Nancy (in photo above) has a contagious personality, and her peers are immediately drawn to her. When the time for her Zoe Empowers working group to vote for chairperson, they didn’t hesitate to nominate her. Recently, a visiting Zoe Empowers Trip of Hope team was incredibly impressed by her poise and confidence. Nancy was born to be a leader.
During the team’s visit with her working group, Nancy shared that her ability to lead was not always used in a positive way.
Nancy’s community practices the rite of passage called female genital mutilation or FGM. When the time came for all the young girls in the community to participate in this initiation, it was Nancy who went around her village and recruited the girls for the upcoming ceremony. (You can read more about this practice in Part 1.)
Once Nancy joined a Zoe Empowers working group, she learned about a different, healthier option for girls to celebrate their passage into womanhood, an alternative rite of passage. This ceremony reinforces positive traditional values, but does not harm the girls who participate. Girls who participate spend a week away from their regular life to learn life skills and celebrate their transition into women. Positive traditional aspects of the community’s rite of passage like food, socializing and entertainment, are still included.
The most important element of this alternative ceremony is teaching the girls about human rights, as well as sexual and reproductive health issues. Local nurses are invited to teach the girls about their transition from childhood to adulthood, including the realities about preventing HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. They also learn about FGM, but are taught about the associated health risks, and why it is harmful to them to undergo such a procedure.
These alternative rites foster a process of effective social change by engaging the community, as well as the girls, in activities that lead to changing beliefs about female genital mutilation. (Chege et al., 2001). It is not enough to educate the girls themselves; the community must also change their views about the practice for girls to no longer be vulnerable.
Today, Nancy uses her leadership skills to educate women and girls in her community about the health risks of FGM. Because of Zoe Empowers, Nancy now encourages women to allow their daughters the right to participate in an alternative rite of passage as a celebration of their womanhood.
[fluidvideo url=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/pL1uCxbX5Gw”]Nancy leads her working group in song to welcome their U.S. Hope Companion partners.
Of Nancy, one of the Trip of Hope team members said, “She is TRUE restoration and transformation.”
To solve the problem of FGM, Zoe Empowers empowers young women to share the education they have received on the subject with their community members. According to the World Health Organization, programs that are community-led and empowering girls are the most effective approach to eliminating FGM.
FGM is practiced in several countries where Zoe Empowers is working. You can learn more about the differences in each country: Malawi, Kenya, Liberia, Zimbabwe and India.
You can help make a difference in the life of a child like Nancy for as little as $10 a month.
[button url=”https://www.wearezoe.org/donate/” style=”primary” text=”Give Now”]