Josephine rescue girls from 'female circumcision'

Josephine Kulea and her Samburu Girls Foundation rescue Kenyan girls at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage, reports CNN. 

 o these girls, and some 200 others across Kenya, Kulea is "Mama Kulea." 

When their families refuse to have anything more to do with them, she takes the place of their mothers. 

The Samburu are an ancient Kenyan tribe pastoralist cattle herders, said to be "distant cousins" of the Maasai. Even to outsiders, their languages and customs are strikingly similar. 

According to local Samburu traditions, girls as young as seven can be promised to older men for sex 

Josephine wants to see the youngsters sent to school instead, to give them opportunities to grow and learn.  

Josephine is fighting against the very Samburu cultural traditions she grew up with. 

She says she began asking questions about what was happening in her community after attending boarding school and studying for a nursing degree in a different part of the country. 

"I realized we are the only ones doing FGM, female genital mutilation, the other communities [are] not doing it," she explains. "I ... came to realize that there are things that are not right and I need to make a difference, that's how I started rescuing girls." 

And she began, in 2011, by looking very close to home. 

"My first rescue was my two cousins," she explains. "One was 10 years old and she was the one getting married; most of the time in my community, when the girl is getting married young, that is when they undergo female circumcision. I was alerted that she was going to get married, so I went and rescued her, and after I rescued her I took her to school. "Two days later I get a call and am told there was a wedding in that village, and am like, 'I have the girl, so who got married?' They said it's the little sister who was seven years old -they replaced her because the cows were here and any girl had to go." 

Josephine rescued the second girl, and saw to it that her uncles were arrested because FGM and early marriage were made illegal in Kenya in 2011, the law is on her side and she works alongside the police, but that doesn't mean that what she does is without risks. 

The parents and relatives of girls she rescues are often detained for just a short period of time, and many in the Samburu community do not like the changes she is working to bring about. 

"Growing up from this community, everyone looks at me like, 'You should be like us, you should not be fighting us," she explains. "It's a risk for me but I still give it a go." 

For now, though, there are still many girls in need of help; in one manyara, or temporary village built by the Samburu in different locations according to the season, a group of mothers has called on Kulea for assistance. 

The remote manyara is at the end of a brand new dirt road, built just a month ago. There is no electricity or running water, and the nearest school is too far away for any of the children to walk to; only 5% of the Samburu community can read and write. 

To reach out to people, Josephine hosts a radio program, which is how the mothers in this village heard about her; the girls here are already "beaded," promised to local men in exchange for bead necklaces. the youngest is just seven. 

"All the girls in the village are at risk," she says "This one is nine years old but they want [to] marry her off. That's why they are asking for her to go to school." 

Girls are bought for sex by a member of the same clan before they are married off. The more beads she has around her neck, the higher the price. Once girls reach the age of marriage they will marry someone from a different clan.

If the girl falls pregnant before that to one of her relatives, she may be forced to undergo an abortion; if she has the child, it is unlikely to be accepted by the community. 

And although female genital mutilation and early marriage are illegal in Kenya, cultural traditions are hard to break. 

Angela, 12, was rescued by Josephine after seeing her friends undergo FGM; she says she saw blood and heard screams, and did everything she could to avoid meeting the same fate. 

"When I was nine years old, my father wanted me to be circumcised," she says. "I ran away to the forest." 

At one particular boarding school, Josephine has rescued eight girls and enrolled them there. For every girl she rescues — with the total number currently being 200 across Kenya - Josephine becomes the family that many of the girls have lost by daring to run away from their homes and future husbands. 

One such girl is named Younis who met Josephine after running away from her 78-year-old husband. 

At the time, Younis was just 9 years old. 

“When I was about nine years old, my father married me off to an old man who was 78 years old,” 

Younis explains through tears. “I went to his home and I stayed with him one week.” “He told me that I will be a wife, but I was just innocent. I wanted to come to school, but that man wanted me to be a third wife. I told him, I will not be your wife, and he caned me. “Then I heard that there is a woman who helps children. I came from Baragoi barefoot, I didn’t even have shoes that day. I came to Maralal…Josephine took me to [the] children’s office, she rescued me.” 

And Josephine’s work is catching on; these days, Mothers are increasingly showing up at schools to give their daughters a future with Josephine. 

And Josephine is optimistic about what is to come, “There is hope. And I know when we take more kids to school in future there will be a difference in my community.” 

Watch video on Josephine’s work here: