November 08, 2011
Caroline Lentupuru, a Kenyan alumna who earned her master’s degree in International Development from Clark University, has won a 2011 International Campaigner Award from the Sheila McKechnie Foundation in the UK for her work on behalf of girls in her community.
Caroline is campaigning in villages and schools in the Rift Valley to ensure that young girls are not forced to undergo female genital mutilation and early marriage, a common trajectory which often ends in girls dropping out of school. Instead, she wants them to develop self-reliance through education, an approach Caroline hopes will shift the paradigm back home: educated girls will be the ones, she believes, to lead their communities out of poverty.
According to the Sheila McKechnie Foundation, “This award is for campaigners outside the UK working to achieve social or environmental justice in their home countries. We will work with the successful applicant both in their home country and here in the UK to help them make best use of the resources available to them, build their networks and alliances in the international community, and develop a successful strategy to achieve change.”
Below, Caroline answers Ford IFP’s questions about her Maasai community, and the cultural trends she is working to redefine, with support from the McKechnie Foundation:
Tell us a little bit about your community. Where is it located?
The Ilchamus community is a minority pastoralist tribe in Kenya that lives on the shores of Lake Baringo in Marigat district, Baringo County, Rift Valley province. During the larger Maasai migrations, the Ilchamus remained on the plains between the Laikipia and Tugen escarpments on the flood plains of Lake Baringo. The Ilchamus are a Maasai-speaking community and according to the national 2010 Census, their population is 37,000.
How do people make their livelihood?
The Ilchamus are agro-pastoralists with an emphasis on pastoralism. They do livestock rearing and subsistence agriculture. They are the only fishing Maa community because they practice small scale fishing in Lake Baringo. Owing to the recurrent droughts in the semi-arid region, the Ilchamus have been pushed to other means of livelihood; namely beekeeping and production of charcoal. They also work as farm labourers in the irrigation schemes which earlier belonged to them.
Is the community burdened by poverty? Do they have any political representation to help address their needs?
This community is politically marginalized. They do not have a political representation since the Kalenjin tribe, being more in number, have always had the political leadership positions. The Ilchamus poverty level is high; they have limited access to tap water and social amenities like health facilities and schools.
Please give us some background on the Ilchamus' history with FGM. What is the belief system around the practice, and is public attitude beginning to shift?
The Ilchamus, like the rest of the Maa-speaking groups, practice their traditional culture, which involves ceremonies and rituals. The community is organized in clans and age-set groupings. Like the other Maa-speakers, they practice circumcision for both boys and girls as a rite of passage to adulthood and cultural identity.
The girl’s circumcision is done on a case-by-case basis at the family level. They are circumcised to be married by any man of any age group except that of her father. The girls are usually circumcised and married off after a few days. Circumcision is performed with no anaesthesia, for it is also meant to ensure that the initiate is brave enough. Those who cry during circumcision will face consequences in the future – including lack of respect. The operation is done by the traditional female practitioners who are usually given a token of appreciation, some money, and a local brew.