Again, among the dog-whistling, I read statements about how repressive Islam is and how it forces women in sub-Saharan Africa into subjugation, with Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as some kind of indication of the barbarity of Islam.
racism often begins with selectively framed facts rather than outright falsehoods. While it is true that, in the past, the frequency of FGM was high in sub-Sharan countries which were also dominated by Islam, contextual information is omitted. Correlation is being misrepresented as causation.
In reality, FGM is now banned in most countries in Africa but persists in rural areas. Additionally, FGM was practiced in other countries where Islam was not the dominant religion. The frequency declines with access to education and health services and correlates more frequently with poverty than religion. In fact, the practice pre-dates Islam.
Overcoming the practice does not require villification of a religion or ostracising Muslims. Kakenya Ntaiya's story is an example of how change actually occurs.
Kakenya Ntaiya's story is a powerful testament to the transformative power of education and the courage to challenge tradition. Born into the Maasai community in the rural Kenyan village of Enoosaen, her future was predetermined from a young age: she was engaged to be married at just five years old.
Like all the girls before her, her path was set to undergo Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as a teenager, a rite of passage intended to prepare her for adulthood and marriage. However, Kakenya harboured a single, burning ambition: to continue her education. In a bold act of negotiation with her father, she agreed to undergo the traumatic FGM ceremony on one condition; that he would allow her to return to and finish high school afterward. He agreed to her terms.
This first negotiation was merely the beginning. Her academic excellence earned her a scholarship to attend university in the United States, but to accept it, she needed the approval of her entire village. She once again negotiated, this time with the village elders, promising to return and use her education to benefit her community if they would support her journey.
They did, and she left for Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Virginia, becoming a trailblazer as the first girl from her village to study abroad. It was during her studies in sociology in the U.S. that she had a profound revelation, understanding that the FGM she had endured was not a celebrated custom but a severe human rights violation.
This awakening cemented her resolve to ensure other girls would not have to make the same painful bargain she had. True to her word, she returned to Enoosaen and, in 2009, founded the Kakenya Center for Excellence (KCE). This pioneering boarding school provides girls with a safe haven and a quality education, with a revolutionary requirement: parents must pledge that their daughters will not be subjected to FGM or forced into underage marriage.
What began as a single school has since blossomed into a holistic model of change, expanding to include health programs, leadership training, and community outreach, fundamentally altering the life trajectory for generations of girls and reshaping the fabric of her community.
The road to the social harmony which we are hearing so much about at the moment is not deriding the 'other'. It is in finding the stories that might inspire changes; that might be important to deradicalisation.