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ls e t ar Issue Number 46 May 2014

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Mapping leadership agenda

African women strategize on changing face of politics in the continent …By Jane Godia

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lmost 20 years since the Beijing meeting and about 30 years from the United Nations Women’s Decade meeting in Nairobi, issues of women and politics remain topic of discussion as women look for ways and strategies through which numbers and quality of leadership can be improved.

The Women in Political Leadership agenda setting meeting in Nairobi came a few days after the Commission on the Status of Women’s 57th session ended in New York at the United Nations headquarters with a call that Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment must remain a stand-alone goal as the world seeks targets towards achieving sustainable development.

The meeting in Nairobi was preceded by two other meetings in Uganda and Ma-

lawi. African women from 15 countries across the continent gathered in Nairobi April 2324 to deliberate and strategize on women’s political leadership within the continent.

Convened by FEMNET (African Women’s Development and Communication Network) and Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa), the meeting engaged seasoned politicians, aspirants, women’s rights activists, leading organisations engaged in enhancing women’s political leadership, donors, UN agencies and the media.

Participants discussed the varying socio-political contexts in which women in politics operate, including increasing militarism and fundamentalism across the region. Personal accounts of political journeys were also shared over the course of the two days. The delegates were able to share candid insights on the condition and

status of women in politics, giving a no holds barred participatory analysis of context, current trends and real life drama in politics.

Gaps This meeting follows two meetings that were held earlier to get a better sense of women’s realities on the ground,” noted Ndana Tawamba, executive Director Urgent Action FundAfrica. She added: “There is need for supporting women’s political agenda.”

African women from 15 countries across the continent during a meeting organised by FEMNET (African Women’s Development and Communication Network) and Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa) in Nairobi to deliberate and strategize on women’s political leadership within the continent. Photo: Jane Godia According to Tawamba: “Africa is struggling with a deficit of leadership — whether male, female, or otherwise.”

She posed: “What role can women play to ensure that economic growth is sustained and that the socio-political environment is vibrant? How are women interacting with

power and leadership?”

In the Malawi conference, it was felt that it was important to put in among other things resources to support women vying for political leadership.

According to Dr Jessie Kabwilla, an academician and politician from Malawi, “systems that fund women are not

feminised”.

Kabwilla made the comments in response to the fact that many donor organisations that support women with resources would prefer them to indicate their candidature at least a year in advance.

Continued on page 6

Post MDG 2015 - The road ahead looks bright

EDITORIAL

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he road to the 2015 deadline of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, better known as MDGs has not only been long and windy, but it has been very challenging to most of the developing countries like Kenya.

When the then UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, made the announcement 14 years ago, it looked like a pipe dream but it was embraced by most developed countries like the United States and members of the Group of most developed countries in the world.

But since then, a lot of water has passed under the bridge and some of the UN member states have achieved the eight MDGs, while most like Kenya are fairing badly.

So it was a sigh of relief last month when women of all walks of life from around the globe flew in to New York for the annual international conference, better known as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) that coincides with commemoration of the International Women’s Day to come up with a way forward to the MDG

deadline next year.

Now that the curtains have come down on the 2014 CSW, it is now time to get back on the trenches and ensure that the resolutions passed on the post 2015 MDG agenda are implemented to the letter.

Critics of such high profile global forums have always taken issue with the delegations and the participants from both the public and the civil society, for talking tough but having nothing to show for their trip when they return back to their respective countries and organisations.

So it was refreshing when women rights advocates and gender equality advocates scored in the just concluded CSW when their demands for a stand - alone gender equality goal in the post2015 agenda was met.

The final outcome document of CSW 58 reaffirmed commitments to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as was stated in the Millennium Summit, 2005 World Summit, 2010 high level plenary meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the 2013 Special Event on the MDGs.

Now that the CSW is behind them, the hard part is about to begin and that is to start lobbying and ensuring that the resolutions are implemented by their respective governments.

Gains Kenya is a step ahead, thanks to the political goodwill and President Uhuru Kenyatta’s announcement on taking over the reigns of power following the hotly contested General elections in the country’s history, that gender would be streamlined in all ministries, and not confined to a specific ministry as had been the case in the past.

Indeed, the President’s appointment of six out of the 18 Cabinet ministers is a sign of better things to come for women in the country.

They include very powerful dockets, previously the preserve of men, such as Foreign Affairs (Amina Abdullah), Devolution and Planning (Anne Waiguru) and Defence (Raychelle Omamo) among others.

The presence of Waiguru at the forum was an indication of the seriousness that the Gov-

ernment is taking gender and related issues.

We share the optimism of the Devolution Cabinet Secretary saying that Kenyans, who already have the affirmative action principle on gender equality entrenched in the Constitution, must start having a conversation around the two-thirds principle.

“We need to have a conversation around the issue of two thirds and strategise how the affirmative action gains will be protected,” Waiguru says.

Waiguru announced that the Government plans to ensure that gender was mainstreamed in all goals in the post 2015 agenda.

“Women need to position themselves in places where they can make decisions, and they should give other women their rightful place so they are able to make decisions beyond gender,” the Devolution minister maintained.

Indeed, the following Rwandan proverb captures that mood and the dreams of the women leaders aptly: “You can out-distance that which is running after you, but not what is running inside you.”

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Issue Number 46 • May 2014

Finally at peace 47 years after fistula destroyed her life …By Ruth Ayugi

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oyce Mumbi has been living in isolation over the last 47 years.

This is despite the fact that her condition is treatable.

She recalls that in 1967, she went into labour and was rushed to a nearby clinic in the Mathare slums. Besides losing her child after prolonged labour that lasted for two days, she developed serious complications that would haunt her for the better part of her life.

After this experience, Mumbi would wet her bed not knowing that the situation could be rectified. The midwife who helped her deliver the baby was unable to explain the logic behind her condition.

“Whenever I coughed, drank water, lifted heavy things and went to bed at night, I would leak lots and lots of urine,” she recalls with tears rolling down her cheek.

Mumbi developed painful sores between her thighs owing to the incessant flow of urine and had to contend with regular infections. She decided to limit her water intake to lessen the urine flow but this only made things worse as she became severely dehydrated and had to be rushed to hospital.

At home things became worse as her husband abandoned her a month after she left hospital. Neighbours and friends also rejected her citing the foul smell.

Many people considered her a

cursed woman. “Most people associated my condition to a curse and no one was willing to listen to my side of the story,” recounts Mumbi who was then forced relocate to her parents’ rural home in Thika.

It is because of her condition that 67-year-old Mumbi is still single to date as no one wants to marry a “cursed woman”.

Intervention However, recently Mumbi had a life changing experience after Flying Doctors Society of Africa (FDSA) came to her rescue during a Fistula Surgical Operations Campaign 2014 at Guru Nanak Hospital in Nairobi. The condition that had consigned her life to misery over the last 47 years has been rectified.

Mumbi was among the 26 women who benefited from the free scan and surgery from Flying Doctors Society of Africa.

Christine Muthengi who was the leading nurse during the operation said the screening showed that Mumbi had been suffering from obstetric fistula for a very long time.

Obstetric fistula most commonly occurs after a woman’s labour becomes obstructed. She could remain in excruciating pain for days before the baby is finally dislodged. Her baby will most likely die and she is often left with an obstetric fistula, which is a small hole created by constant pres-

Joyce Mumbi (left) can now heave a sigh of relief after she benefitted from a free scan and surgery from Flying Doctors Society of Africa. Mumbi had been suffering from obstetric fistula for a very long time. Christine Muthengi (Right), the lead nurse during the operation. sure from the foetus, which renders her incontinent.

Muthengi who has been handling fistula cases for over 20 years says fistula normally occurs when the pelvic is too small and the baby is too big to pass.

In many developing countries like Kenya where there are few hospitals and poor transportation systems, obstructed labour often results in death of the mother. When she survives, there is a great likelihood her child will die and she will develop a fistula.

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), there are

three delays that contribute to the development of a fistula: delay in seeking medical attention; delay in reaching a medical facility; and delay in receiving medical care once a mother arrives at a health care facility.

Campaign According to Tanya Nduati, Chief Executive Officer Flying Doctors Society of Africa, the campaign aims to restore dignity to over 200 women suffering from fistula by carrying out a series of surgical repairs in free medical camps throughout the country.

“The first of these series of medical

camps started with screening of possible fistula cases on March 22, 2014 and actual surgeries followed thereafter at the Guru Nanak Ramgharia Sikh Hospital Nairobi. Similar camps in counties where the condition is prevalent will follow”, explained Nduati at media briefing.

A visit to Mumbi two weeks after the surgery, I found a happy woman living a normal life.

However, even as she rejoices over her successful rehabilitative operation and anticipating all the beauty that lies ahead, Mumbi still remembers her painful journey.

Gender sensitivity key Reports indicate failed to sustainable energy HIV trials had inaccurate

…By Bernice Nduta

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omen are the engines driving sustainable development in Africa, but this has not spared them negative aspects linked to energy which is one of the key drivers of this growth.

This was the hot topic at a side event involving the civil society and organisers of the second high-level meeting of the AfricaEU Energy Partnership held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

According to Radha Muthiah, Executive Director Global Alliance for Clean Cook Stoves women and children are the most affected by the health problems associated with cook stove smoke which contributes to more than 15,700 deaths in Kenya every year.

She says that an initiative by Practical Action Eastern Africa targeting 3,000 households has helped to achieve better health through improved indoor air quality.

The households have been targeted with new technologies, piloting the use of the Clean Cook ethanol stove in urban settings and providing access to sustainable and efficient household fuels.

At the meeting, Siaya County Governor Cornel Rasanga urged civil society to help educate people on the use of renewable energy and environmental conservation, citing the serious depletion of forest cover in most parts of Africa.

Diversify “It is important to encourage people to adopt safer, alternative sources of energy so that they can also benefit from the concept of carbon credits,” Rasanga appealed.

The presentation that carried the day was given by Sabina Anokye Mensah, Chief Executive Officer Anomena Ventures, an

organisation that aims to improve livelihoods and quality of life in rural Ghana by increasing access to clean energy sources.

Mensah noted that more than two million households in rural Africa rely on inferior biomass fuels as energy sources for their homes and that women are the main managers of household energy.

Policymakers “The promotion of clean energy impacts on the lives of these women and children by freeing the time they spend in fetching water and collecting firewood so that they can pursue education, agricultural production and other income-generating activities,” Mensah explained.

She said that policymakers must, therefore, understand the gender roles assigned to women by society to help draw the direct link between gender and energy.

Civil society argued that poverty has a female component and policymakers must develop energy policies that strengthen women’s economic capacity to eradicate ‘feminization of poverty’. Governments could, through partnerships, draw on women’s practical experiences as users and suppliers of domestic energy. Women in the informal sector contribute a great deal to the local economy and funding should be allocated to help them develop the non-conventional energy sources they use.

By understanding the linkages between gender, energy and poverty, policymakers will develop a sustainable development perspective, promote gender awareness and mainstreaming in energy-related organisations to develop long-term gender-sensitive policies and programmes.

Courtesy of SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa desk

adherence measures

…By Laura Owning

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new analysis of an HIV prevention trial previously known to have poor outcomes has now revealed that behavioural measures used for assessing adherence were inaccurate.

The Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the Epidemic (VOICE) trial assessed the effect of taking oral tenofovir tablets, oral Truvada tablets or vaginal tenofovir gel antiretroviral medicines in preventing HIV. The study involved 5,029 women in South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2012. Adherence rates were determined based on self-reporting from participants and counts of unused applicators and pills.

The first result of the trial, which was presented last year, showed that none of the three medicines was effective.

But the results of a new analysis based on blood samples, presented at the 21st Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections recently in Boston in the United States gives insight into the challenges of self-reporting and treatment mechanisms for the sub-Saharan Africa population.

Analysis The new analysis reveals that despite a 90 percent adherence rate reported by the women; only 25 percent actually used the products.

“What we presented was an in-depth analysis of that divergence between behaviour and biological measure of endurance based on drug detection in biological specimens,” says Ariane van der Straten, VOICE lead researcher and a senior research scientist at the US-based RTI International.

Van der Straten attributes the poor adherence rates to factors that include the burden of taking a

daily treatment product and safety concerns among the women.

“There was concern about taking ARV drugs as prevention as they are conceived as treatment drugs.

So, there was a worry of being ‘pegged’ as HIV positive,” she says.

According to Van der Straten two social and behavioural sub-studies, VOICE C and VOICE D, will explore the reason high-risk women did not follow the study process. Results are expected later this year.

The current VOICE analysis, however, is already making an impact in the HIV research community, says Deborah Baron, programme manager at South Africa’s Wits Reproductive Health.

“When those of us in the field initially heard the 2013 results, we were surprised and were discouraged. However, we have learned a lot from the study,” Baron says.

Adherence The adherence protocol was enhanced with realtime batch testing.

“This is a tool researchers could use to intervene in real time, rather than at the end of a study, as we saw in VOICE,” explains Baron. She adds: “But it must be done carefully to ensure you do not unblind the study.”

The new study sheds light on the mechanism for treatment of patients with HIV in Africa.

“Women do not want interventions that will require that they use them daily, but may prefer those to be taken weekly,” says Gita Ramjee, director of the South African Medical Research Council’s HIV prevention programme.

The council is currently involved in two studies testing the efficacy of a vaginal ring that contains an antiretroviral agent and is inserted for 30 days. Results are expected in late 2015.

Courtesy of SciDev.Net’s Sub-Saharan Africa desk

Issue Number 46 • May 2014

African women bound by discrimination in quest for

New laws, a threat to gender equality …By Faith Muiruri

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leadership

…By Bertha M. Rinjeu

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The tears of a child she who knows best are the mother,” is a phrase long heard but which is only now beginning to find true meaning in Africa.

The prevailing political climate has continued to inspire spirited conversations and now women of the continent have joined in the fray, crisscrossing the land to agitate for real political change.

This time they met in Nairobi.

Sitting with women that have endured loss, ridicule, embarrassment and persecution alongside police and government harassment, judicial gagging and negative publicity that seek to undermine the female candidate, if not political exclusion, has a certain electrifying quality. It is not peculiar for sudden feelings of inadequacy to happen upon the mind of one unprepared for the collective determination of a women’s movement whose time is thought to have come.

Dominance For decades, the women of Africa have watched as men dominated spaces have widened with resolute ferocity against the inclusion of women in certain circles unless by the accomplishment of a male-ordered list of ever-changing demands.

“It is very clear that the men keep the top most positions for themselves. When I was a minister nobody had a problem. But when I said I was running for the vice presidency, everybody protested,” began Kadi Sesay, who was a running mate in the last elections in Sierra Leone.

After a long and distinguished career in public service, Sesay decided to up the stakes and aim for a much higher seat.

Being from the country’s north and a Muslim, news of her candidacy, upon arrival at the north, stirred negative reaction. This was against her expectations. Critics questioned her suitability to the post questioned, disregarding her prolific career.

“They told me I could not go into the forest and speak to the secret society of men. Never mind that my competitors were also uninitiated,” she says.

The only marked difference between Sesay and her rivals was her gender; only to Sesay, this was but a bump in a road down which she was destined to travel. In the end, it took the rigging of an entire election to get her name away from the vice presidential title.

Objections to women’s candidacy come in various forms. To the African mind, the woman is still largely expected to conform to society’s understanding of the necessity for the woman to be home bound, with accusations of recklessness, impropriety and prostitution following those that dare to go against the norm.

“They call me a prostitute but they do not know my story. I will not endanger my life by staying with a man who is unfaithful,” said Jessie Kabwilla, a parliamentary hopeful and spokesperson of Malawi Congress Party presidential candidate.

Elections The meeting was organised by the Urgent Action Fund and the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) just weeks to the General Elections due in Malawi in May. Kabwilla has stared down the face of a system which is still highly patriarchal despite being in a country headed by a woman.

Joyce Banda, Malawi’s president became Africa’s second female president in 2012 after a three year stint as vice president.

“We are inbuilt with our own oppression. We must understand that patriarchy as a form of oppression works on incorporating women into their ranks,” noted Kabwilla.

In Africa, women rarely look to other women as actual leaders. Years of maintained indoctrination on the inferiority of women has left a state in which even at the ballot women prefer male candidates over female contestants. In cases where female candidates do win elective seats, greater focus is put upon their performance than on that of men in similar positions.

Priorities The trouble could be that for women, the political road is not one often given high priority. Concerns for continued married-hood and a society that demands sacrificial selflessness, women find themselves entering politics on misinformation motivated by a trepidation of all that which politics can do to them

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Dr Jessie Kabwilla, a parliamentary hopeful and spokesperson of Malawi Congress Party presidential Candidate during the meeting organised by the Urgent Action Fund and the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) in Nairobi.

Photo: Jane Godia

should they deviate from usual practice.

It is a fact that the financial state of women is still highly tied to that of their male benefactors, most of whom are reluctant to relinquish control over the minds and futures of women on the assumption that economic independence is a short cut to the exit ramp. By this, do women with political ambition seek out sponsorship from the wrong quarters, more often than not ending up in a booby-trapped cul-de-sac at the bottom of a mountain?

Perhaps it is a failure of the women’s movement to translate the ideals of equality to the downtrodden from the lofty discussion of an educated women’s conference to digestible bits for the ordinary working or rural woman. Perhaps it is that the focus on the threat of violence targeted specifically towards women for political participation is more news worthy, though rarer than that towards men simply because of the deficit of women who choose to stand for office. All these work as perfect deterrents to the mere mention of any ambition by women that requires intimate knowledge of the ballot box. Perhaps it is that the reputation of women who do successfully run for office is one of many high questions.

Focus Still, could it be that women of Africa are too involved with the concerns men have given that they have forgotten to tend to themselves? Could it be that a deep self-

“The Malawi political environment is still highly patriarchal despite being in a country headed by a woman” Dr Jessie Kabwilla

ishness masquerading as busyness, prayerfulness or wanting-to-keepthe-peace-ness is slowly but surely eroding the gains already made by the women gone before? Could it be that affirmative action, though gifting women the necessary numbers, has worked to have women as an essential group, beautifully decked out for show but only there for show?

The issue is not that men have failed or wronged women; it is that women have agreed to be cajoled and bullied out of worthwhile representation. At the end of the day it is women and their children who pay the most for political actions.

It is women who when war breaks out suffer the heaviest casualty. It is women against whom sex is most often used as a tool to humiliate, silence and oppress. It is women who have to fight a triple war to get their voices heard.

The women’s rights movement has gotten many women through the door but maybe it is time for the political woman to better her notable future. Politics can only be won by treating it as one would any other job.

Ultimately, the political future of Africa is intricately tied to her security, ability to feed and clothe herself and protection of the rights of all her citizens. Yet, if all this agitation and talk of a better tomorrow by the increase of skirt-wearing members in national halls of assembly does not translate to a real and serious change in the way Africa does business, it is for naught.

Africa’s electoral systems may not be perfect but a refusal to get actively involved in processes that determine our collective futures is a ready gift to all those that wish to keep us silent.

The Nairobi meeting was held to plan for a three day conference on Women in Leadership with a focus on Women in Politics in November, in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

he Solidarity for African Women’s Rights Coalition (SOAWR), has condemned discriminatory provisions in both the Matrimonial Property Act and the Marriage Act. In a statement, the organization noted that the Matrimonial Property Act, which became law on 10th January 2014, is discriminatory and a retrogressive step towards women's rights to land and property in Kenya.

The Act, in brief, defines matrimonial property as property that is jointly owned by the spouse, and disallows women the right to marital property upon the death or divorce of their spouse by requiring them to prove their contribution to the acquisition of the property during the marriage.

“Because few Kenyan women own or jointly own property with their spouses, and given that many Kenyan women do not work in paid employment, many are unable to contribute financially in the acquisition of matrimonial property. In effect the Act strips women of rights to family property, including the very homes in which they and their children live in, when they are unable to prove financial contribution,” reads the statement in part.

According to Christine Ochieng, the Executive Director of Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA-K) “the issue of proving contribution is irrelevant because the Constitution does not talk about proof of contribution; the Constitution talks about equality at the dissolution of marriage. And it should be 50-50 automatically.”

Frances Raday, head of the UN Working Group on discrimination against women in law and practice warned that “women will effectively have no security of tenure, or place to live with their children if their husband leaves them or dies, which will also increase their risk of experiencing violence.

“The Act has detrimental impact on the right to food, the right to adequate housing and standards of living for Kenyan women, children and communities,” she explains.

Gains Further the Marriage Act waters down the gains the country has made against inequality.

The Coalition says that instead of indoctrinating archaic notions of patriarchy that perpetuate a culture of violence and discrimination against women, it is imperative that the prevailing legal framework adequately protects a woman’s right to assert control over her own life and family circumstances.

Violation These two pieces of legislations are retrogressive in nature and a clear violation of Kenya’s 2010 constitution, which gives significant prominence to human rights and international law, and entrenches the rights and fundamental freedoms of all, including the right to equality and freedom from discrimination.

They are also contrary to Kenya’s legal obligations embodied in regional and international instruments.

Kenya has ratified and is bound by the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (“the Maputo Protocol”), the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

SOAWR calls for a review of the untenable provisions, guided by the spirit and letter of the Constitution and the obligations of the state under the Maputo Protocol.

Parliament must also repeal discriminatory and unconstitutional provisions from the 2013 Matrimonial Property Act to ensure that women have equal rights and opportunity before the law.

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Issue Number 46 • May 2014

Government unveils health subsidy for the poor …By Faith Muiruri

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he government has rolled out a Health Insurance subsidy programme that targets the poor and vulnerable people in the country.

The initiative is a flag ship project under Vision 2030 which is jointly being implemented by the Ministry of Health and National Hospital Insurance Fund and financed by the World Bank through a concessional loan to the government.

According to the Health Cabinet Secretary James Macharia, the program is being rolled out on a pilot basis across the country.

“The first program will entail looking at the most poorest 500 households in every county before it is escalated to cover a wider group in the entire country,” said the Cabinet Secretary when he officially launched a campaign dubbed Health for All. He said that the new scheme seeks to enable the poor to have a healthcare insurance cover under a universal scheme.

“If the pilot programme succeeds, then we are assured of replicating the initiative to cover a bigger margin and increase the number of people covered under insurance from the current 4 million to 25 million in the next two years,” he explained.

Constraints He said that the 4 million only translates to a paltry 10 percent which is a considerable challenge that requires immediate attention.

The Cabinet Secretary said achieving universal health coverage still remains a challenge due to financial constraints and the over reliance on direct payments at the time people need care.

This he said had undermined equity in health and stopped millions of people from receiving the care they

need.

The situation has been aggravated by the rising poverty levels and government’s inability to sustain the financing of essential services and delivering them through an overstretched health system.

“It is estimated that about 46 percent of our population live below the national poverty line of which 19 percent constitute the poorest segment of the population. The poor in the society continue to bear the greatest burden of the disease because they do not accord any priority to healthcare thus resulting in high morbidity and mortality,” he noted.

The Health Insurance subsidy programme is yet another attempt by the government to provide universal health insurance for the entire population after two previous attempts met stiff resistance.

Bill In 2004, President Kibaki declined to assent into law the National Social Health Insurance Fund Bill sponsored by the then Health minister Charity Ngilu even after Parliament passed it. The President cited the huge cost that the new legislation would have on the State finances.

The ‘Ngilu Bill’ had proposed that the government pay Ksh11 billion to NHIF annually to meet the insurance costs for the poor.

Later in 2010, NHIF proposed to increase the monthly contributions by its members from the Ksh320 — payable monthly for workers in the formal sector—on a graduated scale.

That would have seen workers earning more than Ksh100, 000 make a monthly contribution of Ksh2000.

The lowest contributor would be required to pay Ksh150 for those earning a monthly salary of Ksh6, 000 and below.

Further, it was envisaged that the government would contribute about

James Macharia, the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Health during the launch of Health for all Campaign at a Nairobi hotel. The Ministry of Health has pledged to work with key government bodies at the national and county levels, to build strong and active constituency toward supporting the government's efforts to achieve universal Health coverage. Photo: Kenya woman Correspondent Ksh5 billion for the 6.5 million Kenyans considered to be living in abject poverty. Amidst this, Cotu moved to court to challenge the proposal terming it unlawful. The matter is still pending in court placing NHIF’s intentions in limbo.

The Cabinet Secretary at the same time said that the government initiative on free maternal health services has helped to increase the utilization of maternal health services from 44 percent to 66percent since its inception 8 months ago.

Achievements “This has helped to reduce maternal deaths by 8 percent over the last eight months from 5,500 pregnancy related deaths, we are saving 500

mothers,” he explained.

He said that the child mortality rate has dropped by 15.8 percent.

“Previously statistics show that we used to lose 100,000 children aged below 5 years every year but this has dropped by 16,000 children.

The health for all campaign promotes universal health coverage to ensure equity in service use, quality and financial protection for all.

The campaign is being implemented by the Management Sciences for Health (MSH), a non-profit international organization working in public health to strengthen health systems management and improve access to critical health care According Hiwot Emishaw, the regional Campaign Director, the

initiative seeks to accelerate quality healthcare and achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in three African countries.

Emishaw says the campaign has already been recognized by Nigeria and Ethiopia governments as a vital part of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) movement.

She explained that in Kenya, the campaign is geared towards the endorsement of Universal Health Coverage by leadership at all levels of government, increased public awareness on issues affecting access to health care and sustained multi-sectoral commitment towards achieving the targets of health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Kenya by 2015.

No hope in sight for Kenyan women due to insignificant numbers

…By Henry Kahara

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bout 13 years ago United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 which reaffirms the important role women play in the prevention and resolution of conflicts.

Although this was a landmark directive, only a few countries have managed to fully involve women in the decision making positions with regards to peace and security.

The main aim of this resolution was to have women included in peace negotiations, peace-building, peacekeeping, humanitarian response and in post-conflict reconstruction.

The resolution stresses the importance of women’s equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for maintenance and promotion of peace and security.

One way to fulfil this was to make sure that women are well represented and recognised at different levels of decision making.

Constitution Kenya ranks high among countries where the resolution is yet to be implemented especially in the higher decision making places like in parliament.

This is despite the promises made in Kenya’s Constitution 2010, which is one of the most progressive laws worldwide.

Article 81 of the Constitution directs the electoral system to comply with the gender principle that not more than two thirds of members of elective public bodies shall be of the same gender.

Ruling But the article was never actualized during the last elections following a Supreme Court ruling that the twothirds gender principle is ‘aspirational’ in that it lacks a normative framework for its attainment, similar to Article 177 which refers to the composition of county assemblies.

The four Supreme Court judges unanimously ruled that the one-third gender principle should be implemented progressively.

“Bearing in mind the terms of Article 100 and of the Fifth Schedule we are of the opinion that legislative measures for giving effect to the two third gender principle, under Article 81 (b) of the Constitution and in relation to the National Assembly and Senate should be taken by August 27, 2015,” states part of the advisory opinion

Women members of parliament in a past event. They have been in the forefront of pushing for gender equality. Photo: File given by Supreme Court.

The question of whether Kenyan women will be fully represented in parliament is still uncertain having in mind that many women in parliament have not made any significant contribution.

However, according to Deborah Okumu, Executive Director of Caucus for Women Leadership, the fight is still on.

“I know women are yet to enjoy most rights espoused in the Constitu-

tion, but, we are not relenting on this battle. Kenyan women had fought hard to reach where they are and it is still not over. We are marching on until we take our positions,” Okumu explains.

Debate According to Okumu, the current debate that women have not made any significant contributions Parliament, is being fronted by a group of men who she terms as chauvinist and malicious and do not recognise women

as human beings who are entitled to rights as prescribed in the Constitution.

“The war is still on and we are still going on with our plans, there is no compromise because we have to achieve it,” she reiterates.

Okumu warns law makers who are contemplating to abolish the nomination slots and women representative positions in the next election.

“I want to tell them those seats were created just like other seats in the Constitution and there is no one who has powers to scrap them,” Okumu reiterated in an interview.

According to Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary General who has been on frontline advocating for women’s rights, equality for women is progress for all.

In his statement during this year’s International Women’s Day, Ki Moon said countries with higher levels of gender equality have higher economic growth; companies with more women on their boards have higher returns.

Peace agreements that include women are more successful.”

He noted that parliaments with more women take up a wider range of issues including health, education, anti-discrimination and child support.

Issue Number 46 • May 2014

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Solar powered boreholes now a lifeline to a community

…By Carolyne Ng'etich

W

omen in Subukia and Solai sub-counties of Nakuru can now venture in to rearing of livestock and irrigation- thanks to solar-powered community –based water projects.

The six solar powered boreholes and two diesel-powered pumps constructed in the areas with the help of World vision, a non-governmental organization will see more than 35,000 residents and especially women benefit from clean water in the area.

According to Chemutai Kabon,85, access to clean water has drastically reduced water-borne diseases.

“Since I was born many years ago, girls and women in this area have had to walk for many Kilometers in search of water because the nearby Solai lake is saline. We would be out searching for water the whole day and sometimes come home tired and sick from backache” Chemutai said.

According to the area chief, Mark Mogotio, water scarcity in the area has endangered girl child education as they were forced to abandon their studies in search of water.

“After so many years, we can now access clean water, in turn we are seeing very positive results where families willingly send their children to school

without being forced and more women turning in to agriculture”, Mr Mogotio said.

The cost of constructing one community solar powered borehole cost between Ksh 15 to 20 million.

Mr Njehia said although the construction cost of solar powered boreholes is more expensive, the community can easily maintain without additional costs.

Reduction In a local primary school where a solar powered borehole has been constructed, the teachers observed that absenteeism cases in relation to constant waterborne diseases have significantly reduced.

“The pupils used to take water from the neighbouring Lake Solai which is very alkaline and majority would sick on a daily basis. The access to clean water has reduced such cases,” he said.

The Lake’s salinity also affected the milk production in livestock as well as causing skin diseases.

According a local dairy farmer Mrs kabon Sirma, the access to clean water has revived her milk business.

“Many farmers are currently supplying their milk to processing factories as well as supplying to Nakuru town”, John Chepkuto, the chairman of Solai water project said.

Top: Women fetch water from a community borehole in Lower Solai, Nakuru. Below: Chemutai Kabon carrying water. She walks a few meters to fetch water from a community borehole as compared to 15 kilometers she used to travel prior to the construction of the six solar powered boreholes and two diesel-powered pumps.

Photos: CAROLYNE NG’ETICH

With every borehole serving four water kiosks in the area, 32 villages have had access to clean water, a situation which has attracted residents from the neighboring Baringo County.

The borehole serves over 50 households from Koibatek district in Baringo County.

To cover the maintenance cost of pipe breakages, the community charges Ksh 2 for every 20 liter can, one shilling for a cow and Ksh5 for a goat per month.

Technology can give women the space to fight for their rights …By Henrietta Miers

A

id agencies have ambitious goals to empower women in the developing world. Yet many feminists believe donors’ gender policies are depoliticised that they fail to address the unequal power balances between men and women.

One truth must not be lost in this debate: poor women rate daily survival as a far greater concern than equalising their power relations with men. Smallscale technology can make all the difference to their lives. It may also give them the time and space to demand their political rights.

I recently researched views by feminists around the world on alternative approaches to development.

Most dream of political as well as economic power redistribution from men and boys to women and girls. Time and again, I heard that gender policies established by international aid donors are overly technocratic and too focused on women’s economic rights.

Writing about Afghanistan, feminist academic Deniz Kandiyoti, a professor at School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, United Kingdom, said: “The blueprint for gender mainstreaming is

destined to remain hollow if it continues to inhabit a technocratic space that is almost entirely divorced from political processes.”

Research by London School of Economics academic Jenevieve Mannell shows that in South Africa, much of the expertise on women’s rights and equality that was part of the struggle against apartheid — female members of the African National Congress, for example — was absorbed into government offices to ‘mainstream gender’ following apartheid’s collapse, and as donors pushed for gender mainstreaming.

Dilemma Some feminists question whether Northern governments and aid agencies are qualified to champion women’s political rights. They have a point when so many are led by men — failing to meet their own mainstreaming-policy objectives and so falling far short of being models of gender equality.

Besides, their policies are set up to fail because of overambitious and unrealistic goals. I have seen millions of dollars poured into programmes with lofty goals such as ‘improving gender equality and the empowerment of women’. These tend to result in more

conferences, workshops and technical assistance to ministries responsible for gender issues — but experience tells me that these activities have little impact on the lives of the poor women they are meant to help.

There are others who believe that donors do have a role to play by chipping away at the gender mainstreaming policies in vogue today and turning them into long-term political interventions that support local processes of change.

Feminists are calling for an alternative — a different paradigm for development that embraces a new approach to tackling the unequal power balances between men and women.

This paradigm does not tread lightly. It challenges the idea that women can participate effectively in existing patterns of market-based production or within configurations of institutional power. And it would, for example, require women’s organisations to work with other social movements (such as trade unions) and engage with those who are most resistant to a reversal of the status quo.

But somewhere in this debate we have to remember the many poor women whose interests lie not in fighting for their political rights, but in survival: how to gather the wood for cooking

and keeping warm, or collect drinking water, or grow sufficient crops to feed their families.

Vision This chimes with a recurring vision I heard from feminists during my research, of a world where women’s practical needs are met through better access to food, shelter, land, energy and reliable maternal, reproductive and sexual healthcare.

Some feminists argue that once macroeconomic policies are transformed, state provision of basic needs such as land and credit will follow. But while waiting for states to provide these basic needs, donors have a role to play.

Small-scale, low-cost technology designed with a particular community in mind goes a long way to meeting women’s basic, daily needs.

This is an area where rich countries can channel their technological know-how to better use, making tangible improvements to women’s lives in the process.

Project My favourite example is the Hippo Water Roller Project, which shaves time off women’s busy days by allowing them to roll water long distances in plastic barrels rather than carry lesser amounts on their heads. W The NGO Practical Action special-

ises in such technology. Its fuel-efficient and low-cost wood stoves, whose designs differ depending on local culinary practices, reduce the time that women spend collecting fuel wood.

They are especially relevant in war-torn countries such as Sudan where foraging for fuel wood is dangerous.

Debate High-level conferences and debates around women’s empowerment abound. The UK parliament is about to legalise its obligation to reduce gender inequality in international development. Let these steps happen — but I hope they include more funding for small-scale tech projects.

These will not transform power relations between men and women overnight, but they may free up women’s time, ease their tasks and improve their health to a point where they can manoeuvre for change in their unequal status.

Henrietta Miers has worked across Africa and Asia as a gender and social development consultant for 20 years, specialising in gender policy. She is senior associate of WISE Development, a consulting company that focuses on boosting the economic opportunities for poor women.

Courtesy of SciDev.Net’

6

Issue Number 46 • May 2014

Kenyan girls read six times more than boys on their mobile phones … By Henry Neondo

K

enyan women and girls in particular are among leading people who use their mobile telephones to read.

According to a report from a survey recently released by UNESCO in partnership with the World reader and Nokia to mark the World Book Day, Kenyan women read on their mobile phones up to six times more than men and boys.

The report reveals that mobile devices can significantly help to enhance people’s literacy skills.

“A key conclusion from this study is that mobile devices can help people develop, sustain and enhance their literacy skills. This is important because literacy opens the door to life-changing opportunities and benefits,” said Mark West from UNESCO, author of the report.

The study also showed that parents regularly read to children using mobile phones and that the vast majority of people enjoy reading more now than they did before on handheld devices and that mobile reading often

reverses people’s negative attitudes towards reading.

Nearly 5,000 people across seven developing countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, India and Pakistan– were interviewed as part of the research, which discovered that women and girls in particular are benefitting from having a new way to access books, reading on their mobile phones up to six times more than men and boys.

On average, mobile readers in developing countries are primarily male (77percent). However, women read for longer periods of time, spending an average of 207 minutes per month reading on their mobile phones, compared to men (just 33 minutes).

Findings The UNESCO report says 62 percent of 5000 respondents in five African countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Ghana reported that they enjoy reading even more since they discovered mobile reading. As a result, they are generally reading more as well (62 percent).

One in three respondents said

they read to children from their mobile phones and a further third of the respondents said they would do so if there were more child-friendly reading material made available to them.

13 percent of the respondents said their primary reason for reading on a mobile device is because it’s affordable.

The report adds that 60 percent of respondents cited lack of content as the primary barrier to mobile reading. Only 18 percent noted concerns around cost, while half claimed they never worry about cost.

When asked about their intentions to engage in mobile reading in the future, 90 percent of respondents said they intend to spend more time reading on their mobile phones in the next year.

The most popular and clicked on genre is romance, followed by religion searched books between April and June 2013.

While mobile phones are still used primarily for basic communication, even the simplest of phones are a gateway to long-form text. Since 2012, Worldreader has helped pioneer new

opportunities for mobile reading in developing countries by promoting a mobile app to distribute relevant content to users in parts of Africa and Asia. The organisation has plans to broaden its efforts and provide more than one million people with access to free e-books on mobile phones by the end of 2014.

David Risher, CEO and cofounder of Worldreader, commented: “World illiteracy can be attributed in part to the fact that people have access to a very small number of books, or none at all in some areas of the world.

Yet in places where physical books are often scarce, mobile phones are plentiful and there are more mobile phones on the planet than there are toilets or toothbrushes. Children and families have already read more than 1.7 million books via Worldreader – helping them attain a more prosperous, more self-reliant future.”

Data “Recent data from the United Nations shows that of the estimated seven billion people on Earth more than six billion now have access to a

working mobile phone. If every person on the planet understood they can turn their mobile phone into a library, an estimated 6.8 billion people would have access to books,” stated Elizabeth Hensick Wood, Director of Digital Publishing and Mobile Platforms at Worldreader.

She continued: “This study shows that mobile reading is not a future phenomenon but a right-here, rightnow reality. Worldreader’s free mobile reading app – which averages nearly 200,000 users per month – is evidence that there is high demand for mobile reading in areas that lack access to paper books.

We now have two years of data proving that people are spending hundreds of hours a month reading short and long form texts using basic feature and Android phones. As part of this research, we interviewed dozens of these individuals, ranging from students to teachers to parents, but they all told a similar story: they do not have access to printed books, they are thrilled to now have thousands of free books on their mobile phone and they are now reading more than ever.”

Seeking to change face of power through gender equality in post-2015 agenda Continued from page 1

“There is no way a woman will know one year in advance that she is going to contest. There is need for organisations that fund women to operate from out of the box,” she noted, reiterating that the onus is on the women’s movement to open more spaces for women. “Unless politics is feminised, it will not bring for women what they want,” she reiterated.

According to Kabwilla, the fact that resources are not shared equally to half of the world’s population, women will always have problems.

“We must deconstruct gender roles and ask why women are not getting into political leadership. While there are affirmative action programmes in place, they do not come with resources,” challenged Kabwilla.

Dialogue The Nairobi meeting was a vibrant gathering that enabled dialogue and debate on issues of political leadership, fostered cross continental learning and served as an agenda setting and planning meeting for a larger convening on African Women’s Political Leadership conference that will take place in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire in November 2014 that is expected to bring together over 200 participants.

According to Tawamba, the meeting is being held in Cote d’Ivoire, a country that has gone through conflict, in solidarity with the women there so that they can feel they are being supported by the African women’s movement.

The Abidjan conference will be a follow up to the Women Steering Innovative Leadership in Africa (WSILA) International Conference that was convened by Urgent Action Fund-Africa and her partners including FEMNET in Malawi in September 2013. Tawamba noted: “The conference contributed

towards the identification and development of visionary, feminist, transformative women leaders who are able to engage comfortably and influence issues of national, regional and international nature.”

The conference addressed the obstacles to women’s integration into leadership, contributed to the process of bringing gender equality issues to the centre of national priorities, and helped to build the expertise of African women leaders to impact on significant socio-political, economic and environmental issues.

According to Ruth Ochieng Ojiambo from Uganda: “There is fear among women parliamentarians that party politics is putting them in a catch 22 position.”

The meeting noted that among other factors, militarism, sexual exploitation and patriarchy remain major stumbling blocks that are barring women

“We need to build alliances as we strategize on how to increase or boost the numbers of women.

There is also need for women to join political parties.” Dr Kadi Sesay, Sierra Leone

Participants share a light moment during the meeting organised by FEMNET (African Women’s Development and Communication Network) and Urgent Action Fund-Africa (UAF-Africa)in Nairobi to deliberate and strategize on women’s political leadership within the continent.

Photo: Jane Godia

from succeeding in political leadership.

“We must create an alternative system to push for what we want. We must build consciousness of women’s movement on what politics is,” reiterated Ojiambo.

The Nairobi meeting noted that there was a lot of expectation for women to deliver in parliament, yet men do not deliver and nothing is said about it.

Florence Butegwa of UN Women said: “There is an opening for women to start rethinking leadership and engage with the Leadership Training Centre that has been started by UN Women in conjunction with Kenyatta University.”

Numbers She advised: “We must be a learning movement. We need to learn from what is happening around us. We need to redesign our leadership devolvement programmes.”

Posed Patricia Munabi of Uganda: “How can women use their numbers to

bring sanity in political leadership?”

According to Dr Kadi Sesay, a running mate in the Sierra Leone elections of 2012, a lot of women will not get into politics because of discrimination and violence.” She added: “It is clear that men want to keep the top political positions in politics for themselves as their exclusive property.”

While she never faced any discrimination all her life, Sesay noted that the true face of discrimination and gender bias emerged the minute she indicated her interest in the top position. “Socio-cultural factors start emerging the minute a woman starts engaging in politics,” Sesay said. She noted: “If you do not have the numbers it becomes difficult to support women leaders.”

According to Sesay, we need to bring on board more programmes and promote initiatives that support young women to build their capacity so they

can understand issues since some of them do not know what to say.”

She noted: “We need to make an effort to build a relationship with other women. Women are powerful and we need to know how to use the numbers.”

According to Sesay: “We need to build alliances as we strategize on how to increase or boost the numbers of women. There is also need for women to join political parties.”

“Women are a key factor in the decisions that we make,” Sesay reiterated.

“The two-day meeting concluded with a collective roadmap for the Abidjan conference as well as more broadly garnering consensus on an action-oriented agenda for furthering women’s political leadership across the African continent,” said Dinah Musindarwezo, Executive Director of FEMNET. Extra information from FEMNET

Special report on FGM

Issue Number 46 • May 2014

7

Exposed: Cartels rake millions from FGM ………as migrant families turn to Northern Kenya

…By Abjata Khalif

N

orthern Kenya is quickly turning into haven for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) where scores of innocent girls are brought in from Europe, Australia and America to face the illegal cut.

Somali migrant families living in developed world have stuck to their cultural beliefs that every girl should undergo the cut as a rite of passage, family honour, controlling sexuality and ethnic identity.

Strict laws prohibiting female cut in developed nations have forced parents to look for extreme options such as airlifting their young girls to the Northern Kenya town of Garissa to face the cut.

The journey to female infibulation starts with a flight from western countries like Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, USA, Canada and Australia.

On reaching Nairobi, the families consult women who specialise in advising their clients on the preferred traditional circumcisers and female cut villages.

Logistics The consultants offer their clients orientation on the preferred villages, procedures to follow, travel timetable to the female cut villages, booking of traditional appointment with the circumcisers and offering cultural orientation on second generation Somali families from developed world, while first generation families are given some cultural recap and rehearsal.

The culturally inclined families leave Nairobi to Garissa where they are received by agents of the Nairobi based consultants who then prepare them for another gruelling journey through the dry remote areas to distant villages along Kenya-Somalia border.

In the preferred villages, traditional circumcisers perform a ceremony that lasts three days and circumcision songs are sang one day prior to the mutilation.

Process The cut starts in the wee hours of the morning and a group of hawkeyed women join the circumcisers in wrestling young girls brought to the circumcision hut.

Circumcisers use crude objects in chopping the clitoris and stitching raw surface in the genitalia. A small hole is left for urine to pass through and the rest is covered by stitches and traditional herbs that make the circumcised girls to be stationery in one position and one central place for one and a half month for the wound to heal.

Halima Abdi, a leading Nairobi based consultant specialising in advising visiting migrant families on procedures, logistics and house-keeping issues is busy in her office when we catch up with her as she was attending to a group of migrant families from Sweden, Denmark, United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

Abdi was attending to ten families in her dingy office located in the Eastleigh suburbs, Nairobi and migrant families and the young girls from developed world were upbeat and discussing in loud tones oblivious of the danger ahead.

In an interview with Kenyan Woman, Abdi talks bravely about her work and how she has facilitated hundreds of

girls from developed world in facing the knife.

“I started this work way back in 2000 and so far I have offered consultancy services to hundreds of migrant families from abroad. My customers are of Somali origin and they come from various countries in Europe, America and Australia,’’ explains Abdi who was introduced to this work by a cartel of Nairobi based human traffickers.

Popularity Abdi is no stranger to families seeking the services from the developed world as her contacts are widely circulated to those who want to bring their daughters for FGM vacation.

“I receive many calls from parents based in the developed countries who want me to arrange for them international FGM tourism package and I charge them between $1000 and $2,000 based on the number of girls they want to bring as well as the FGM village they choose from among ten located in northern Kenya area,” explains Abdi.

These parents also pay travel agents a separate fee for transport within Nairobi and to northern Kenya as well as another fee for the traditional circumciser who charges $200 per girl and another $300 for accommodation in the remote villages while the girls nurse their wounds.

According to Abdi, the FGM tourism vacation starts in her office as she commands retinue of traditional circumcisers in various villages and travel agents. She also has a list of compromised security and immigration officials based at the Garissa entry point who normally check travel papers for international visitors and identification card for Kenyan citizens entering the town.

Orientation “It is a risky business and that is the first information given to Somali migrant parents when they visit my office,” says Abdi. She adds: “However, they normally tell me they are ready to pay anything to mitigate the risk and ensure their daughters undergo the rite of passage.”

Families undergo orientation in Abdi’s office. The first session is attended only by the parents who are in-

formed of challenges and that they will bear all the risk and consequences that will result from the act.

The second orientation is attended by both parents and daughters. Most of the young girls from developed countries seem upbeat and look forward to undergoing their “Somali cultural rites” which they are informed is simple, easy and will make them touch base with their culture and identity.

According to Abdi, most parents want their daughters to face the knife as for fear that they could resort to prostitution and become unruly in major cities of the developed world. However, others feel that their daughters should undergo the rite because their mothers also went the same back before seeking asylum.

“Female circumcision within Somali community is as old as our culture and it is inculcated in our values. The rite is observed to see transition of a Somali girl from childhood to adulthood and those who refuse to undergo the cut are regarded as children despite their age,” explains Abdi. She adds: “Those who do not undergo the cut are not eligible for marriage and will be ostracised.”

These beliefs and values are still present and valued by Somalis in Africa and the developed world. The rite is regarded as a great family honour and she sees no problem in facilitating the cut

Top: A Group of refugees, majority of them women receive food ration in Dagahley refugee camp. The Somali community has stuck to their cultural beliefs that every girl should undergo the cut as a rite of passage and ethnic identity. Centre: Traditional circumciser Dubey Ali resting in her makeshift FGM clinic. She rests during the day after circumcising girls in the wee hours. Photo: Abjata Khalif. Below: A sample of crude objects used by traditional circumcisers. Female circumcision within the Somali community is anchored in deeply rooted cultural values. Photos Courtesy. which is the main source of her livelihood.

“Personally I have undergone female cut and I have administered the same to my daughters. My granddaughters too will go through it and that is why I am facilitating female cut in northern Kenya,” says Abdi.

She argues: “I want Somali girls in Kenya and those from the developed countries to be clean since girls who have not undergone FGM are regarded as dirty and lack confidence.”

Cleanliness is one of the factors cited by Somali migrant families for their daughters to face knife.

8

Issue Number 46 • May 2014

Special report on FGM

Out of season circumcision takes root in Northern Kenya …By Abjata Khalif

A

s the sun sets in the remote border village of Dadajibula, residents take advantage of the blowing wind after yet another day in the scorching sun.

A group of women indulge in rituals which precede female circumcision ceremony.

Villagers in Dadajibula centre are used to such rituals and know that young innocent girls are slated to face the knife in the village located along Kenya-Somalia border. The ritual is characterised by traditional songs meant to glorify female cut besides praising circumcisers for offering the service to local communities and other customers from the Diaspora for “well done cultural services”.

The ceremony which is a ‘women only event’ is done a few metres away from the village where the female cut traditional clinic is located. A group of women busy themselves in preparation of the crude objects to be used in the act while others prepare herbs which are used ease pain or anaesthesia.

However, the local community in Dadajibula border area understands that the ritual is not meant for their daughters as FGM in the area is only performed during school holidays.

Locals also know the outlawed practice is taking root in the area as girls living in the developed countries are ferried to various villages of Northern Kenya like Dadajibula.

“In the past we used to treat FGM as a cultural event and performed during school holidays but circumcision is now taking place every day due to international demand which has opened a commercial aspect of it,’’ said Habiba Nurdin, a primary school teacher in Dadajibula village.

As ululations rent the air in praise of parents and girls lined up to face the knife, an “under cover girl” from the village joins to witness how the ritual is performed.

Scrutiny When the elaborate ritual starts, the circumciser joins the women dancers before checking on the knives and other logistical work to make sure everything is ready.

A celebrated female circumciser Mandeeq Ibrahim aged 80 years but still strong checks fitness and physical condition of the women FGM aides who play the crucial role in wrestling girls inside the FGM traditional clinic and holding them tight as the cut takes place.

With about 40 years’ experience, Ibrahim, scrutinizes the ability and strength of her FGM women aides and orders the two knives lined up for the exercise to be sharpened again. A bottle positioned in the traditional clinic is broken and a sharp piece included in the kit to be used in the wee morning ceremony.

The under cover girl in the group was shocked to see how the knives were sharpened and she thought it was meant for goat slaughtering and not for chopping female genitalia.

“I was shocked to see the two knives sharpened for about 30 minutes and when it was brought back to the circumciser, she only smiled and nodded,” explains the undercover operative. She notes that the bottle was broken into pieces after which the circumciser picked two sharp pieces to use in case she finds it difficult to use the knife.

The ritual in Dadajibula village was organised for 12 girls from the Diaspora in the presence of their parents.

According to the undercover operative, parents were urged to encourage their daughters not to panic when they hear loud cries from their counterparts and stay within the traditional clinic where they are shown pieces of organs chopped from their daughters’ genitalia.

Agony Brutal pictures dot the dingy traditional huts as the women aides wrestle the girls down, remove their clothes and hold their legs apart, while others tightly hold their head, neck and hands.

The undercover girl intimates that the traditional surgeon smiles before hurling insults at the innocent girl and slapping her thighs for moving around.

The circumciser then spits saliva into the girl’s organ before cutting the clitoris and stitching the raw surface using thorns and thread.

A loud cry from the first girl to face the knife rents the air. She collapses due to pain while the circumciser proceeds to pull thorn and thread together to stitch the raw surface. Other girls get apprehensive but are encouraged on by their parents. They are surrounded by hawkeyed women charged with responsibility of ensuring they do not to escape.

The undercover girl could not bear staying longer in the hut and decided to leave the traditional clinic traumatized and in pain.

The circumcision exercise starts in the wee hours of the morning and lasts for three hours when the girls are transferred into another makeshift structure meant to house them while they recuperate.

The traditional recuperation centre in Dadajibula is made of sticks and covered with thatch. Girls legs are tied together and they sleep on hide and skins.

The girls are served drink camel milk

and soup which is believed to contain medicinal value that fast tracks healing process.

The undercover girl established that 12 girls were from Europe and that the practice is backed by Somali culture and Islamic religion which has majority followers in Northern Kenya.

Ibrahim charges $100 per circumcision and she is paid by an agent based in Nairobi and not the girls’ parents.

“Our work is so organised that I receive information from an agent in Nairobi giving me a list of customers coming to my clinic and when to expect them,” Ibrahim explains. She adds: “I charge $100 per circumciFrom Top: International Conference on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) sion and I am paid by my agent who held at KICC in Nairobi. A group of girls undergo alternative rite of passage collects the payment before the girls as communities abandon the retrogressive practice. Girls rescued in Mau reach Dadajibula village.” In some inNarok, Njoro as government officials move to enforce the FGM ban. stances she gets extra token from the Photo: Kenya woman Correspondent girls’ parent for a job well done.

Special report on FGM

Issue Number 46 • May 2014

9

FGM Act silent on how to deal with those profiteering from the illegal practice …By Abjata Khalif

“

I had stopped circumcising women in 1999 after encountering many challenges but I went back to the business in 2003. During this time, there were so many people who were in need of the services I used to offer and the money was good,” says the 72 year old Qali Hassan in Dadaab village, Northern Kenya.

Hassan who has been engaged in the business over the last 32 years was forced out of business in 1999 by the erratic demand that saw her only busy three times in a year when schools in the Dadaab village closed for holidays.

She says this was worsened by the dwindling numbers of girls brought in for circumcision due to the relentless awareness campaigns against the practice waged by local civil society organisations and religious leaders in Garissa County, Northern Kenya where Dadaab village is located.

Hassan fondly recalls that when the practice was lucrative, she would make good money to support her family in Dadaab village. She notes that these sacred cultural services were also meant to appease the community’s ancestors.

“I used to make good money during the school holidays when the girls would be brought in large numbers. Every month I would circumcise 300 girls and each would pay KSh1,000,” says Hassan. She adds: “At the end of every school holiday, I would be assured of KSh200,000.”

Hassan would use the mon-

ey to buy to goats and support her grandchildren.

During the peak season, she says the figure would increase to about KSh600,000 as her services were highly sought by villagers in Dadaab which has a population of 200,000 people and other neighbouring villages.

She was very popular because she handled the girls with so much care during the procedure.

Comeback “I used the money to build myself a house and buy livestock and by 2011, I had 1,000 heads of goats and ten donkeys which offered transport services to local communities at a fee. However, the prolonged drought of 2012 decimated my livestock and I now have only 50 goats and ten donkeys which continue to offer transport services,” explains Hassan.

During this period she became the laughing stock as villagers said that the ancestors were punishing her for abandoning the female cut.

In 2003, she bounced back to the old trade after being lured to the business by a new niche of customers from the Diaspora who were trooping into the area in search of her services.

“These customers have

transformed my business and the reward is enticing. I make very good money each week as opposed to the past when I would register big numbers during school holidays,” says Hassan. She adds: “The proceeds then go towards restocking and building block houses for my daughters and sons.

I have also purchased donkey carts to expand my donkey transport business.”

Hassan’s charges range from between KSh20,000 to KSh30,000 per person. She handles not less than 10 girls per week. Her customers come from a well-knit cartel that organises FGM services for Somali migrant community visiting Nairobi.

Hassan uses a solar powered mobile phone to get instructions and business deals from the Nairobi based ring of travel agents, drivers and fixers scattered in almost all villages of Northern Kenya. She is among few using a mobile phone in the remote village, a situation that places one on a high status.

Plans Hassan has attended to hundreds if not thousands of girls brought in from abroad to face the cut in her circumcision den.

She does know the exact number

“Customers from the diaspora have transformed my business and the reward is enticing. I make very good money each week as opposed to the past when I would register big numbers during school holidays”  Qali Hamdi

as she hardly keeps records of her customers.

She plans to use the proceeds from the lucrative business to open a modern circumcision clinic with beds for recuperation, a theatre room for performing circumcision, waiting area for group of girls waiting to undergo the cut and sanitation block.

Locals intimate that the traditional surgeon has made millions of shillings from the trade since she bounced back to her trade in 2003. However, Hassan is not free to discuss the millions she has made though she is linked to properties in Dadaab area and her dream of setting up modern genital cutting clinic.

Legal experts and practitioners in Northern Kenya state that anti–Female Genital Mutilation law must be amended and a clause included to forfeit all movable and immovable assets made by the circumcisers.

According to Adan Garad, Executive Director Wagalla Centre for Peace and Human Rights, the trade has produced millionaire circumcisers besides allowing other players to make multi-million shilling profits.

“International FGM has produced millionaires in Northern Kenya and they are

Somali women join in traditional songs that precede female circumcision ceremonies to glorify female cut besides praising the circumcisers for offering the service to the community. Below: Traditional circumciser Qali Hamdi during an interview on how international FGM has opened big business opportunities in border villages along Kenya-Somalia: Photos: Photo: Courtesy/Abjata Khalif

acquiring four wheel drive vehicles, building posh houses in remote villages, using flashy solar phones and buying hundreds of livestock.

The law as it stands, is silent on forfeiting properties and proceeds made by the circumcisers and something needs to be done so that they can be stripped of ill-gotten wealth and status in

the society,” notes Garad.

The Female Genital Mutilation Act 2011, passed by Kenyan parliament states that it is an offence to practice FGM, procure the services of a circumciser or send somebody out of or bring them into the country to undergo the illegal cut but it’s silent on wealth generated from the outlawed trade.

Despite challenges, there is no relenting among circumcisers …By Abjata Khalif

T

he intricate web facilitating female cut led by Halima Abdi is a close knit enterprise involving travel consultants, security officials, immigration officials, traditional circumcisers and catalogue of other smooth operators working towards safe passage of Somali migrant families to the FGM villages littered in remote northern Kenya.

According to Abdi, the journey starts in Nairobi where after orientation, families are picked by travel agents once they have paid and are smuggled to Garissa from Nairobi.

In Garissa, the FGM tourists stay in posh hotels located within the town after their travel paper have been sorted out, normally with fake reasons given for their travel to Garissa and the remote villages.

The traditional circumcision villages are located in various border villages of Dadajibula, Liboi, Diif, Saretho, Walmarer, Yimbo, Dadaab, Harhar and Amuma.

A famous traditional circumciser Dubey Sankader says she handles 10 to 30 girls per circumcision period with a support team of ten women.

“I have 30 years’ experience in circumcising Somali girls from Northern

Kenya but started receiving new customers from abroad from 2001,” says Sankader. She explains: “I have permanent staff of ten strong women who hold the girls firmly as they undergo the cut.”

Process According to Sankader the cut is painful and most of the girls faint during the process. She notes that parents are tasked with encouraging their daughters to show brevity because most of them get scared when they hear cries coming from the circumcision hut.

Sankader like other circumcisers, operates from a temporary shelter made of sticks, wood and leaves which are also used as recuperating centres for the circumcised girls.

“After circumcision they nurse their wounds in my temporary shelter with their legs tied together,” says Sankader, adding, “their legs are only opened to administer with concoction of herbs which fasten healing of wounds and containing pain,” explains Sankader.

According to Sankader, girls who have undergone the cut stay for one month before being allowed to leave the facility. Their parents then shower them with gifts and praises as a way of building their confidence.

However, it is not all rosy as there are certain challenges that Sankader faces

when discharging her duties.

“Female circumcision is not easy and I have to deal with complications that range from over bleeding. There are other girls who go into a coma, with others developing complex trauma,” says Sankader. “I have recorded one death while performing the cut and the parents of the girl having taken risk before the exercise buried their daughter in a nearby village of Dadajibula. The circumcised girl bled to death and the nearest health centre was some hundred kilometres away from our village,’’ she said.

Drawback According to Amran Abdundi, Programme Coordinator Frontier Indigenous Network, while they have made great efforts to sensitise the locals on the need to abandon the practice, this has not stopped Somali immigrants from bringing their daughters to undergo FGM. “Somali migrants in the Diaspora consider Northern Kenya a safe haven for Female Genital Cut, from the strict environment and tough laws prohibiting the practice in developed countries. Many factors like corruption, weak enforcement mechanisms and well-oiled cartels in various Kenyan towns are behind rising cases of international FGM practices in northern Kenya,’’ says Abdundi.

She notes that although most Af-

Upgraded FGM clinic located in Kenya-Somalia border. The facility caters for Somali girls from the Western world brought to Northern Kenya to undergo female genital cut. Photo: Abjata Khalif rican countries including Kenya have outlawed the practice, a lot needs to be done including allocating resources and extending strong commitment in implementing it.

“The law has been enacted but lack of resources and goodwill from law enforcement agencies undermines success.

Civil society organisations in the region have stepped up campaign to stop FGM as it undermines success gained by local actors in urging communities to abandoning the practice,” says Abdundi.

According to the United Nation Funds for Population Development (UNFPA) about 100 to 140 girls and women have undergone some form of genital mutilation/cutting and at least three mil-

lion girls stand the risk of undergoing the practice every year.

The circumcisers use thorns, sharpened sticks, broken bottles, used and old razor blades as well as old knives to administer Female Genital Mutilation type three which is also known as infibulation to young innocent girls.

The FGM type which is also popularly known as pharonic has contributed to health risks to women and girls in Northern Kenya.

The health risks associated with the FGM type practised by Somali community are haemorrhage, infection, pain, difficulty in urinating, difficulty during sexual intercourse and risk to mother and child during delivery.

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Issue Number 46 • May 2014

Malnutrition gravest single threat to global health …By Henry Kahara

P

atricia Kari, 24, a resident of Huruma is among hundreds of parents with children suffering from malnutrition.

Nurses noted something amiss in Kari’s one and half year old son, Trevas Onzele when he went for his routine check-up.

“I had taken the child for a routine medical check-up when nurses told me my baby was suffering from malnutrition and put him on treatment,” says Kari. She adds: “I was shocked but encouraged to note that my son was not the only one suffering from this.”

When her son began treatment, Kari found dozens of women with children suffering from malnutrition.

According to Kari, she had exclusively breastfed her child for six months as advised by the doctor.

“I do not know where the problem came from and actually you could not tell were it not for the fact he was not adding weight,” she says. “The only challenge was that he would refuse to eat especially if I was the one feeding him.” says Kari.

Measures For now Kari, a casual worker is among 200 women whose children are receiving monthly malnutrition flour in Kasarani sub-County at the Mathare North Health Centre.

Her son Trevas who weighed 2.5 kilogrammes at the birth is currently weighing 7.6 kilogrammes.

According to Caroline Omufira, malnutrition coordinator in Kasarani sub-County, Kari is among the lucky women because her child was diagnosed earlier.

“I cannot say how much a child is

An aerial photo of Mathare slums where majority of low income earners live. A child is weighed to monitor weight gain as malnutrition ranks high among the gravest single threats to public health.

Photos: Henry Kahara

supposed to weigh at which age. It all depends with how much she weighed during birth,” explains Omufira.

A child who has just started feeding is supposed to take at least take six spoons of food daily,” advices Omufira.

She adds that children are supposed to feed according to their age.

“Feeding habit goes with age plus the

“I cannot say how much a child is supposed to weigh at which age. It all depends with how much she weighed during birth.”  Caroline Omufira.

activity one is performing and their gender; but not all children are supposed to feed frequently,” Omufira observes.

Statistics Statistics from World Health Organization (WHO) say that malnutrition is by far the largest single contributor to child mortality globally, currently in 45 per cent in all cases.

The WHO notes malnutrition is the gravest single threat to global public health.

Underweight births and interuterine growth restrictions are responsible for about 2.2 million child deaths annually in the world. Deficiencies in vitamin A or zinc cause one million deaths per year.

The WHO notes that malnutrition

during childhood usually results in worse health and lower educational achievements during adulthood.

Malnourished children tend to become adults who have smaller babies.

Individuals are malnourished, or suffer from under nutrition if their diet does not provide them with adequate calories and protein for maintenance and growth, or they cannot fully utilize the food they eat due to illness.

Several different nutrition disorders may develop, depending on the nutrients that are lacking or have been consumed in excess.

Malnutrition can also cause other diseases such as measles, pneumonia and diarrhoea.

People are also malnourished, or suffer from over nutrition if they consume too many calories.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that nearly 870 million people of the 7.1 billion people in the world, or one in eight, suffered from chronic undernourishment between 2010 and 2012.

Almost all the hungry people, 852 million, live in developing countries, representing 15 percent of the population of developing counties. There are 16 million people undernourished in developed countries.

Improved maternity services hold key to MDG five …By Henry Kahara

A

lthough Kenya is yet to make significant progress in reducing the maternal mortality rate, a directive by the President Uhuru Kenyatta in June last year that public hospitals give free maternity services may be the much needed solution.

The number of women being attended by health professionals during delivery has risen significantly.

Most mothers can now deliver under skilled care without worrying about the prohibitive costs courtesy of Jubilee government.

“This translates to about 10 percent increase in deliveries around the country,” says Shahnaz Sharif, Director of Public Health and Sanitation at the Ministry of Health. He adds: “In places like Busia County, a 50 percent increase has been registered.”

James Ndung’u together with his wife Fidelis Wangui are among the people who have enjoyed the Presidents decree of free maternity.

On February 2014, Wangui had gone to deliver at Kihara Level Four Hospital in Kiambu

County, but the doctor discovered her pregnancy had some complication which forced him to carry out caesarean section on her. Wangui was then forced to spend a week in the hospital.

“My wife developed complications since the baby was in posterior position and for this reason she had to be operated,” explains 31 year old Ndung’u, who was troubled since he knew the bill would be high.

“I saw God’s hand in the entire process because I did not pay even a single cent for the operation and time my wife spent in the hospital,” says Ndung’u adding that he never understood what the government meant with free maternity services.

Success Ndung’u and Wangui are now a happy family with their two month old daughter Silvia Wambui. “I am really happy for the free maternity the government has introduced,” he says.

A report dubbed ‘a price too high to bear’ summarizes the loss a family undergoes when it loses a mother.

The report notes that Kenya still counts 360

maternal deaths per 100,000 births. And over the last 20 years, the rate has come down by half of one per cent.

The high rate of maternal death is largely because women do not give birth under the care of skilled health providers. These high rates of maternal deaths are attributed to well-known and preventable causes. They include obstructed labour, complications of unsafe abortion, infections, haemorrhage and high blood pressure.

The report notes that loss of a mother does not only harm the life of her husband but also that of the other surviving family as well as her children’s health, education and future opportunities.

“Surviving children in some cases are withdrawn from or forced to miss school because economic disruptions made it difficult to afford school fees. When children did continue their schooling, often their grief and new household responsibilities negatively affected their schoolwork,” notes the report.

The report further indicates that regardless of household wealth, families that experienced maternal death reported spending a third of their total annual consumption expenditure to access

pregnancy and children birth care, between three and six times more than households where women gave birth safely.

Implications At the same time when a woman dies, her funeral costs are crippling hardship for the family.

On average, economically active members took a month off from work during the funeral period.

Given the already high costs of the funeral, this lack economic activity is an additional burden for the household.

Given women’s critical roles in the family and society, dying during their most productive years can have profound consequences for their household and community at large. This impact can be particularly severe in case of maternal mortality, often unexpected and in many cases accompanied by the additional new born which can set off a multitude of shocks and changes to the basic functioning of the household.

For now the Ministry of Health in Kenya has to work extra hard as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) deadline of 2015 is fast approaching. Improving maternal health is Millennium Development Goal number five.

Issue Number 46 • May 2014

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Gender Based Violence in the news room gives interns a raw deal …By Melkizedeck Karol

W

hile journalists are busy reporting on gender based violence in the society, they consciously or unconsciously forget that they are also human beings and thus they can as well be victims or perpetrators of GBV within and outside the media.

As for the interns who work in the news room, they know it all.

Pauline Boniphace who recently graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism at the University of Dar es Salaam has done internship in two different newsrooms. She did the internship in one of the popular newspapers (which she prefers to remain unknown) and describes her internship at the media house as “terrible”.

She says: “The newsroom is like a cell where nobody would want to go.”

She expresses concerns over sexual harassment directed at the interns who tend to feel “very uncomfortable and vulnerable” in the newsroom.

“We were four female interns and every one of us was subjected to sexual harassment in various ways,” says Boniphace.

Some of the acts they had to persevere include lewd messages, verbal abuse, physical touching or unwelcome comments on behaviour or dress.

“These are seen as less severe acts but they are embarrassing,” notes Boniphace.

Such kind of acts affects one psychologically. “It’s somewhat bewildering to recall at the time you wake up in the morning that this is what awaits you at the office,” says Boniphace.

As for the interns, the issue does not necessarily start in the newsroom as Noelia Justine, a student at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (SCMC) puts it: “When you send your applications they will always have your contacts, they will start calling you unnecessarily and try to get near to you, if you don’t show some cooperation, you are likely to miss the internship.”

Regarding how such acts are done, Elizabeth Michael, a student at the Uduzugwa Mountain College in Moshi confesses that she faced sexual harassment during one of her internships in a newsroom. “Men were unnecessarily sexist, they would wait for you to walk before them, send you to do something for them that they may see you at the back and laugh,” Michael explains.

Regulations In the context of a workplace, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), sexual harassment is an unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, or other conduct based on sex affecting the dignity of men and women at work. This can include unwelcome physical, verbal or non-ver-

bal conduct. Thus, a range of behaviour may be considered to constitute sexual harassment.

Issues around gender based violence in the workplace are not only reported in Tanzania but also in other countries. Last year in the results of the sexual harassment national telephone survey 2012 in Australia as released by the Australian Human Rights Commission noted that one in five people aged 15 and above have been sexually harassed in the workplace over the past five years.

The report echoes findings of a survey published earlier this year by Monash University in Australia. The research looked at working conditions, job segregation, recruitment, promotion and sexual harassment and found that 57.3 per cent of female journalists experienced some form of sexual harassment. This is more than twice the rate found in the general workforce.

Studies conducted by Media Council of Tanzania have indicated that within the last decade, more women in Tanzania have entered the media work force. In the light of the surging number of women in the media, their vulnerability to harassment is also likely to increase.

Protocol According to Article 22 of SADC Gender Protocol, Tanzania being a member of Southern Africa Development Co-operation (SADC) is expected by 2015 to enact legislative provisions, adopt and implement policies, strategies and programmes which define and prohibit sexual harassment in all spheres, as well as provide deterrent sanctions for perpetrators of sexual harassment. In the light of the Article, the provisions or policies shall be applied to each individual provided that he or she is a human being. In this case, the interns and journalists should be protected.

Regarding GBV toward interns, Godlisten Malisa who is the former President of St. Augustine University Students’ Government says such acts are persistent and that interns suffer not only physically but also psychologically.

“Male-dominated newsrooms leave interns with a bad impression of the industry which in turn makes them switch career paths to public relations,” notes Malisa.

Lucy Ngowi concurs with the idea that sexual harassment in the news room remains a threat. With her experience as a journalist in many new rooms, she sees that many of the young female interns are being sexually harassed and taken advantage of.

“It’s truly disgusting that acts like these occur daily, as interns are not able to do what they come for but rather suffer and go back with nothing new learned,” explains Ngowi.

Sexual harassment at its peak. Research shows that 57.3 per cent of female journalists have experienced some form of sexual harassment. This is more than twice the rate found in the general workforce Another female correspondent (name withheld) who has worked in more than five newspapers says she has witnessed many disputes regarding sexual harassment not only involving employed journalists but also interns. She notes that such issues should be addressed through a formal process.

Dilemma However, the question remains: “How do the interns deal with such a situation?” After the four interns were mistreated for refusing to cooperate, “we tried to report to the top official who tried to warn everyone in the newsroom and we were really happy,” explains Boniphace.

As if things were not enough, things blew out of proportion when

the top official himself did what he warned his staff against. Sometimes it becomes hard for the interns to pursue justice. As Boniphace puts it: “When someone is put in a position where he or she feels uncomfortable yet no one does anything, this is more of a tragedy.”

Regarding how interns can handle such situations, Peter Orwa, a long journalist and an editor warns the interns of entertaining these kinds of individuals by sticking to their mission of being in the newsroom. He describes interns who entertain such acts as “reckless” of their own respect.

A senior freelance journalist, who asked to remain anonymous, said he could not believe workplace harassment especially in the newsroom could possibly be worse now than it was in the past

“Acts of sexual harassment include lewd messages, verbal abuse, physical touching or unwelcome comments on behaviour or dress.” Pauline Boniface

and even extend to the interns.

In his part, Dr Ayoub Rioba describes the behaviour as “pathetic” which should not be entertained.

Rioba who works as a lecturer at the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Dar es Salaam notes that the issue requires purposeful research to establish the extent of the problem.

In December 2011, female journalists working in the media in Southern Africa called for an end to all forms of sexual harassment in newsrooms appealing to media owners to formulate policies that provide a mechanism to address and deal with such forms of gender based violence. However, over a year since their call, gender based violence in the media continues.

The meeting involved women journalists and GEMSA country coordinators from Swaziland, South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe Mozambique and Namibia to debate challenges facing female media practitioners in the region.

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Issue Number 46 • May 2014

Kisii County Governor moves to stem maternal deaths …BY BEN OROKO

P

regnancy remains the leading killer of women in their reproductive age in developing countries.

More than half a million women, especially those who are poor and living in rural areas or urban slums continue to die every year due to pregnancy and childbirth related complications.

In many remote parts of SubSaharan Africa, women die because they have limited or no access to skilled obstetric care.

Their deaths are caused by complications that can often be effectively treated in a functioning health system.

Many of the poor women or those with least access to safe delivery or family planning services, have high fertility and face a higher risk of death from pregnancy or childbirth related complications.

Half of maternal deaths caused by hemorrhage in sub-Saharan Africa occur mostly in rural areas where quality delivery is largely unavailable.

Emergency obstetric measures are critical to the survival of the mother and babies.

Intervention Aware of the critical role that emergency obstetric care plays to the survival of mothers and their babies during delivery, the Kisii County Government recently launched an ambulatory service under Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the Kenya Red Cross Society, to save lives of mothers and their infants during emergencies.

Kisii County Governor, James Ongwae disclosed that each of the nine sub-county hospitals has been equipped with a state-of-the-art ambulance operated by qualified paramedics and this has helped to boost referrals of critical cases.

Addressing members of the public at Gusii stadium during the marking of the County's one year into devolution, Ongwae informed the public that the ambulances had scaled down cases of maternal and child mortality, with referrals of pregnant mothers increasing by 300 percent since the inception of the services.

The Governor disclosed that the County Government intends to buy nine more ambulances for each of the nine sub-counties, to fast-track efficient healthcare service delivery in all health facilities.

“I wish to emphasize that all ambulance service transfers within the County are free and nobody should be asked to pay for the transfer of their patients by the ambulances," clarified Ongwae.

The Governor's confirmation comes amidst allegations that the County Government was exorbitantly charging for using the ambulances to transfer of patients from sub-county health facilities to Kisii Level Five Hospital for referral treatments.

Widows earn a living through garbage collection …Carolyne Ngetich

W

hen you first meet Rachel Mburu, a Nakuru based widowed business woman, you can never imagine that collection of garbage has earned her a decent living.

The 41 year old mother of six has defied all odds at Nakuru’s biggest dumping site to not only provide for her children as well as pay for their school fees but also to help women living within the dumping site to better their lives.

Mburu who is never ashamed to make her hands dirty has been working at Gioto dumping site for more than 25 years, a business which has since grown to accommodating more than 20 other women.

Rachel Mburu rummages through Gioto dump site to collect plastics for recycling. The recycled plastics are used to Mburu’s plastic business manufacture plastic bottles and shoes, cups, plates and sportswear. Photo Carolyne Ng’etich that she started with her late husband has since bloomed. despite what we were going through,” pressing and finally being ground and pay school fees for her children.

“We started off collecting unused Mrs Mburu said.

“My eldest child is set to join colinto particles before being sold to plastics and graduated in to buying Her efforts and determination to plastic manufacturing companies. lege this year. I have educated him them from street families who lived provide for her children finally bore She sells more than 14 tonnes from cash generated from the business within the dumping site”, Mrs Mburu fruit after she bought two compress- of plastic in a week to a China-based which I have grown fond of,” Mama said.

Obete says. ing machines and a grinding machine company.

The recycled plastics, she says, are Her other three children, Mama to expand her business.

Determination This, she says, also opened av- used to manufacture plastic bottles and Obete says, have never been sent home Soon, Mrs Mburu said, it became enues for mothers living within the shoes, cups, plates and sportswear. for fees. a family business which she started dump site.

Although running plastic recycling “When I encounter problems, Mrs running with her husband after conAmong the 26 casual employees business is costly, Mburu attributes her Mburu is always there to listen. Since structing their premises a few meters who work within her premises, 21 of success to patience, an attribute she has she is also the breadwinner, she abaway from the dump site. them are mothers who are sole bread nurtured while running the business. solutely understands street and slum However, her husband passed on winners for their families. mothers more than anyone,” she says.

Livelihood last year leaving her to operate the busiShe says the machines have In efforts to advocate for a clean ness. helped to ease the process of recycling According to Mama Obete who environment by recycling materials, “Although I was very sad, I had an plastics. The plastics undergo several works for her at the dump site, she has Mburu has been attending several enobligation to provide for my children processes that include sorting, com- been able to provide for her family vironmental meetings in the county.

Rural women venture into making medicinal wine …By Kamundia Muriithi

A

women’s group in Embu County has ventured in banana wine production, hoping the activity will transform their lives economically.

Their intent is not to add another brand of wine to those in the market that people use to drown away their sorrows. Their brand of wine has medicinal and distressing value.

New Muririmbo Women’s Group in Karurumo, Kieni South Division, Runyenjes Constituency are treading on unfamiliar grounds as few people would imagine of Christian rural women making wine or beer.

The 26 member group led by Phillis Nyaga have been inspired into the initiative by the desire to add value to their products.

Nyaga, who is the chairperson, says the group which started in 2006 originally dealt in cassava and banana farming where they would grow them commercially to earn a profit.

Rationale “We realised we were getting little in terms of profits and thus engaged a consultant to take us through how we could add value to the products. The consultant trained us how to manufacture banana wine,” recalls Nyaga.

That was way back in 2009 and today the group has perfected the art of making banana wine and is only awaiting certification by the Kenya Bureau of Standards to go into com-

mercial manufacturing and selling of the wine.

Making banana wine is a lengthy and laborious process that calls for zeal without which one can easily give up.

To manufacture pure and natural banana wine requires one to wait for a period of at least seven months before they can pack it for sale.

The tools used to manufacture the wine are not hard to get as it involves only containers of various sizes, a pipe, a large cooking container and plastic bottles for packing.

Process Nyagah says the process begins with having ripe bananas ready and sodium benzoate which acts as a preservative.

“We prefer sweet bananas which we peel using our hands. We wash them with distilled water then mash them using our hands in a container until they become a paste. We mix the paste with water inside a black plastic drum in the ratio of 1:1 and then store for three weeks,” explains Nyagah.

After three weeks they extract the concoction from the drum using a pipe and pour it into a 20 litre jerrican then allows it to stay there for three months.

They transfer it to another jerrican where it stays for another four more months when it will be considered ready for drinking.

At present, the group is making the wine for their own and friends’ consumption but have already applied

for certification so that they can start selling it.

They plan to pack it in half litre bottles and sell each bottle at KSh150 initially on order or to shows, exhibitions and meetings before trying supermarkets and churches.

The cost of producing 100 litres of banana wine is around KSh1,000 excluding labour and if they would be able to sell all of it at once they could earn KSh15,000.

Nyaga clarifies that they do not manufacture the wine to make people drunk but for its medicinal purposes.

“Our wine has medicinal value and has proved to be very helpful to people suffering from stomach problems, high blood pressure and depression. A glassful of the wine is enough and we advise people not to take more as doing so would make them drunk,” advices Nyaga.

However, the women fear they may be unable to get orders from supermarkets as they have not mechanized their operations.

“We do most of the processes manually, which has its own limitations. We are arranging on how we can get a loan from the bank to expand our operations. If we get assistance or some partners it will be easier,” avers Nyaga.

License The members supply the bananas used to manufacture the wine to ensure they benefit as much as possible from the process.

Once they get certified by Ke-

nya Bureau of Standards (KEBS), the group plans to engage experts who can teach them how to produce mango wine, which is plenty in the area.

According to Samuel Karani, Kieni South Agricultural Extension Officer, the area produces about 10 tonnes of cassava annually most of which ends up in the group.

Karani says the full potential of the group is yet to be realised, adding that when it gets certified it will become a serious cottage industry that will employ many people.

Production of banana wine and cassava flour has not prevented the group from venturing into other activities.

Diversity The women are also upgrading the local breeds of goats using the dairy ones and local poultry breeds using Kenbrew breed of chicken.

Anthony Gateri, of the Kenya Agriculture Productivity and Agribusiness Project Embu Service Unit, who has been training farmers on best banana farming practices, advises the group to seriously keep records to know how much they are getting.

During a tour of the group’s manufacturing facility, Gateri asked the women to consider producing big volumes of banana wine and exploring the larger market.

“The ground still has a lot of untapped potential which can be fully exploited to propel the area and the country to greater economic prosperity,” he noted.

Issue Number 46 • May 2014

Cecilia Mutai

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Dream to become teacher becomes a reality …By Carolyne Ngetich

H

er dream of becoming a teacher was almost thwarted by the biting poverty and cases of early marriages that marked her childhood 40 years ago.

However, this did not dampen Cecilia Mutai’s dream of as she braved the cold morning weather barefooted without a pullover.

“It was normal for me to walk barefooted to school without a sweater since my parents could not afford to buy full school uniform for all of us,” she says during the interview in her office at Motigo Primary School.

But, as much as she desired to become a teacher, she was aware that her parents may, however, not to support her fully.

Girls were married off when they were only 12 or 13 years old and this only dimmed her ambition.

However, her spirit refused to give up. She soldiered on and today she is the headmistress of Motigo Primary School, taking pride for having withstood the treacherous journey which has borne her fruits.

Hardships While her journey to fulfilling her dream was not easy, the 48-year-old attributes the success to her late uncle who took her in as a baby sitter when her parents could not raise school fees.

At that time, Mutai had dropped out of class two because her parents were too poor to sustain her education.

“During those days very few girls would go to school and at one time my aunt who was in college came for me so that I could take care of my young cousin,” she says.

To her, that was the turning point in her life and a step to a thousand miles ahead.

“This turned out to be a clever move to get me out of the village to evade Female Genital Mutilation and being married off to elder men,” she explains.

Education system then was favourable and she notes that this contributed to her success given that she could take care of her cousin in the morning and attend afternoon classes when her aunty was home.

“The education system favoured everyone to study especially where we lived in Kajiado. Afternoon classes had the majority of the pupils since most of us attended to chores in the morning,” explains Mutai.

Excel Although she joined school at the late age of 10, Mutai says she was her motivated by her desire to learn and become a teacher, despite being ridiculed by her peers.

She also wanted to excel in her studies to appease her sponsors, and this saw her join Olkejuado High School.

Her leadership responsibilities shaped her to becoming a future leader. While in high school, she served as a prefect, deputy head girl and then head girl.

When she finally enrolled in college where her aunty was, Mutai saw her childhood dream

Cecilia Mutai at her office during the interview. She displays the trophies the school has been winning over the years. Photo: Carol Ng'etich come true.

Currently, Mutai is heading over 400 children, a position she has held for the past 15 years.

“I am not only heading a school but I am heading a top performing school,” she prides herself.

Motigo Primary School has been rated among the top performing schools in the county, which she attributes to her desire to change the

school for the best after taking over as head.

When she was promoted as the head teacher, Mutai says she identified the problems within the community.

Currently, she has rescued many girls from Female Genital Mutilation and early marriages, an action that she will continue with for time immemorial.

Women break tradition to engage in cash crop farming …By Robert Nyagah

S

he left her small scale business in Embu town to concentrate with mixed farming specifically growing mangoes and bananas.

As one of the many small scale women farmers who are the majority of fruit farmers in the Itabua area, Mary Wamuyu initially started growing bananas before shifting to mangoes due to inadequate water.

Despite banana farming being more profitable, she says it requires more water than mangoes hence the reason why she had to shift.

“Growing bananas is so irrigation intensive that without water I had to abandon the undertaking and try mango growing among others crops,” explains Wamuyu.

Wamuyu who has been a small scale farmer since 1996 is of the opinion that women are the pillar of the small scale fruits farming in more than 70 per cent of the lower parts of Embu County.

“Women today dominate small scale mixed farming and produce at least 70 per cent of the mangoes cultivated in the lower parts of Embu County where in the recent past more and more people are adopting water fed crop farming,” she reiterates.

Variety Wamuyu grows Tommy, Apple, Eden and Kent species of mangoes but indicates that the leading specie among all is Tommy whose fruits are hard skinned and have a long shelf life than others. She notes that Apple mangoes are most popular in the production of juice.

Although she is a member of a local women’s organisation known as the

Msimamo Women’s Group, her members only support one another through a merry-go-round which specialises in improvement of things at domestic level.

The group has in the past tried honey keeping, dairy goat keeping and acquisition of water tanks for domestic use while undertaking small scale savings, but has never thought partnering to undertake crop growing projects such as mangoes which she does privately.

Wamuyu like majority of women farmers says that the present drought in Itabua area has had negative effects on her crop yields. “The situation would have been better if we had adequate water supply through irrigation,” she explains. Wamuyu adds: “We have been selling mangoes at a throw away price to cut on losses occasioned by decay.”

A small scale dairy farmer in Embu Wangu Gatambe feeds her Dairy cattle in a zero grazing shelter at Gatondo village in Embu County where women are key producers of mixed farming. Photo: Robert Nyagah

Prices A crate of mangoes, she says sells at KSh350 which she describes as too low given the huge investments needed to care for the mango trees which include spraying and pruning among other requirements.

Wamuyu explains that when the market is good, a fruit fetches between KSh10 and KSh15, noting that a good performing tree can produce up to 500 fruits.

She says although the area registered poor yields due to lack of rains and irrigation water, outlets are not good and

available even for the good fruits.

“The worst problem is that no serious fruit processing factory has been established to buy fresh fruits while at the same time wholesale buyers are almost completely unavailable,” says Wamuyu.

She indicates that mango farming by small scale women farmers has been based purely on trial and error because “we are forced to do our own research and sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes we succeed”.

When production is good, Wamuyu says that she is able to sell at least three pick-ups a month with each carrying up to 3,000 fruits per trip. The mango

season lasts two months every year but Wamuyu says what has been lacking is a consolidated market or system of marketing among small scale farmers.

Capacity She indicates that despite the availability of a community water supply project covering most parts of Itabua area, promises that more water would be pumped from Mt Kenya for irrigation have gone unfulfilled over the last 10 years.

According to Wamuyu, the reason women are heading families and income outfits in this part of Embu is because

majority of the men and youth engage in the consumption of illicit liquor and chewing of miraa which affect their capacity to engage in economic activities.

“We as women are ready to learn more, we want to elevate the levels of our families and improve the standards of our lives, all what we need is support from both the county and national governments,” she says.

Wamuyu notes that agricultural extension officers should be deployed to all parts of the county and especially the arid areas where farmers need more professional guidance.

Most farmers depended on private experts and this remains expensive yet food production if supported by the government could spur other areas of economic development.

Wamuyu worries over falling profits from mango production, an action that is now attracting her to Miraa.

“I hate miraa because I view it as a drug, but I am learning from successful neighbours that the crop is now the in thing and is earning farmers who invest in the same sizes of land and water better profits,” she says.

While she has been losing at least four kilograms of mangoes every day due to lack of water, market and preservation means, Wamuyu says her neighbour has been earning KSh10,000 per week from her 300 stems of muguka, as miraa is referred to locally.

Lack of water supply for irrigation from the national and county governments, extension agricultural officers and markets for mangoes is slowly driving women to the growing of Miraa, a crop that has in the recent past received negative international comments and condemnation.

14

Issue Number 46 • May 2014

South Sudan women demand more inclusion in the peace process

…By Kenyan Woman Correspondent

T

he outbreak of armed conflict in South Sudan, Africa’s youngest nation has led to massive displacement, suffering and death of thousands of innocent civilians especially women and children. Amidst desperation and suffering, the women of South Sudan have refused to remain victims but survivors and are committed not to rest until their voices and concerns are included in the peace process taking place in Addis Ababa.

Soon after the outbreak of the conflict, the women of South Sudan organised themselves into Women’s Operation Group — an alliance of women representatives from the entire country.

Their core aim was to bring the different factions to the negotiating table. However, their voices were not heard despite the international recognition of women’s participation in decision-making at all levels in conflict resolution and peace processes as stipulated by the United Nations Security Resolution 1325, the Beijing Platform for Action and Maputo Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.

With proliferation of conflicts around the world, women in Africa have in the past organized themselves into a formidable force and influenced the peace processes in their countries. In Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda, women’s unique perspectives were central in engendering peace processes. It is, therefore, very important to support the South Sudan women in their efforts of ensuring that sustainable peace is achieved in the country.

Consultations Isis-WICCE, a feminist organisation committed to justice, peace and human security which has worked with South Sudan women for a period over 10 years was not only dismayed with the escalation of conflict in South Sudan but was also deeply concerned about the absence of women in the peace talks;

slated for Addis Ababa under the Auspices of Inter government Authority on Development (IGAD) early in the year.

Isis-WICCE engaged partners on how best to support South Sudan women leaders to ensure that their voices and concerns are taken into account in the peace negotiation process.

Consequently, a consultative meeting with South Sudan women leaders was organised in Kampala from January 1922. The purpose of the meeting was to provide a platform for South Sudan women to consolidate women’s voices in order to influence the peace talks between the conflicting parties.

The meeting was attended by 18 women leaders drawn from government and civil society organisations in South Sudan as well as South Sudan refugee community in Uganda.

The most critical issue that the women raised during the consultative meeting was that their efforts have not been recognised by stakeholders involved in the peace negotiations when they are the ones picking up the pieces; and the need for their participation.

During the meeting, the women expressed concern on the immense destruction, indiscriminate and ethnically targeted killings, the suffering and displacement of the population as well as the breakdown of moral values, governance systems and internal party politics that degenerated into an armed conflict. They demanded to be part of the negotiating teams so that their unique perspectives as mothers, sisters, daughters and grandmothers become essential in understanding and addressing the dynamics of the conflict. At the end of the meeting, a communiqué detailing their demands was drawn and signed by all. In the communiqué, the women demanded.

Immediate cessation of hostilities with clear gender sensitive implementation and monitoring guidelines and participation of citizens in ending violent acts in-

cluding rape and other forms of violence against women.

Immediate inclusion of at least 25 percent of South Sudanese women from senior level positions in the mediation and ceasefire monitoring teams; with a clear mandate.

Funds coming in for the ongoing peace process should also be invested in human resource and capacity development for women.

IGAD, African Union, the chief mediator, parties to the conflict and international community to support psychosocial therapy, sexual and reproductive health and rights services as well as trauma healing; and creation of corridor for humanitarian assistance to the internally displaced people among others.

The meeting also laid out strategies on how to engage different stakeholders while in Addis Ababa.

Demands In Addis Ababa, the South Sudanese women held a meeting with the IGAD Chief Negotiator Ambassador Seyoum Mesfin, to whom they presented their demands as stipulated in the Kampala communiqué. They also raised other issues pertinent to women’s needs and concerns like the need to develop a comprehensive strategy for security sector reforms, a comprehensive Demilitarization, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme and truth and reconciliation process, as important components of healing.

Mesfin expressed support for women’s participation to the peace process; “. . . these are genuine concerns coming from mothers, daughters and sisters, who are at the receiving end of the crisis… the process is going to be different this time round as the participation of citizens par-

Top: Southern Sudan peace talks, Nhail Deng Nhail (second left), the head of South Sudan negotiating team and Taban Deng Gai (top negotiator for the rebels side) sign a cessation of hostilities agreement in front of mediator Tedros Adhanom (centre). Below: Sudanese women cast their votes during the last elections. The women want their voices and concerns included in the peace process taking place in Addis Ababa. Photos: Kenya Woman Correspondent. ticularly religious groups, women and youths is paramount”.

Mesfin advised South Sudanese women to speak with one voice and remain neutral so that their contribution can be valued and sought by the team.

The South Sudan women leaders also held a meeting with Her Excellency Mary Robinson the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region.

During the meeting the statement of the South Sudan women was presented.

Reacting to the demand by the women, Robinson emphasized the role of women and girls in peace building and sustainable development. She urged them to profile their voices in all processes at all levels to ensure that women’s contribution to peace is valued in all spaces. She promised to share the concerns of the women of South Sudan

in her meeting with IGAD and other relevant stakeholders.

The women also met with the Norwegian Special Envoy on Sudan and South Sudan Jens-Petter Kjemprud as well as the UN Women Representative to the African Union, Letty Chiwara.

Mobilize The women briefed them on their efforts since the conflict erupted and the specific support they want from the representatives. They specifically mentioned the need for the UN Women to profile their voices and provide both technical and financial support to continuously meet at the margins of political negotiations.

South Sudanese women have continued to mobilise both within and outside the country.

They are engaging at different fronts and strategizing to main-

tain the momentum. Plans are underway to establish different working groups in Nairobi, Addis Ababa and Juba to continue influencing the peace process.

“At this stage of the peace process, we are happy to report that due to the various advocacy efforts, the two parties to the conflict have included three women per team. While we welcome this positive step, we urge the negotiators to include women in civil society as their perspective is required for objectivity and inclusiveness as they represent a wider group of women.

The major challenge for women is lack of resources to sustain the efforts and this is a call to all partners to support the women’s efforts as provided for in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325. Including the women in the peace process is not simply the right thing to do; it is the smart thing to do.

Executive Director: Arthur Okwemba The Kenyan Woman is a publication of African Woman and Child Feature Service E-mail: info@awcfs.org www.awcfs.org

Managing Editor:

Jane Godia

Sub-Editors:

Duncan Mboya and Faith Muiruri

Contributors:

Dan Orlale, Ruth Ayugi, Bernice Nduta, Laura Owning, Bertha M. Rinjeu, Henrietta Miers, Henry Neondo, Abjata Khalif, Henry Kahara, Kamundia Muriithi, Melkizedeck Karol, Ben Oroko, Carolyne Ngetich and Robert Nyagah.

Design & layout:

Noel Lumbama (Noel Creative Media Ltd)