This is a guest post by Sironka Ole Masharen.
There is light at the end of the tunnel in some parts of Maasailand that the Alternative Rite Of Passage might soon replace the dreaded Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). In Loitokitok alone, it is being estimated that the campaign has attained 80% success.
Nice Nailantei Leng’ete, the Project Officer in Loitokitok AMREF office, and who first worked with the Child Reproductive Health Program as a volunteer; is highly credited for this marvelous results. Like Josephine Kulea, her counterpart in Samburu, Nailantei has the energy and passion in her job, an attribute which has endeared her to many leading to her wonderful success.
The reality is that the rite is still widely practiced in Africa and beyond with serious physical and psychological risks.