Relief as ‘Queen of the Knife’ swears off FGM

Looking up at the clear sky, her right hand raised and her right leg shaking, she spat, squirmed and swore that she would never again touch a knife to cut another girl.
For close to 30 years, Lokwalap Chemelsau, took pride in circumcising girls in Tilingwo village, Lomut location in Sigor constituency. It is here, deep in West Pokot County, where she was branded the queen of the knife that the government banned, but which she continued to wield until she was arrested in November 2015.
The 76-year-old had not known any life other than the shrubs of Lomut where she gathered young girls or, at times, young women taken to her, chanted a few words to appease the gods and got down to business.

JAILED
After every cutting session, she would be paid Sh200 by each girl although in the 1990s the most she was paid was Sh50, which increased to Sh100 just before the new millennium. She would do it for free at times.
For years since 1986, Chemelsau went on with her job without fear. Even with the coming in place of the Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Act in 2011, she pressed on.
However, she would not dodge the government’s long arm forever, as she was apprehended on November 11, 2015, prosecuted and jailed for two years.
Upon the reading of the guilty verdict at the Kapenguria Magistrates Court in early 2016, the septuagenarian was led to the Kapenguria GK Prisons, where her 74th and 75th birthdays came and went.
She was released in early April and taken to her home by prison officials who praised her for changing.
It was in prison that Chemelsau vowed never to go back to the outlawed practice, which, together with cattle rustling, are still favourite pastimes of the community in West Pokot.
"I will never go back to it. When I remember the tough life I went through in prison, the way I missed my granddaughters and the worries I had over my goats, I cannot even think of touching another girl. It is over for me," she told the Sunday Nation through an interpreter recently.
She said she was always worried about her three grandchildren aged between nine and four, who had been left all alone when she was picked by the area chief accompanied by administration police officers.
"I always regretted why I put my young grandchildren in trouble," she said looking at the children who sat around her at home.
The children were under her care after their father died and their mother left. When she was arrested, they went to look for their mother, who is said to have gone back to her parents living not too far away.

CHANGED
However, they were taken back by Chemelsau’s daughter, their aunt Joyce Chenangia, who lived in Kapenguria, but went back to Tilingwo Village to look after them.
"I thank God I was arrested. I don’t think I would have abandoned it if I had not been locked up for those years," she said.
Her daughter said her mother had changed for good, adding that she was attending the local Africa Inland Church services without fail.
She said she burnt all her circumcision paraphernalia — including a favourite knife — the day she arrived home from prison.
"Since she came out she has been telling us how difficult life was in prison. I also visited her frequently and she was so frail. She has vowed she will not go back to that practice," said Chenangia.
When she arrived home, though, she found her roof leaking and the house almost caving in. Having no income, she asked to be enrolled in welfare programme for the elderly run by the government.
The beneficiaries receive Sh2,000 every month through their mobile phones.
"I do not have any source of income. I am now old and cannot work in the farm for these three children under my care. I am requesting to be enrolled in the programme it will help me a lot," she said.
Ptokou Assistant Chief Philomena Korotach who has been looking after her since she was released said it was important to get her another source of livelihood so she does not fall back to her old ways.
"We will do everything possible to get her enrolled in the cash transfer programme," said Ms Korotach.
The administrator said FGM was still rife and that if she was not helped to adapt to her new life, she could easily go back to the practice. Ms Korotach has been leading the fight against female circumcision in the area with the help of the neighbouring Chesta Location Chief Yohana Pkiech.

Mr Pkiech said the conversion of Chemelsau was a big win for the anti-FGM fight, saying she was the only known circumciser in the area.
"She was the one who had been giving us headaches but after she was arrested we have not heard of girls being circumcised in this area. She was the most senior here," he said.