“These are my private parts” – At ARP camps girls learn they have the power to make decisions over their bodies

“Our Rights,” sings the girls’ choir at the closing ceremony of the ARP (Alternative Rite of Passage) camp. One by one, they enumerate what their rights include: the right to education, safety, food, and play. In the audience are the girls’ parents, who applaud happily at the end of the performance.

Around 200 girls attended the August safety camps in Kisii, Kenya. They are at the age of highest risk for female genital mutilation (FGM), between 7 and 11 years old.

“FGM is still a big problem for us,” says Linet Mokaya, a nurse specializing in sexual health who facilitates the camps.

Although FGM is illegal in Kenya, up to 68 percent of girls in Kisii undergo the procedure. It is most commonly performed during holiday periods, which is why the camps are scheduled during school vacations.

Camp days consist of games, activities, and lessons where the girls learn about their rights, the harms of FGM, and sexual health.

“Head, shoulders, knees, and toes,” the children sing to the tune of a familiar song, dancing along. “These are my private parts,” the song continues—perhaps in a style unfamiliar to the reader. “No one is allowed to touch them.”

Singing and dancing are tools to teach the girls that no one is allowed to touch them without permission, not for FGM, and not at any other time. However, the responsibility of protecting one’s own body cannot be placed solely on the children.

“Children don’t make the decisions about FGM; their parents do. That’s why we involve the parents in the camps,” Mokaya explains. She educates the parents of the campers about the harms of FGM.

Parents also participate in the camp’s closing ceremony, where they publicly promise to spare their daughters from FGM. The goal of the celebration is to replace the traditional post-FGM initiation ceremony.

“The ceremony is an important part of Kisii culture. We strengthen the good aspects of the culture so that we can let go of its harmful parts,” Mokaya explains.