED AND WE WILL NOT LET OUR CHILDREN SUFFER SO DO YOUR JOB! BY MASHUA AGAINST FGM) "We have anecdotal evidence that it is being done here. So someone is not doing their job: it's an indication that the government has been failing to protect children. The commitment is hollow."

Head of the leading anti-FGM charity Forward UK, Otoo-Oyortey said people value the FGM tradition as something which holds a community together and gives it structure. "It's seen as a party, a FGM party because it's a celebration – people expect it as a way of welcoming a girl. A lot of women will mention to us that there have been no prosecutions here so why do we worry about the law? At the end of the day who will know?

"And we cannot just blame the women as the men are silently supporting it by paying for it. The new government's lack of a position on FGM is very worrying. We don't know what they will do, but we do know that the summer holidays are here again and we will be left to pick up the pieces in a few weeks' time."
And for those who will undergo "FGM" this summer, the effects will be lifelong. Miriam was six when she had her cutting party at her home in Somalia, two years before war arrived to force her family out.

When she was 12, doctors were horrified to find that what they thought was a cyst in her body was actually several years of period blood that had been blocked from leaving her body. Unable to have children, she now lives and works in England and worries about other girls. "I'd seen so many people undergo FGM, all my neighbours, so I knew one day it was going to happen to me. We knew what was happening," Miriam said.

"The little girls who were born in Europe have no clue. They will be traumatised a lot more. The only thing they know is that they are going away – that's what they say, 'We're going on a holiday'.

"Then her life and her head are going to be messed up. It's amazing how many people are in mental health care because of their culture. Don't get me wrong, I have religion and culture and I love where I'm from and I love what I stand for. But culture should not be about torture.

"Why would anyone want to go and cut up a seven- or eight-year-old child? People need to wake up — you are hurting your child, you are hurting your daughter, you're not going to have a grandchild, so wake up."

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

British girls undergo horror of genital mutilation despite tough laws:(9

2010-07-29T06:33:00.000-07:00

Heartbreaking story dialogue on FGM, in Somali, Amaric and Swahili

2010-07-27T16:44:00.000-07:00

FGM the main cause of FISTULA in Kenya , when FGM goes wrong.

2010-07-26T22:47:00.000-07:00

PLEASE VOTE HELP ME END FGM.... http://www.startupnation.com/leading-moms-in-business/contestant/9343/index.php

FGM CAUSES A LIFE TIME OF PAIN ..NOT ALL WOMEN CHILDREN CAN ACCESS RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERIES.

PLEASE VOTE HERE
http://www.startupnation.com/leading-moms-in-business/contestant/9343/index.php

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

IN KENYA Family cries out for justice over girl raped by Catholic priest:(

2010-07-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

A Catholic priest has been accused of raping a schoolgirl only minutes after giving her bananas and oranges for her sick mother in hospital and praying for her. The priest, who was serving at Gekano Parish in Kisii Diocese in November last year when the incident reportedly occurred, then tried to swear the 16-year-old girl to secrecy with a promise of education.

A senior administrator in the diocese, also a priest, confirmed that a complaint had reached the bishop’s office over the matter, and said investigations were ongoing.

But the girl’s family suspects a cover-up plot, citing the fact that the accused priest has since been moved from the diocese and the conduct of another priest who later visited their home to collect the clothes worn by the girl at the time she was allegedly raped.

The family has also accused the police of inaction even though they reported the matter to the Keroka police station.

The Class Seven girl is said to have gone to the priest’s house to return the plastic bag in which she carried the fruit to her mother who was at St Elizabeth Gekano health centre about 70 metres from where he lived.

The woman had been admitted with malaria on November 23 last year, and her daughter was taking care of her.

The priest visited the sick woman to pray with her between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. the following day.

“After praying he asked me if I had taken any food, but I said that I had no appetite. He asked me if I would take some bananas and oranges.

“He said that he had some fruits in his house which he wished to give to me. I accepted. But the priest instructed my daughter to make sure that she returned the plastic bag,” the mother told the Sunday Nation this week.

“Within a short time the girl had brought a bunch of bananas and two oranges. I ate one and gave one to the nurse,” she said.

The mother of six said that after removing the fruit her daughter returned the bag to the priest’s house as instructed.

“She stayed there for long, and I started getting worried where she was. She was supposed to go home and prepare lunch for her siblings, and yet the keys for the house were on my bed,” the mother said.

“She did not come back and instead went straight home. In the evening I decided to leave hospital and go home and asked her why she returned without taking the keys, but she kept quiet.”

She said the following day her daughter opened up and told her what had happened.

“While in the house he asked me why my parents were always fighting, but I kept quiet,” the girls said. “He then asked me to allow him touch my breast, but I declined again as I got frightened.”

Warned her

She said the priest forced himself on her, tore her clothes and then defiled her. The girl said the priest then promised to assist her to pursue her education and warned her not to disclose to any person what happened as people would laugh at him.

Veronica Ogato, a nurse at the health centre, said she, too, suspected that something bad had happened. She recalled that when the priest came she was attending to the mother of the victim.

“He came in, greeted us all and prayed, then he left with the girl,” she said. The nurse said she grew worried when the girl stayed for long in the priest’s house as the mother was complaining.
“I later saw the girl seated next to the fence of the church in tattered clothes, using her sweater to cover her torn clothes. I sensed that something must have gone wrong,” Ms Ogato said.
“She looked depressed and stressed, but I did not tell the sick mother,” she said. “At 4 p.m. I passed by her parents’ place and asked to be allowed to talk to her. I came with her to my house and persuaded her to tell me what happened. She opened up and narrated to me what had happened.”

She said the girl told her that a “bad man” had torn her clothes off and defiled her. The priest then gave her Sh100 as a bribe to silence, her but she refused to take it.

“As a nurse, the following day I decided to give her an injection so that she did not conceive as it was three days after her monthly period,” Ms Ogato said.

The family said the girl at one time even attempted suicide after her schoolmates began to tease her. The parents moved her to a different school. The family has also become the laughing stock of the village, mocked by villagers who accuse them of “exchanging their daughter for a bunch of bananas and two oranges”. The mother said that a day after the rape, the suspected priest visited her home, prayed for her and gave her the sacrament.

On November 26, the girl’s mother claimed that Father Zachary Bikeri, the priest in charge of Gekano Parish, visited their home to purportedly ask for forgiveness over the incident on behalf of the priest.

“We prayed together, and after prayers he had a written statement which he asked my husband, daughter and me to append our signature to. The statement said the church was going to act on the allegations, and so we obliged.

“He then took the clothes that my daughter had worn when the incident occurred to take to the bishop so appropriate action could be taken against the priest,” the mother said.

Delayed to report

She said they believed that justice would be done and that was why they did not report the matter to police.

The girl’s mother said when she threatened to raise the alarm, her daughter’s clothes were returned to her on April 12, but they had been cleaned.

The Sunday Nation made several attempts to obtain a comment by phone from the accused priest on June 11 but without success. “I am on the road and will call you back ... I will call you back please,” he said and then switched off his phone.

Fr Bikeri told the Sunday Nation that he could only talk to the girl’s father.

“As you can see I am attending to another visitor, and you will have to wait or else you come another day,” Fr Bikeri said and then went back to his house.

Father Jeremiah Nyakundi, the administrator who is third in line in the Kisii Catholic Diocese, admitted that the complaint had reached the bishop’s office.

“We received the complaint about the defilement in December last year, and it was that time that the priest was moved in order to allow for investigations to go on,” Fr Nyakundi said.

However, Father Nyakundi said only the Kisii Catholic Diocese Bishop Joseph Mairura was in a position to tell how far the investigations had gone.

“What I can confirm is that the priest is not in Kisii diocese as he was moved, and it is my hope that the case will be completed, but at the moment it is still an allegation,” Fr Nyakundi said.

The bishop was out of office when we tried to contact him. The victim’s father says he unsuccessfully sought a meeting with Bishop Mairura in January.

“On January 18, 2010, I went to see him but he did not meet me. I was told that he was busy, and I had to leave,” the father said. Keroka police boss Ramson Lolmodoni said they did not know about the incident.

“I have tried to search for the case in our occurrence books, but I am unable to get it; even if he had reported, it was too late as we could not act,” Mr Lolmodoni said.The girl’s father is bitter about the leadership of the church which he accuses of abandoning his daughter and protecting the priest.

“She was tormented, and we have not been able to get her professional counselling services due to lack of resources. This is the question I have been asking the leadership of the church: why are they doing this to us?” he said.

On March 11 this year, the victim’s father went to local chief Jane Matara to report the incident. She advised him to report it to the police.

He said he went to Keroka police station on March 29 to report the matter, but the area OCS told him that it was too late to act on the case. “He (the accused priest) has been calling us and promising that he would pay for the education of our daughter in a boarding school provided we did not report the matter.”

“And at the same time, we were to tell the bishop that all the allegations against him were lies so that he could compensate us, which we have declined,” the victim’s father said.:(
I SAY THIS RAPIST SHOULD GO TO JAIL!! WHAT MAKES HIM THINK RAPING A GIRL AFTER OFFERING TWO ORANGES AND BANANAS AND HIS FILTHY PRAYERS HE HAS THE RIGHT TO RAPE AND ROB THE BABY GIRL CHILDHOOD? AND THE SHAMELESS SELFISH DEMON DARES CALLING AND SHOWING UP AND PROMISING TO BUY THE SILENCE WITH EDUCATION?
THE OCS AT Keroka police station SHAME ON YOU FOR SAYING IT IS TOO LATE TO TAKE ACTION AGAINST THIS PIG!!!! LOCK HIM UP!!!!!! I AM TIRED THAT ANY MAN CAN BUY THEIR WAY OUT AFTER SUCH AN ACT OF VIOLENCE!!!

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

FGM Charities targeting Africans have questionable motives..story by Nation newspaper.

2010-06-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

First, they came for our babies. Now, they want to adopt African women’s private parts. Yes, a charity based in the United States wants you to “adopt a clitoris”.

Clitoraid claims to help victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) in Burkina Faso by funding a “Pleasure Hospital” in this West African country that will surgically rebuild women’s “organs of pleasure”. Its spiritual leader, who goes by the name Prophet Rael, says that he founded the private non-profit organisation to help as many circumcised women as possible to “be whole again”.

Clitoraid is getting support from various US-based organisations, including those purporting to be feminist. (Interestingly, the government of Burkina Faso has already been performing these reconstruction surgeries for free.)

Now no-one can deny that FGM has had a devastating physical and emotional effect on millions of girls and women in Africa. Study upon study has shown that FGM — in all its forms — cripples women physically, makes childbirth and sex extremely painful and leaves lasting scars on women’s psyches. It cannot be tolerated or encouraged in this day and age.

So why is this organisation and its advocates receiving so much flak from none other than African women themselves?

In a blog posting titled “Can? We? Save? Africa?”, San Francisco-based Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg explains: “For years now, African women have been complaining that even as we are engaged in domestic campaigns to end the practice of female circumcision within our communities, the eager participation by Westerners, particularly Western feminists, has done much more harm than good.

“In a nutshell, Western feminists have taken over the space, displaced African women’s voices on the issue and have carelessly thrown about their neo-colonial weight in ways that have served only to further entrench the issue.”

Kamau-Rutenberg has now started a campaign that questions the motives of Clitoraid and other campaigns like it, including one called Underwear for Africa that targets orphans in Kenya.

Started in 2007 by the US-based charity Mothers Fighting for Others, the campaign aims to collect underwear for distribution to Kenyan orphanages, IDP camps and such places where underwear is apparently in short supply.

The organisation claims to have donated 2,000 pairs of underwear to children living in two IDP camps in Kenya in April 2009. A noble gesture, but why does it bother so many Africans?

“PART OF THE PROBLEM WITH PHILANTHROPY towards Africa is that of ease,” explains Kamua-Rutenberg, who as head of a non-profit organisation in the US says she keeps running into well-meaning but completely off-the-mark efforts to “save” Africa. Unfortunately, the devil is always in the details. In the rush to simplify complex situations such as the one in Darfur, we lose understanding of historical context and how that impacts what is currently happening.”

Central to the debate is the question of dignity. If African women’s body parts can be appropriated — or “adopted” — by well-intentioned, albeit ignorant, Westerners, then what will be appropriated next? If they can adopt our bodies, what’s stopping them from “adopting” entire nations?

A case in point is the singer Madonna’s relentless campaign to adopt Malawian children even in the face of opposition from the parents of the children themselves.

James Kambewa, a security guard in South Africa and the father of five-year old girl Mercy, is challenging Madonna’s right to keep his daughter, but admits that he does not have the kind of money to hire a lawyer who will take Madonna to court. Are his rights and dignity worth less than hers because he is poor?

Recently, at the Pan-African Media Conference, Prof Guy Berger from South Africa argued that Africa’s negative image in the international media will only be fixed if the reality of Africa is fixed first. In other words, when African countries become wealthy, well-functioning societies, the international media will have no choice but to focus on the positive.

I beg to differ. In the last few years, African countries, including conflict-ravaged Sudan and Ethiopia, have enjoyed double-digit economic growth rates, but one would never know it by looking at images of these countries in the international media, where war, witchcraft, poverty and famine in Africa make more headlines than thriving economies.

Perhaps the question we should be asking is: Who is saving who? In his book The Road to Hell, Micheal Maren writes: “The starving African exists as a point in space from which we measure our (Westerners’) own wealth, success, and prosperity, a darkness against which we can view our own cultural triumphs...

“The belief that we can help is an affirmation of our own worth in the grand scheme of things… And it is in their (Africans’) helplessness that they become a marketable commodity.”

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Doctor invents female condom with 'teeth' STOPPING RAPE IN SOUTH AFRICA.

2010-06-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

Few dare confront it, yet the violating act of rape is still very much an aspect of every society. But for one South African doctor, something needed to be done — and fast — to stem the menace after her encounter with a rape victim.

She invented female condoms with “teeth”. Four decades ago when Dr Sonnet Ehlers was reportedly on call at night, a devastated rape victim was brought in.

Eyes lifeless

“Her eyes were lifeless; she was like a breathing corpse. She looked at me and said, ‘If only I had teeth down there,’” recalled Ehlers, who was a 20-year-old medical researcher at the time. It was then that Dr Sonnet decided someday, she would come up with something to help fight rape, according to CNN.

Forty years down the line, she came up with a unique solution, worn by women like tampons — the Rape-aXe. The device can only be surgically removed once it has lodged itself on the male genital, which will result in positive identification of the attacker and subsequent arrest.

The rapist in question will not be able to walk right or even urinate due to constant pain. If he tries getting rid of it, it will only get a tighter grip. However, the condom will not cause any serious harm like breaking the skin or giving way to the danger of any fluid exposure.

Dr Sonnet went a step further and consulted “engineers, gynaecologists and psychologists” to help make the design safe and not subject victims to HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases.

The anti-rape condom is now undergoing a trial period in South Africa, where it is distributed free to women, especially during the Fifa World Cup. Once the trial is over, it will be available on the market for $2.20 (Sh170).

So will the razor sharp condom be the answer to rapists? Perhaps in South Africa, which according to Human Rights Watch has one of the highest incidence of rape in the world. A 2009 report by the country’s Medical Research Council found that 28 per cent of men surveyed had raped a woman or girl, with one in 20 saying they had raped in the past year.

Some people see Dr Sonnet’s innovation as welcome, since women have always taken drastic steps to ward off rape. However, critics are accusing Dr Sonnet of developing a medieval weapon in fighting rape.

They are asserting that the device will only incite more violence against women since a man subjected to great pain might easily kill the woman wearing it, adding that the act of wearing the condom in anticipation of being assaulted represents enslavement that no woman should be subjected to.

Ms Rosemary Okello, the director of African Woman and Child Feature Service (AWC), a non-governmental organisation based in Nairobi, seems to agree. Speaking to the Nation Media Group’s online publication, Africa Review, Ms Okello says “medical invention cannot be used to tackle a social problem”, since this will not address say, sexual harassment.

Then there are all those babies who are subjected to rape, but are still too young to wear the condom. Ms Okello added that although the device had been developed in good faith, it was still gender and age biased. “What about men who are also victims of rape, and how many women will have access to it?” she asked.

Like other lobbyists, she is instead rooting for more preventative and educational measures for both men and women, aimed at stopping sexual assault in the first place. At the World Cup, the world is watching to see if rapists will be deterred.
Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

It is called Female Genital Mutilation not female genital cutting!!

2010-06-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

As a survivor of this atrocity I am mad as hell for the organisations ,individuals who have never been through this terror bringing up the theory of lessening MUTILATION to cutting.
For instance you can never belittle RAPE to forced sex to please the RAPISTS and work with them..I say send the rapists and mutilators to JAIL or HELL!!! Stop using FGM for publicity and donations at the expense of 300 million survivors and millions of victims murdered every year...Then you try to convince me with your intact genitals you know better about the hell we have gone through and still live with it every single day!!!!! while 200 of us bleed to death every day and you dare say it is cutting? SHAME ON YOU!!!!!
All I know is FGM as a form of sex discrimination and gender-based violence performed to control women's sexuality, ensure virginity until marriage, and guarantee their acceptance into a particular community. A 2008 statement on FGM adopted by 10 prominent UN agencies
clearly states that,
the guiding principles for considering genital practices as FGM should be those of human rights, including the right to health, the rights of children and the right to nondiscrimination on the basis of sex."
Let there be no lighter misinterpreted version for any organisation, movement, culture, religion, country or individual to misconstrue FGM's harmful face of atrocity.
Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

LONG LIVE AFRIKA. WORLD CUP 2010 Zangalewa

2010-06-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

The death of Nelson Mandela’s great-granddaughter cast a shadow over the opening day of the World Cup on Friday, dampening the spirits of a nation proud and excited to be hosting the world’s most popular sporting event.

Zenani Mandela, 13, was killed in a car accident on the way home from a World Cup concert in Soweto on Thursday night, where tens of thousands of people had sung and danced with headline music stars Shakira and the Black Eyed Peas.

REST IN PEACE SWEETHEART GONE TOO SOON:(
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4768606&id=608286318

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Fistula KNH Campaign

2010-05-26T16:19:00.000-07:00

Women who have undergone Female Genital mutilation there is a 98% chance of developing Fistula and high rate of deaths during birth....in Kenya alone 470 women die every month giving birth...and every year over 1000 women develop fistula...and then they are told it's a curse when they cannot control their urine and bowel movement. FGM kills and no form should be allowed...plse sign the petition
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/sign_the_petition_demanding_that_the_aap_revoke_its_policy_statement_immediately_ambassador_mashua
now you see what happened to this 76 years old woman as a child affected the rest of her life..just a little nick and prick it's murder!!!!! most of women suffer and hide in shame:( Every year, about 1000 women develop fistula, a condition in which one loses control of their bowels in this country according to statistics from AMREF . It is one condition that takes away the dignity of a woman and most victims are usually stigmatized and considered social outcasts. The good news though is that it is repairable. Sylvia Chebet today met a 76 year old grandmother who has lived with the condition more than half her life.
here is the petition again
http://www.change.org/petitions/view/sign_the_petition_demanding_that_the_aap_revoke_its_policy_statement_immediately_ambassador_mashua

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Mashua Against FGM global radio

2010-05-19T23:20:00.000-07:00

Mashua Against FGM global radio

DESPITE OUR OUTRAGE AAP CONTINUES TO SUPPORT FGM!!!! BY AMBASSADOR MASHUA FGM SURVIVOR

2010-05-15T23:43:00.000-07:00

International women's rights organisations from the US, Africa, and Europe were quick to respond to this outrageous proposition calling on the AAP to retract its 2010 statement and revert back to its much stronger 1998 statement on the subject. The AAP's response, however, has thus far been underwhelming and they continue to justify this latest position on three grounds:

• "Nicking" is a minor procedure equivalent to a pin prick or ear piercing and has no harmful health consequences.

• Offering the "nick" demonstrates cultural sensitivity in serving immigrant populations.

• The "nick" is a "compromise" that could prevent families from performing more severe forms of FGM on their daughters

FGM, which involves the partial or total removal of the female genitalia, is carried out across Africa, some countries in Asia and the Middle East, and by immigrants of practicing communities living around the world. It is estimated that up to 140 million women and girls around the world are affected by it. The US department of health and human services estimated in 1997 that over 168,000 girls and women living in the US have either been, or are at risk of being, subjected to FGM.

A comparison of the AAP's 1998 and 2010 statements clearly demonstrates a dilution in the organisation's understanding of FGM as a form of sex discrimination and gender-based violence performed to control women's sexuality, ensure virginity until marriage, and guarantee their acceptance into a particular community. A 2008 statement on FGM adopted by 10 prominent UN agencies clearly states that, "the guiding principles for considering genital practices as FGM should be those of human rights, including the right to health, the rights of children and the right to nondiscrimination on the basis of sex."

The AAP's casual comparison of "nicking" of girls' genitalia to ear piercing demonstrates just how far from the international framework the organisation currently stands. "Nicking" cannot be pulled out of context and must be understood within the larger gender politics of controlling women's bodies and sexual rights.

Indigenous grassroots groups and activists, including traditional leaders and ex-mutilators across Africa, have for decades engaged in transforming their local communities to abandon the practice of all types of FGM and adopted alternative rites of passage instead. The protocol to the African charter on human and people's rights on the rights of women in Africa, a widely supported regional human rights treaty that has been ratified by 27 African countries, specifically prohibits "through legislative measures backed by sanctions, all forms of female genital mutilation, including medicalisation and para-medicalisation of female genital mutilation".

According to a member of the AAP's bioethics committee, the intention behind the revised 2010 policy is to issue a "statement on safety in a culturally sensitive context". The new policy justifies the shift from the 1998 terminology of "female genital mutilation" to "female genital cutting (FGC) or ritual genital cutting, by claiming that the former is "culturally insensitive language". It further validates paediatricians' offer to "nick" girls genitalia to "satisfy cultural requirements". This raises the question of what culture is being talked about and who are the gatekeepers of this culture that are being appeased – and what is the so-called "cultural identity" being preserved. Culture is fluid and evolves over time as practices that are rooted in inequality or injustice are questioned and abandoned. The AAP's current proposition undermines and negates local, national, and regional anti-FGM initiatives in Africa, which are equally a part of the cultural identity of communities where FGM occurs
.
But most importantly, the statement completely fails to recognise that human rights standards are absolute and not to be compromised upon in the name of possible harm reduction. The principle behind safeguarding human rights is harm elimination. The statement flies in the face of all international and regional deliberations on the issue, which have concluded that any medically unnecessary procedure to alter female genitalia constitutes a human rights violation and therefore must not be tolerated.

"Nicking" constitutes Type IV FGM, and the UN interagency statement clarifies that, "it has been considered important to maintain a broad definition of FGM in order to avoid loopholes that might allow the practice to continue".

The AAP must retract its statement.plse sign this petition But most importantly, the statement completely fails to recognise that human rights standards are absolute and not to be compromised upon in the name of possible harm reduction. The principle behind safeguarding human rights is harm elimination. The statement flies in the face of all international and regional deliberations on the issue, which have concluded that any medically unnecessary procedure to alter female genitalia constitutes a human rights violation and therefore must not be tolerated.

"Nicking" constitutes Type IV FGM, and the UN interagency statement clarifies that, "it has been considered important to maintain a broad definition of FGM in order to avoid loopholes that might allow the practice to continue". The genocide in Africa began with a small loophole and millions ended up dead..and millions internally displaced,and countless orphans and Rape used as a weapon of war. I know my people just a micro way that's all we need and children will die and AAP stands to be blamed.

The AAP must retract its statement.please sign this petition http://www.change.org/petitions/view/sign_the_petition_demanding_that_the_aap_revoke_its_policy_statement_immediately_ambassador_mashua

The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Global Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua

AAP ANY KIND OF FGM IS A VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS !! SHAME ON YOU BY AMBASSADOR MASHUA.

2010-05-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

AAP OUR CHILDREN ARE NOT SAFE IN YOUR HANDS,

Please write these AAP members today! use this letter if you need to. All addresses I sent to are below. You don't have to cc everyone I did....

Via email and USPS
Dena S. Davis, JD
All AAP Bioethics Committee members (present, 06-07, Liaisons)

Re: Your Recent FGC Statement

Dear Sirs and Mesdames:

You should have recently received my letter dated February 9, 2010, cc'd to you that I sent to the Circumcision Task Force in regard to the pending statement on infant circumcision. (enclosed) I have read your recent Policy Statement on the Ritual Genital Cutting of Female Minors and feel the need to write again.

It is no secret that this country views the amputation or cutting of infant and child genitals in two very different ways depending on whether the infant or child is male or female. It is quite unfortunate that this manifests in a difference in the way we protect the rights of children legally, and socially. I fully expect a “medical ethics committee” such as yours to ignore common acceptance of cultural habit, and encourage the highest form of ethics when it comes to the conduct of medical professionals and the services they provide. You have failed us all in this respect.

It appears for several reasons that rather than commenting on the boundaries of medical ethics, you have appointed yourselves guides for cultural practices, and are attempting to influence the growing debate over equal rights because of personal bias, or financial interest.

First, there is no reason for you to use softer language (“cutting” vs. “mutilation”) in general with the pediatricians in this country. You could have simply recommended this change in language be used by the small percentage of physicians who have actual dealings with families who are seeking FGM, rather than trying to soften everyone’s perception of this practice.

Next, you fail to mention in your description of motivations for FGM ANY belief of medical benefit. It’s interesting that even though you are addressing medical professionals that you should fail to mention this common relevant motivation. People who practice FGM are just as convinced that it is medically beneficial as those are who practice MGM (Male Genital Mutilation), as any FGM abolitionist can tell you. Physicians ought to be prepared to respond to this argument if they are truly expected by you to dissuade families from the practice. Omitting this motivation conveniently avoids recognition of the obvious similarity of attempted medical justification of MGM.

While you do mention that physicians may need to address our country’s double standard, I notice that you do not have an actual justification to offer.

The most grievous diversion from your capacity as “medical ethicists” is the arguments made in favor of physicians carrying out a cultural ritual that not only serves no medical purpose, but is a painful breach of human rights, and our law.

Whether or not such involvement of a pediatrician in this ritual would dissuade other mutilations of that child, or others by influence, is simply conjecture, and is quite debatable. The one thing it is guaranteed to do, however, is legitimize the practice.

The only proper response to any request for the genital mutilation or simple cutting of a child’s genitals is one already made by the Committee on Bioethics of 93-94 in the policy on Informed Consent. No doubt this statement was made without the hindrance of taking our own familiarity with genital mutilation into consideration.

"…providers have legal and ethical duties to their child patients to render competent medical care based on what the patient needs, not what someone else expresses. … the pediatrician’s responsibilities to his or her patient exist independent of parental desires or proxy consent."

Further, your re-classifying of some forms of FGM as non harmful based on our cultural acceptance of a more harmful practice is a failure of logic and is an inappropriate manipulation of perspective. “Harm” is an opinion that can only be decided by the individual, and it is NOT your place to decide that a painful, non-medically indicated cut is not harmful, especially when performed upon a non-assenting patient. No other such cutting is acceptable for a physician.

I expected you to heed my warnings before about the discrepancies between the genital autonomy rights of men and women, but not by attempting to legitimize the abuse of female infants or children! We are reaching a point where these discrepancies are becoming obvious and publicized. As medical ethicists that speak to a changing nation, I suggest you take a lesson from the Bioethics Committee of 93-94 and keep your political agenda, personal preference for altered genitals, or the potential income from those unnecessary procedures out of your evaluations. It would also be a shame to see you change the policy quoted above to corroborate those inappropriate motivations, as you have with the recent FGM policy.

Finally, if there are any who want to remove their name from this policy, or who want to publicly speak against it, please know that you have a lot of support.

Sincerelly hoping you will do the right thing,&Global Ambassador for fighting Female genital mutilation and standing up for women rights.Lucy Mashua FGM SURVIVOR
(CREDITS TO MY SISTER Aubrey Taylor
Social Activist
Enclosure
cc with enclosure:
AAP Board of Directors Executive Committee
AAP Bioethics Committee of 93-94
William J. Clinton Foundation
To be placed in video form at www.youtube.com/user/whatUneverknew

Addresses:

“Consultant” and lead author of FGC Statement
Dena S. Davis, JD, PhD
Case Western Reserve University
Department of Bioethics
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
dena.davis@law.csuohio.edu

AAP Bioethics committee 2010:
*BOTH

*Mary E Fallat, MD –
University Pediatric Surgery
234 E Gray St Ste 210
Louisville, KY 40202-3702

*Ian Ronald Holzman MD FAAP
1 Gustave L Levy Place
New York, NY, 10029

Kathryn Louise Weise MD FAAP
Cleveland Clinic Main Campus
Mail Code S10A
9500 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44195

*Armand H. Matheny Antommaria MD
Department of Pediatrics
Primary Children's Medical Center
100 North Medical Drive
Salt Lake City, UT 84113
armand.antommaria@hsc.utah.edu

*Sally Webb, MD
Pediatric Critical Care
MUSC Rutledge Tower
135 Rutledge Ave
RT290A
Charleston South Carolina 29403

Aviva L. Katz, MD
Children's North Medical Center
2599 Wexford Bayne Road
Sewickley, PA 15143
aviva.katz@chp.edu

AAP Bioethics committee 2006-2007 (this is the group credited for the current FGC Statement - and starred members above)
*BOTH

Douglas S. Diekema, M.D.
Department of Emergency Services
Children's Hospital & Medical Center
4800 Sand Point Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105

Steven R. Leuthner, MD
Pain and Palliative Care Center
9000 West Wisconsin Avenue Suite 640
Milwaukee, WI 53226
Leuthner@mcw.edu

*Lainie F. Ross, MD
Comer Children's Hospital
University of Chicago
5721 S. Maryland Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637

Liaisons 2010
*BOTH

*Philip L. Baese, MD
Neuro Behavioral Home Program
650 Komas Drive, Suite 200
Salt Lake City, UT, 84108

Steven J Ralston, MD (ACOG)
Tufts New England Medical Center
800 Washington St.
Department of Neonatology
Boston, MA 02111

*Ellen Tsai, MD (Canadian Paediatric Society)
Kingston General Hospital
76 Stuart Street
Kingston, Ontario K7L 2V7
Canada
tsaie@kgh.kari.net

Jessica Wilen Berg, JD (Legal Consultant)
Case Western Reserve University
Department of Bioethics
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
jwb14@case.edu
Jessica.berg@case.edu

Liaisons 06-07

Jeffrey L. Ecker, MD (ACOG)
Vincent Obstetrics
55 Fruit Street, Suite 4F
Boston, MA, 02114

Marcia Levetown, MD (American board of Pediatrics)
Healthcare Communication Associates .com
mlevetown@earthlink.net

cc addresses :
AAP Board of Directors Executive Committee

Errol Alden, M.D.
American Academy of Pediatrics
141 Northwest point Blvd.
Elk Grove, IL 60007

David T. Tayloe, M.D.
Goldsboro Pediatrics
2706 Medical Office Place
Goldsboro, NC 27534

Judith S. Palfrey, M.D.
President-Elect, AAP
Children's Hospital Boston
300 Longwood Avenue
Hunnewell 201.3
Boston, MA 02115

O. Marion Burton, MD (President – Elect AAP)
South Carolina School of Medicine
Department of Pediatrics
Colombia, SC 29208
mburton@uscmed.sc.edu

Committee on Bioethics, 1993 To 1994

Arthur Kohrman, MD, Chair
akohrman@northwestern.edu

Ellen Wright Clayton, MD
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Division of General Pediatrics
2200 Children's Way
8232 Doctors' Office Tower
Nashville, TN 37232-9225
ellen.w.clayton1@vanderbilt.edu

Joel E. Frader, MD
Children’s Memorial Hospital
2300 Children's Plaza,
707 W. Fullerton Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614-3363

Michael A. Grodin, MD
Boston University School of Public Health
715 Albany Street
Talbot T358W
Boston, MA 02118
grodin@bu.edu

Kathryn L. Moseley, MD
Livonia Health Center
20321 Farmington Road
Livonia, MI 48152-HCA
klmosele@med.umich.edu

Ian H. Porter, MD
Albany Medical Center
Department of Pediatrics - A88
47 New Scotland Avenue
Albany, NY 12208

Virginia M. Wagner, MD
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin
9000 W Wisconsin Ave
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226

The man responsible (so to speak) for the passing of the FGM ban in '97
William J. Clinton
c/o William J. Clinton Foundation
55 West 125th Street
New York, NY 10027

Human beings live by symbols; therefore, any attack on a girl's
> genitals
> derives its meaning from a symbolic system that anchors her
> inequality.
> "Cultural sensitivity" is no less than acquiescence in the power
> imbalance
> that permitted such a harmful practice to arise in the first place,
> and, due
> to unbroken patriarchal power, to continue.!!
> Knowing that the AAP also subscribes to ideals of "universality,
> indivisibility and inalienability of human rights as confirmed by
> the UN
> declaration in 1993 at the Vienna human rights conference," we are
> confident
> that you will retract your endorsement of FGM Type IV and restore
> AAP's
> position as a champion of human, and in particular, girls' rights.
>

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

TAKE ACTION AGAINST AAP AND FGM! By Amb Lucy Mashua

2010-05-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

the AAP now says that certain types of forced female circumcision (a nick or piercing of the genitals) are okay!

Here are some excerpts from their updated Female Genital “Cutting” Policy Statement (they aren’t calling it “mutilation” anymore), which was issued on Monday:

“… the ritual nick suggested by some pediatricians is not physically harmful and is much less extensive than routine newborn male genital cutting. There is reason to believe that offering such a compromise may build trust between hospitals and immigrant communities…”

and:

“pricking or incising the clitoral skin…is no more of an alteration than ear piercing.”

Wait, there’s more.

The AAP is also calling for current FGM laws to be weakened to allow for some types of genital cutting on girls:

“It might be more effective if federal and state laws enabled pediatricians to reach out to families by offering a ritual nick as a possible compromise to avoid greater harm.”

If you are in disbelief, you are not alone. I am a survivor from the torture of FGM and this horror haunts till the day you die...we have to undergo reconstructive surgeries to at least get back some of our woman hood back AAP are no different from the genitals butcherers in our village! I encourage other survivors to speak up against the horror of FGM...

Mashua voice for the voiceless joins Equality Now calls on the American Academy of Pediatrics to retract a portion of their policy statement endorsing Type (IV) female genital mutilation of female minors

On 26 April 2010, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a “Policy Statement – Ritual Genital Cutting of Female Minors” (AAP Statement) that in effect promotes changes in US federal and state laws to “enable[] pediatricians to reach out to families by offering a ritual nick” such as “pricking or incising the clitoral skin to satisfy cultural requirements.”

FGM is a harmful traditional practice with serious health risks that affects up to over 300 million women and girls around the world and I am one of them LUCY MASHUA. It is acknowledged internationally as a human rights violation and an extreme form of discrimination against women and girls. This practice involves the removal of various parts of female genitalia and is carried out across Africa, some countries in Asia and the Middle East, as well as in locations where FGM-practicing immigrants reside, including the United States. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimated in 1997 that over 168,000 girls and women living in the U.S. have either been, or are at risk of being, subjected to FGM.

Contrary to the assertion in the AAP Statement that the World Health Organization (WHO) is “silent on the pros and cons of pricking or minor incisions,” the WHO recognizes that pricking, piercing and incising of girls’ genitalia are forms of female genital mutilation (Type IV) with no health benefits and only harmful consequences. The WHO has acknowledged an increasing trend for medically trained personnel to perform FGM and has strongly urged health professions to refrain from performing such procedures. Furthermore, a United Nations interagency statement on “Eliminating Female Genital Mutilation” issued by 10 UN agencies in 2008 states, “[T]he guiding principles for considering genital practices as female genital mutilation should be those of human rights, including the rights to health, the rights of children and the right to non-discrimination on the basis of sex.”

TAKE ACTION!

Human rights groups in Africa (I had to be seperated from my children fighting FGM now AAP does this to me? it's all in vain? years of suffering seperation from my children/? see the reuniting video meeting my kids after four years http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7285791 and around the world have campaigned tirelessly for decades to put an end to FGM. International and African human rights instruments recognize that FGM is a harmful cultural practice that is steeped in inequality and is a form of gender-based violence and discrimination. The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, which is a groundbreaking women’s rights legal instrument, requires African States to prohibit all forms of FGM, including specifically the medicalization of FGM.

On 26 April 2010, ironically on the same date as the issuance of the AAP Statement, the United States Congress introduced new legislation amending the 1996 federal law prohibiting FGM to make it illegal to transport girls out of the country for purposes of FGM, also known as the “vacation provision.” Such laws exist in European countries with substantial immigrant populations and there is evidence that legislation can act as an effective tool as part of the strategy against FGM. The AAP Statement itself gives the example of Somali immigrants in Scandinavia who abandoned the practice due to legal consequences.

In light of all the work done by human rights groups, the United Nations and other organizations to eradicate all forms of FGM, as well as efforts in the United States to protect girls from this practice, the AAP Statement stands out as lacking clarity on the issue and fails to recognize the established basic principles of girls’ rights as affirmed and reaffirmed by international human rights standards. A reduction in the severity of a human rights violation does not minimize the gravity of such a violation.

Equality Now urges the AAP to retract the portions of its Statement that in effect promote changes in US federal and state laws to enable physicians to “nick” girls’ genitalia. Doctors must instead be encouraged to identify and protect girls at risk of FGM by advising and referring their patients’ parents to not-for-profit or government agencies that can help parents understand the consequences of FGM.

Recommended Actions

Please write to the American Academy of Pediatrics asking it to retract the portions of the AAP Statement that in effect promote changes in US federal and state laws to enable physicians to “nick” girls’ genitalia. Urge the Academy to abide by the principles of gender equality in its practice and to recognize that human rights are universal and indivisible. TAKE ACTION!

Letters should go to:

Errol R. Alden, M.D.
FAAP, Executive Director/CEO, American Academy of Pediatrics
141 Northwest Point Blvd
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-1019
Phone: +1 847 434 7500
Fax: +1 847 434 8385
Email: ealden@aap.org

Please send copies of your letters to the American Board of Medical Specialties and the American Board of Pediatrics at the addresses listed below:

Kevin B. Weiss, M.D., MPH
President and CEO, American Board of Medical Specialties
222 North LaSalle Street
Chicago, IL 60601
Phone: +1 312 436 2600
Fax: +1 312 436 2700
Email: kweiss@abms.org

Alan R. Cohen, M.D.
Chair, The American Board of Pediatrics
111 Silver Cedar Court
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Phone: +1 919 929 0461
Fax: +1 919 913 2070
Email: abpeds@abpeds.org

Please also ask your own doctor to take action on this issue.

see the price I had to pay for fighting FGM and AAP does this to me?

allowscriptaccess="always" allownetworking="all" allowfullscreen="true"

http://www.lindamaykallestein.com/Linda_May_Kallestein/Blog/Entries/2010/2/20_Lucy_is_Reunited_with_her_Children!!.html

Am demanding an apology personally to all 200 children and women bleed to death daily,to over 300 million women who are survivors of FGM horror and to that child subjected every 11 second to this horror..

Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy

The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.

And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.

http://twitter.com/Mashua

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

May 1 st Speech - Linda May Kallestein - English translation highliting Women in my community modern slavery

2010-05-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

SHE SAW IT AND WITNESSED....I SALUTE MY SISTER LINDA FOR TAKING PASSION INTO OUR LIVES OR MY FORMER LIFE AS A WOMAN IN MY MAASAI COMMUNITY, MANY RESPECT FOR THIS DINAMIC WOMAN. A VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS ...KINDLY HERE THE STORY OF MAMA JONI

A father in Kenya molests his three children..and shove his penis into a 1 yr old baby mouth to suck:( very sick bustard agrrrr by Lucy Mashua

2010-04-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

Police in kiambu are holding a 32-year old man who has allegedly been sexually assulting his three children.

Joseph Maina is said to have committed the heinous act on his two daughters and a son aged between one and three years for some time now.he seven year old girl opened up to the mother after she developed complications and could not take it any more.The five year old boy had earlier told the mother of how, their father would take them to another woman who is alleged to be his girlfriend who abused him sexually in the full view of his father who would also take turns with his sisters.e in kiambu are holding a 32-year old man who has allegedly been sexually assulting his three children.

The kids are traumatized ...I wish you could hear the young one recounting what his father does everyday...it's too painful to comprehend....this sick man threatened to kill his wife if she ever told anyone...Women ,parents teach your children to say to tell,to shout,and yell Against molesters!

Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy

The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.

And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.

http://twitter.com/Mashua

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Women rights are violated over their dead bodies...Dubai refuses to release a Kenyan woman body who died mysteriously in Dubai

2010-04-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

Margaret Obura is angry and at the verge of dispair one month after her daughter died in Dubai mysteriously. saying her family was taken round and round by the ministry officials who never wanted to mention the disease their daughter suffered from. And finally after a week the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said she died from AIDS.

Speaking to k24 on phone Kamau Wamunyu a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official however says the body may be allowed in Kenya once the Ministry lodge an appeal for exception from the Dubail Public Health Act that prohibits ferrying of such bodys.

why can't Kenyan government put their own foot down? what is so hard the children are asking just to see their mother's dead body say good bye!

Facebook | Mashua Against FGM

2010-04-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Facebook Mashua Against FGM

Stamping out sexual exploitation of our children..PROTECT ALL CHILDREN

2010-04-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

arents are termed as their own biggest enemy when it comes to issues of protecting their children against child abuse. According to the program manager for The Cradle, Brian Weke, modernisation and the cliche' of hard economic times has changed parents to money minting machines, completely abdicating their roles in bringing up their children.

Cultural beliefs like FGM contributes to the menace of rape and abuse of young girls. Yu have to wage this fight from all sides! It is a community shame what young girls are subjected to

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International

Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy

The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.

And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.

http://twitter.com/Mashua

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

WE ARE ONE lets end FGM torture..dance to the song..

2010-04-10T22:48:00.000-07:00

WE ARE ALL ONE....every weekend I see my refugees familes during home visits and reunion where we normally dance to this song and sing it...crying tears of joy..when we narrate to each other our past experiences and how we made it...SOME STORIES ARE JUST AMAZING,,, WORKING ON PUTTING A DOCUMENTARY AND ALSO FEATURE SOME OF EXPERIENCES IN MY BOOK-- I LOVE MYCALLING...WE ARE JUST GREATFUL AND EVERYDAY IS A HUGE BLESSING TO US. YES WE ARE ALL ONE...PRAISE GOD- GOD BLESS HUMANITY WE ARE ONE.

I PRAY FOR THE DAY MY COMMUNITY MAASAI WILL ABANDON FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION...

2010-04-04T15:10:00.000-07:00

MY PEOPLE AGAINST FGM.....SAD TO SEE ONLY ONE MUTILATOR ABANDONED THE CRUELITY. ..THAT IS A STEP...FGM IS 98% IN MY MAASAI COMMUNITY...I PRAY TO GOD DAY AND NIGHT THAT MY PPLE WILL OPEN THEIR EYES...I WILL CONTINUE TO CAMPAIGN...AM WORKING ON MY BOOK FEATURING MY FIGHT AGAINST FGM WHICH LED TO MY SEPERATION WITH MY CHILDREN, MY FAMILY....THE PRICE I HAD TO PAY AND STILL PAY DEARLY....TAKING THE HIGH ROAD TO ERADICATE FGM...UKEKETAJI NI UNYANYASAJI WA HAKI ZETU NA KUMKOSOA MUNGU .....TENA NI DHAMBI!

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless InternationalAssisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy

The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

TWINS ARE A CURSE TO SOME COMMUNITY IN KENYA SO BURRY THEM ALIVE:(When twins become a curse that must die;(

2010-03-31T20:51:00.000-07:00

The children’s father put them in a sack and buried them alive as they cried:(

KINDLY READ THIS STORY IT HAPPENED 10 DAYS AGO:(

Research by daily nation and Lucy Mashua

watch the above video...

A child’s birth is often a blessing, and getting twins is a double joy.
But for a family in Bungoma, the arrival of twins 10 days ago was considered a bad omen. The verdict: the twins had to die, and they were buried alive — by their father.
Samson Pakachini put his two new sons in a sack, dug a hole in his compound, and placed the boys, still alive, in it. He then filled the hole with soil even as the two infants cried.
Pakachini (not his real name), a Sabaot from Mt Elgon now living at Katome village in Bungoma West, says having twins is culturally unacceptable.
That is why, as soon as his second wife Anne delivered the twins, he buried them alive.
This was not his first encounter with twins; when his first wife had twins, villagers say, she fled the home with them when she learnt that her husband was planning to kill them.
This week, the mother of Pakachini’s new twins was too grief-stricken to say much.
She said between sobs that she was prevailed upon by the family and the community to have her children killed.
“They threatened to chase me away with my other children,” she added.
“I have no place to go; that is why I allowed them to do it.”
But former Mt Elgon MP Wilberforce Kisiero, a village elder, said the killings were uncalled for and urged police to arrest the couple.
Twins in the Sabaot community are revered and considered a special blessing, he added.
“Special songs are sung in their honour and they are protected by culture against any form of mistreatment. Among the things you cannot do to them is hit them on the head.”
Area chief Ronald Wachiye also condemned the killings, saying: “They are innocent victims who should not have been killed.”
Local residents were horrified after police held the couple for a few hours and then released it on Thursday evening.
And some residents on Friday marched to Lwakhakha police station and demanded that the couple be re-arrested.
Others were camping at the homestead, threatening to set their house ablaze.
I say the government of Kenya has failed to protect the defenceless this killers in the name of culture should face the music too..the stoning of children born on incest is still acceptable...three days after they are born. especially baby girls because they will be evil. well first of all the culture of wife inheritance by famiy members after a husband die should stop! also who will defend women who are raped by they own bloody relatives? then the kids are born and then stoned?, who can alter the mystrey of how babies are formed in the womb? what would happen to the octa mum Nadia Suleman if she was born in such evil culture ? God bless AMERICA and the respect of life....how long will Kenyan government watch children being burried alive?,children mutilated FGM? ,children sold to he goats for wives and sex slaves? young girls and children human trafficked to middle East and parts of Europe ? women murdered,raped by husbands and authorities, because they are properties?,pupils raped by teachers and chiefs?......SHAME ON YOU !!!!!!! MAY THE BLOOD OF ALL INNOCENT LIVES THAT DIE UNDER YOUR WATCH ,COMMAND, INCITING HAUNT YOU TO CHANGE YOUR WAYS AND HAVE A HEART!..Good for the first wife of paka chini who fled...too bad for this second wife that she had no where to go and let her babies be burried alive:(((
Reporting FARILY,FEARLESS AND FRANK!
:((The children’s father put them in a sack and buried them alive as they cried
Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Vifo Nchini Saudi Arabia/death of Kenyan girl slaves in Saudi

2010-03-29T15:58:00.001-07:00

Kenyan young girls are human trafficked to Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabia embassy in Nairobi is where all the girls slaves stay and sleep for weeks or months before they are shipped to their masters in Saudi...since this was reported girls are shipped back home dead ,abused and some burnt.THE GOVERNMENT OF KENYA IS SILENT IN ALL THIS....!

nibebe nibebe (carry me) CHILDREN VOICES OF AFRICA AGAINST FGM

2010-03-17T23:37:00.001-07:00

CHILDREN UNITED AGAINST FGM,

Girl, 10, rescued from forced marriage & her 4yr old brother who was a slave from my own village LOITOKTOK, research by Minister David Manjau

2010-03-16T11:59:00.000-07:00

Story done by Standard Kenya and Lucy Mashua Usa

Police in Kwale have arrested a man for allegedly marrying a schoolgirl.
The girl, 10, from Loitoktok my own village where I was born and raised and cases like this are not new it's everyday activity:( my heart bleeds I pray for women and all children both boys and girls as a mother of both sexes I know and having been sold too at the age of 12 believe me I know and that it's why I choose to be the voice for the voiceless expose all this sexual assults in the name of religion culture and all craps! was in Class Four when her parents forcefully married her off to the man, 40, in Diani, Msambweni District immediately after FGM at 9 years of age....
A Good Samaritan, Ms Deril Nyawera, said the girl had been married as a second wife after the man paid Sh13,000 (US 170$) dowry(total cost of what she is worth) to her family this takes me back when I knew that I was just a man's property a tomato in the market!.
"The girl came to me crying and asked for help. She told me her father had married her off to an old man as a second wife," Nyawera told The Standard.
She took her to Diani Police Station and reported the matter to the OCS.
Apparently, her parents had also given her a four-year-old brother to take care of in her new home.
Cultural practices this is no culture this is human and sex slavery ,rape and all the evil things!
When The Standard visited her in Nyawera’s home in Diani on Monday, she said she had been living with the man for three weeks raping her every day so sick this heartless creature is!.
"I didn’t want to get married( a strong girl she already had plans for her future very brave girl I SALUTE YOU BABY GIRL.. I wanted to continue with my education but my father forcefully married me off to that old man," she said.
Kwale OCPD Nelson Okioga said when they interrogated the man, he said boastfully his traditions allow him to marry as many wives as possible.( this sick man should rot in jail agrrrrrrrr
"We want the so-called cultural practices ( I add rape,sex slavery,child labour come on a 4yr old boy to help in the chores? all the unspeakable acts) to cease being used as an excuse to mistreat girls( no mr Okonga this is not mistreat..this is child slavery,rape,human trafficking and it is a crime 25 years to life and no parole)," said Mr Okioga.
He also took issue with the parents for marrying their daughter off.
"The parents are also wrong. We will trace and take them to court " he added. (plse take them straight to jail and place the rest of their children in children homes and rescue centers. contact me I know of a secret rescue place this kids can be safe mashuavoiceforthevoiceless@gmail.com), And Loitoktok is a small village you will trace the parents put them in handcuffs!
He said the man would appear in court, while the girl would be taken to hospital. "The girl alleged she was assaulted by the man," he added. (hey mister not alleged this poor girl was raped night and day by this 40 yr old creature! and what about the 4 YEAR OLD HOME SLAVE OR IS IT BECAUSE HE IS A BOY? YOU ARE WRONG HE HAS EQUAL RIGHTS AS THE GIRL WE WANT JUSTICE FOR HIM TOO. WE WILL PROTEST IF THIS PEOPLE INVOLVED ARE NOT LOCKED UP AND THIS WILL BE A BIG LESSON TO ALL OTHERS!
Factors such as poverty, ignorance or greedy parents force several families to marry off their daughters at an early age.
The introduction of free primary education in 2003 reduced cases of early marriages, but they are still rampant in poor districts, especially at the Coast.
However, child rights activists insist all children should be allowed to be children.
They argue parents, society and the Government have a responsibility over their children.
Children officers have rescued many girls from forced marriages and helped them return to school.
The Provincial Administration has also helped fight the vice and residents advised to raise the alarm and report such cases.No problem we will report but tell me how many are in jail now? none! WALK THE TALK KENYAN GOVERNMENT!

Please teach all your children to speak up .if this champion 10 year old girl did not speak up how could she and her brother be rescued? I can tell she is going to be a great advocate for human rights.

Ambassador Lucy .s .Mashua President of Mashua's voice for the voiceless International
Assisting refugees in the US and representation in advocasy
The Global Ambassador for fighting Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and standing up for Women’s Rights.
And the Chairperson of a worldwide campaign against FGM.
http://twitter.com/Mashua
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mashua-Against-FGM/225406701415

Mrs Obama honors Women's Day, and tell a few jokes

2010-03-08T16:30:00.000-08:00

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama helped celebrate International Women's Day today with some one-liners reminiscent of the old vaudeville routines of George and Gracie Allen, or perhaps of Sonny and Cher Bono.

"So, I get so speak first while he stands and watches -- I love this!" Mrs. Obama said of her husband, to the chuckles of the mostly female audience in the East Room at the White House.

"Look at me adoringly!," she told the president.

To which he responded: "I can do that ..."

To which she said: "... with sincerity!"

Later, Mrs. Obama, cracked, "it is my pleasure to introduce one of the few men in the room."

In his formal remarks, President Obama said the history of women in the United States, like the history of the country itself, has had peaks and valleys, but the line has always had "an upward curve."

He cited the contributions of American women throughout the centuries, from former first lady Abigail Adams to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor to -- yes -- Secretary of State and former primary opponent Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The program also featured actress Kerry Washington, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Afghan singer Mozdah Jamalzadah, and singer Katharine McPhee.

Progress in women's rights has been made, the president said, but too many opportunities and glass ceilings remain "beyond the reach" of too many women. "We have so much more work to do," he said.

Obama also praised his spouse. "I'm biased, I acknowledge," he said, "but I think she's a pretty good first lady."

Oh, and Obama told Mrs. Obama: "I'm very sincere when I look at you adoringly."

by Mashua voice for the voiceless
I just love them as a couple!! I am sure that Bill and Hillary loved each other, they certainly supported one another; and there is no doubt that Barbara was the backbone of George...but neither put a smile on my face like Barack and Michelle. Well done Mr. President and First Lady!

ISLAMOPHILIA #2 Mass Wedding Organized By Hamas in Gaza; 450 girls 6-9 years old getting married.

2010-03-04T13:41:00.001-08:00

Pedophiles ! simple disgusting! leftist bigots don't care about "children rights".

Female Genital Mutilation

2010-02-24T15:37:00.001-08:00

I can't imagine a 9 year old being a wife and the old beast having sex with her days after mutilation! how sick and evil? this is a big crime WORLD LEADERS IN THE WEST WHY DO YOU CONTINUE SMILING WITH AFRICAN LEADERS WHO DON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT CHILDREN? HISTORY WILL JUDGE YOU IF YOU DON'T HELP IN ENDING ROBBING OF CHILDHOOD AND FGM!

Africa - Tilda - Sweet Mother

2010-02-24T15:30:00.001-08:00

To my sweet mother and all the sweet mothers of the world..(.Women givers of life we are all mothers we nature)

Child prostitution in Kenya as young as 3yrs

2010-02-22T12:27:00.001-08:00

onathan Rugman reports on the child sex trade in Kenya, amid fears that up to 20,000 children are engaged in some form of under-age sex work - often with white men. from Europe

Female Genital Mutilation - "The Cut" (teaser)

2010-02-15T22:22:00.001-08:00

SHOT IN MY VILLAGE LAST YEAR BY MY SISTER LINDA MAY

FGM and Culture

2010-02-15T22:18:00.001-08:00

N'Kosi Sikeleli Africa- With Miriam Makeba

2010-02-10T23:27:00.001-08:00

The lyrics employ the five most populous of South Africa's eleven official languages - Xhosa (first stanza, first two lines), Zulu (first stanza, last two lines), Sesotho (second stanza), Afrikaans (third stanza) and English (final stanza).

Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw' uphondo Iwayo
Yizwa imithandazo yethu
Nkosi sikelela thina lusapho Iwayo

Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho
O se boloke, o se boloke setjhaba sa heso
Setjhaba sa South Africa
South Africa...

Uit die blou van onse hemel
Uit die diepte van ons see
Oor ons ewige gebergtes
Waar die kranse antwoord gee

Sounds the call to come together
And united we shall stand
Let us live and strive for freedom
In South Africa our land

Sarafina - Freedom Is Coming

2010-02-10T23:17:00.001-08:00

YES FREEDOM ATLAST PAPA MANDELA...