School closures in Kenya lead to rise in FGM!

When Kenya discovered its first Covid19 infection case in mid-march, the government decided to close all schools. This decision made Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) on rise. This is prohibited in Kenya but still it is practised by some tribes. The laws against FGM were enacted in 2011, since then the cases were dropped from 28 percent of women aged between 15 and 49 in 2008 to 21 percent in 2014. 

There is this girl named Gumato. Her mother was happy that schools were closed and they have a better opportunity to circumcise her girl as Gabra men only marry circumcised girls. In April Gumato and two other girls were taken to a house in a village behind the hills, they had to wash themselves with cold water. Then, Two women held them from behind, two women held their legs, one woman covered their eyes and another did the cutting. Gumato recalled that the wound was not even  treated or cleaned. She stayed with all the blood while our thighs were tied together for four days, and had to pee in a bucket and were forbidden to drink any water. After seven days she was returned to home. Also her wound became infected, she could barely walk and felt so much pain. Now she can finally walk again without feeling pain.

Data source: Al Jazeera