Mothers from Eastern Province have been advised to make routine examinations on bodies of their female children to ensure they are safe from sexual harassment.
Rescue Soul Foundation's Program Coordinator Beatrice Brunker made this call when she revealed that sexual harassment of the girl child was more rampant in the region than other parts of the country.
Brunker noted that most of the incidents of girl child defilement went unreported as parents to the victims opted to go silent and keep them as secrets after settling issues with perpetrators.
She attributed this to some of the cultures of the Kamba Community which she termed backward and outdated.
Brunker said it was only through physical check ups of children's whole bodies including their genitals by their mothers that would enable the parents know whether they had been defiled or not.
She said some parents from the region got ashamed of reporting whenever their children were sexually harassed due to stigma that came with it.
Brunker asserted that parents should also give their female children sexual orientation at tender ages by educating them on reproductive health and how to relate with people of the opposite sex.
She condemned increased incidences of defilement and sodomy in Eastern Province especially in Mavoko Sub County and asked the government to impose harsh penalties for perpetrators whenever they were brought to book.
Mavoko Sub County Children’s Officer Faith Kamau confirmed that the rate of sexual harassment among the girl child was high in the region with many cases of the perpetrators pending at a local law court.