WUNRN
"Working with spiritual leaders and
community elders can dramatically enhance the reach of our message. Because
they are seen as the custodians of culture, they impart their traditions and
beliefs onto younger generations. Traditional leaders have the authority needed
to decrease the acceptance of child marriage, and their voices are particularly
important when it comes to reaching out to boys and men."
KENYA - MOBILISING SPIRITUAL LEADERS
TO PREVENT CHILD MARRIAGE
By Wanjala Wafula, The Coexist Initiative - 2 November 2012
Wanjala Wafula is the founder and CEO of the Coexist Initiative, a Kenyan community-based organisation that works alongside boys and men to eliminate all forms of gender-based violence. Coexist was awarded the African Achievers Awards 2012, celebrating the successes of engaging men and boys as a means to empower young girls. Here, Wanjala speaks of the work he does with community elders to raise awareness of the harmful consequences of child marriage.
WHAT ABOUT GIRLS' RIGHTS?
The prevalence of child marriage in
The Children’s Act, passed in 2001,
prohibited the marriage of anyone under 18, and even stated that “no person
shall subject a child to early marriage or other traditional practices that are
likely to negatively affect the child’s life, health, social welfare, or
dignity”. The problem is not the law, but rather the lack of political will to
enforce it.
We have no adequate structures to monitor
and prosecute child marriage cases, no services that provide shelter to runaway
brides. Children’s rights sit at the very bottom of the government’s list of
priorities, if at all, even though rising tensions between ethnic groups have
prompted many abductions for marriage and rendered the situation all the more
alarming.
I find it tragic that, whenever there is conflict, men use the bodies of women and girls as their battlefield and that it elicits so little outrage from state officials.
ENGAGING COMMUNITY ELDERS & REACHING
OUT TO BOYS
Clearly, the cost of child marriage is too high to be overlooked. So where do we go from here?
I firmly believe that the way forward is to
engage the community as a whole. Social transformation will not happen without
community engagement. That’s why a much of our work at Coexist Initiative is
focused on raising awareness of the harmful impact of child marriage through
media and entertainment.
We also reach out to local leaders,
residents and service providers with key child marriage prevention messages.
For example, we’ve been working on “Our Voices Our Cry”, a book that gathers
the stories of children who have been sexually exploited, and we are currently
pushing for its inclusion into the school curriculum. This way, by bringing the
dialogue about child marriage into public consciousness and our schools, we
hope to address the discrimination that is at its heart.
For the past year, we have worked closely
with the Maasai and Kaya tribal elders to prevent harmful traditional practices
like child marriage. I have found that working with spiritual leaders and
community elders can dramatically enhance the reach of our message. Because
they are seen as the custodians of culture, they impart their traditions and
beliefs onto younger generations. Traditional leaders have the authority needed
to decrease the acceptance of child marriage, and their voices are particularly
important when it comes to reaching out to boys and men.
A key moment in a boy’s life is the time
when he learns the “rules of manhood”. This traditionally happens during the
male circumcision ceremony, when boys are exposed to highly gendered messages
about what it means to be a man. Working with spiritual leaders has proven
paramount in opening a new space for dialogue, in teaching boys different
lessons about manhood: boys become men by seeing and supporting women as human
beings.
By getting men to reject the practices that subordinate women and girls and subject them to violence, we can get to the root of child marriage. The support of community elders’ is a vital part of that process.
THE ROAD AHEAD
That’s why I am so pleased to see social
change happening in my own time. After two years working alongside Kaya elders,
known for their strict adherence to tradition, not one underage girl was
married in their community this year. Not a single one! And in only one year,
10,000 boys and men from the Maasai tribe have rejected female genital
mutilation (FGM) and polygamy.
I must say It makes me incredibly
optimistic for the future. True enough, FGM isn’t necessarily a precursor to
child marriage, but they do share a common root that needs to be addressed: the
ingrained idea that women and girls are somehow inferior. In that sense, FGM is
a gateway to ending child marriage in
11 October this year, the first ever
International Day of the Girl Child, gave us a fantastic opportunity to show
the changes that have occurred in the community and further raise awareness of
the consequences of early and forced marriage. Maasai elders gathered to
denounce the practice of child marriage and celebrate the achievements of the
transformed generation of Maasai Men. We also had a choir of girls, who used to
be married and are now in school, perform songs about our work and successes in
the community. If our budget allows it, we would love to produce a video of the
celebration and reach even more people.
Most of our successes have come from working on preventing child marriage. It’s a daunting task, but we must continue our work. No girls should ever be forced to marry; not a single one.
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For more information on the Coexist
Initiative and their drive to end gender-based violence, go to their website and blog.