Posted 7:30 AM
by Mary
Girls flee circumcision in Kenya BBC
In some countries, girls tend to drop out of school after being circumcised
At least 300 girls in south-western Kenya have fled from home and sought refuge in churches in a bid to escape forced female genital mutilation (FGM).
The girls, some as young as nine, are at two rescue centres in rural Nyanza province, police told the BBC.Female circumcision is banned in Kenya, but remains common in some areas where it is considered to be part of a girl's initiation into womanhood.
The girls in Kuria District are now in the care of the two churches and Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, a women's organisation.
Police are providing security at the centres to ensure that the girls are not forcibly removed or harassed.Beatrice Robi, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake's district chairperson and a gender activist, says that at least 200 girls are undergoing circumcision in the district a day.She said she had found a seven-year-old girl who had just been circumcised.
"There are more girls who are still in their homes and they are undergoing it [circumcision], whether it is voluntarily or they are being forced," she told the BBC.
Labels: fgm
