Gallery - Samburu Civic Education

This trip was part of a project by the EACLJ and Samburu Girls Foundation; in Samburu County. It was aimed at educating the members of different communities in the county on their rights and responsibilities, as provided for in the Constitution. The main focus of our program was on the prohibition of female genital mutilation (FGM), Children rights and also the Sexual offences Act. The need to conduct civic education on the subjects was informed by an outcry on violation of women rights and in extention human rights in this community, through the practice of retrogressive traditional practices. During our circuit in the county we were able to cover the following areas: - Maralal, Baragoi, Tuum, Wasorongai, Illaut, South horr, Sereolupi, Archers Post, Ngilae and Wamba. We had community meetings and also had an opportunity to meet with the heads of departments from different public offices. The fight against retrogressive cultural traditions requires concerted effort. We learnt that changing a culture may be difficult as traditions run deep, however that does not mean that it is hopeless to try. The important thing is the strategy put in place. To this end, we opted to target the men in the community meetings. Although we met few groups of women, majority were of men only as they are the decision makers in this extremely patriarchal community.