(Content Warning: This post is about the work that we are doing to protect young women from FGM.)

40 days from now, November 26th, the cutting will begin here in Tarime. It’s a sad fact of life that FGM happens every two years here, to girls ages 9-15.

We are thankful that the Kuria tribe is choosing to abandon the practice these days. About 40 years ago, a tiny minority started asking themselves what the benefit is, and started offering their daughters a choice about whether they go to the cutting.

Over the years, that minority has grown, slowly becoming a definite majority. The practice now only hangs on in the most rural areas around Tarime.

Still, in a district of 404,848 people (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarime_District), that still means that thousands of girls are cut every two years. And a small percentage of these girls die from blood loss and infection.

The practice is a religious ceremony that takes place every two years, mostly during the month of December. Girls who have recently gone through puberty are taken to a large field where an animal sacrifice has been performed. Girls begin to arrive and are told to stand naked, in a line, until the first one is called for. She goes to the waangariba (the ones who perform the cutting), alone, and hands them her razor blade. The waangariba cut her and tell her not to stop the bleeding, because her blood is an offering to the Great Spirits (thus the deaths from blood loss and infection). Then another waangariba showers her in corn flour, and wraps her in a wrap skirt. At the exit, some of her family members are waiting for her.

Once the set days are over, it’s over. The waangariba have not showered since they began the ceremony. When they shower, this signals the end. Just as they told all of the girls that you will be cursed if you are not cut, they also believe that anyone who cuts someone outside of the ceremony will be cursed.

Several years ago, some brave Kuria women came together and asked, “What if we could protect the girls at a safe location, overnight, during the rituals?”

The time frame is short enough, and since the cutting takes place every two years, it’s feasible to bridge the girls through the danger zone, past puberty and into womanhood, when she is no longer in danger.

Together, these brave women protected 95 girls in 2022

And 147 girls in 2024

And we are now preparing to protect 250 girls this year.

Since the cutting starts on November 26th, the girls camp will also start on November 26th. 40 days from now. We will go out to the girls’ houses in the rural villages around Tarime… Nyamerambaro. Sombanyasoko. Buhunyaga. Nyagisese. Hoping that their parents hold true to the promises that they made to us, that their daughters will go to the girls camp, not the cutting. Hoping that the girls haven’t been hidden. Hoping that the girls don’t fall for their uncles’ promises of new shoes if they go and get cut.

The heroes are Sarah Wambura. Adventina Makuri. Elizabeth Wambura. Sophia Makoyo Igoti. Neema Lazaro Makuri. My lovely wife, Veronica Marwa Rhodes, who has been working hard on this while 8 months pregnant.

Some of them had gone through the cutting, and they want to help as many girls as possible to avoid the same pain.

Others, like my wife, were able to escape, and they want to help other girls escape, just as someone had helped them when they were young and vulnerable.

And then a group of folks coming together to support them. Some of them, Americans like me. Others who are Tanzanians of different tribes. QuadW residents, members of our community here like Benjamin Anthony, Christina Nkamba, Mwamini Daimon, and Rebeca Anthony. As well as Kuria men, like Elder Mwita Baita, Nyamhanga Maswi, and Elder Wambura Musa.

These 40 days of preparation will take a lot of work. We will need to prepare supplies and logistics… over one ton each of rice, beans, and corn. Raise and account for funds. Convince the girls’ families to send them to the girls camp, instead of the cutting. Build a great working relationship with each of the security guards, cooks, and matrons. Prepare games and our girls camp program, prepare to teach these girls about Jesus Christ; one whose whole life was only love.

I will start each day by praying for these girls, and I will send the prayer for that day in an email.

These prayers will be very honest. I may need to share bad news, and I trust you to receive it well, and to grieve with us.

I am inviting you to pray with us, each day for the next 40 days.

That God’s Kingdom would come here in Tarime. That God’s will would be done; just as it is in heaven. That Tarime would look a little more like heaven, as God makes the world new, making the Kuria to be who he originally intended them to be. No longer held back by violence. Freed from their shame. Their woundedness healed.  Brave. Proud. Creative. Strong. Something God alone can see, which will astonish us all when it comes to fullness.

You can donate to the Girls Camp directly through:Venmo: @DavisRhodes
Paypal: daviswarrenrhodesjr@gmail.com
Zelle: daviswarrenrhodesjr@gmail.com

Or you can donate tax-deductible at: https://www.wesleycollegetzfoundation.com/donate