Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) has been fizzling out worldwide but the vice it is still prevalent in some regions.
Although the vice has been outlawed in the country, it is still practiced albeit secretly in several parts of the country. Kisii is one of the areas where the deadly tradition is still prevalent.
Traditionally, FGM was a transition from childhood to adulthood and it was marked by group initiation ceremonies while today the act is done covertly.
Traditionally, ‘circumcision’ for Gusii girls was done at the age of 8-9 years and the ceremonies occurred annually.
According to 84-year-old Ceria Barongo, the ceremony occurred just after the harvest. It lasted from October to December and the circumcision of girls was done before that of boys.
Gusii has the highest prevalence of FGM in comparison to other parts of the country. It is estimated that 97 per cent of the adult women have undergone the rite.
“Each girl being initiated could wake her mother at dawn and ask for either a hen or two shillings as payment to the circumciser. The mother pinched the girl and told her that she was still too young, the idea being to test her seriousness and courage,” said Barongo.
She added that if the girl insisted to mix with her age mates, she would be allowed to leave the house naked except for a piece of cloth on her shoulder accompanied by her mother.
In a chilly dawn, they would meet with the other girls together with their mothers at a planned spot, and then they would proceed singing to the circumciser’s home. The ‘doctor’ was usually a middle-aged woman with a reputation for skill in female circumcision.
At the place where the ceremony was held, a crowd of women surrounded a stone on which the initiate was to sit on. For every operation, a woman came behind the girl to support her, firmly holding the girl so that she could not be able to resist.
The operator applied some white flour to the girl’s private parts before expertly and swiftly cutting off the head of the clitoris using a sharp knife or a razor blade.
Barongo adds: “As soon as this was done the crowd of the gathered women gave a thrilling noise, gaily, singing and dancing. The initiate would then be led to a shed to squat and bleed and after all girls had had been circumcised and the circumciser paid, they were led to their respective homes.”
On their way, obscene songs were sang indicating that the girl is now mature to be inhibited or embarrassed.
At home, she was asked to squat behind the granary or a bush until the mother had cooked for her and the crowd gathered in the homestead. In the afternoon groups of the initiated girls gathered in a house for a month-long seclusion and cleansing.
The behaviour of each girl was expected to be that of an adult and was conditioned by the prospects over marriage.