Be the first to say no to FGM, others will follow

What you need to know:

  • Around the world, we all want the same for our girls. We want them to have an education, to be safe, to be happy. We want them to see the dreams they have as girls become the lives they lead as women.
  • The Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Act, passed in 2011, criminalizes all forms of FGM, regardless of age.
  • I challenge everyone – all mothers, fathers, elders, police officers, government leaders, and girls – to say no to cutting. If no one in your community has ever said no, be the first. Others will follow.

As the world marks the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation on February 6, 2014, it is important to bear in mind that protecting our daughters means being bold.

It means standing up for them and standing next to them when they make their own choices.

This is something we must remember every day. Nearly 140 million girls in the world today have been subjected to cutting, and three million are at risk of undergoing cutting each year.

This campaign is sponsored by the United Nations and is aimed at raising awareness and educating people about the dangers of this cultural practice.

Around the world, we all want the same for our girls. We want them to have an education, to be safe, to be happy. We want them to see the dreams they have as girls become the lives they lead as women.

My dream came true. As a teenager I won a scholarship to attend college in the United States. I wanted to become a teacher.

My Maasai community in the Southwest of Kenya came together to support me. They raised money for my plane ticket, and I became the first girl to leave Enoosaen for college.

Before I left, I made a promise. I would come back; I would give back. I would start the first girls’ primary school in my village. It would be a place where girls could be safe; a place where they could follow their dreams.

The Kakenya Center for Excellence opened in 2008. Since then, 192 girls in grades four through eight have received an education and leadership training.

I believe that there is great power in education. I have seen how it changes lives – it changed mine. My school is special for many reasons, and it is unique in one important way. At my school, 100 percent of the girls have not been cut. It has been their decision. And all the parents have agreed.

Maasai girls want to honor tradition, but when they learn what cutting means, they do not want it. The pain is severe. Many girls get infections. Some do not survive. Long after the cutting, many women have chronic pain. And some have difficult births and even lose their babies.

When the girls learn that being cut means they can be married young and forced to leave school, they refuse. They turn to parents for support. Some mothers are opposed to genital cutting, but they stay silent. They don’t realize that other mothers, maybe even their own mothers, were also opposed but did not say so.

Caring for our girls means we have to be fearless. Determined. We have to speak up and say together that we choose to stand with our girls, and we choose not to cut them.

I did not know, when I underwent the ceremony at 14, that it was already against the law in Kenya. Today, we have an even better law. The Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Act, passed in 2011, criminalizes all forms of FGM, regardless of age.

It holds accountable people who aid in cutting or take girls out of the country to have the ceremony done. The law also says it is a crime to stigmatize women who have not been cut.

This law was passed to protect girls and prevent life-long pain. We need to encourage parents and communities to respect it, and we need police and government officials to enforce it.

Cutting limits girls’ potential and denies them the possibility to achieve their dreams. When daughters – and mothers – learn the truth about cutting, they put a stop to it. Today, all around the world, men and women, girls and boys are coming together to say no to cutting.

I challenge everyone – all mothers, fathers, elders, police officers, government leaders, and girls – to say no to cutting. If no one in your community has ever said no, be the first. Others will follow.

Our girls dream of becoming doctors, lawyers, and teachers. They dream of starting businesses and someday raising children of their own. They will build stronger, more prosperous communities.

Their dreams will benefit those communities and the generations that follow. They will choose for themselves, and I will stand with each of them, like my community stood with me.

Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya is the founder and director of the Kakenya Center for Excellence, a girls’ primary boarding school in Enoosaen, Kenya and a member of the Vital Voices Global Leadership Network. She is a 2013 CNN Hero.