Rongai Leakwara: Polio couldn’t paralyse my passion to fight FGM, child marriage

Rongai Leakwara is a 49-year-old mother of five. She is independent, raised a family and her adult children still look to her for support.

She had polio as a child and one leg is paralysed, the other is weak. She uses crutches.

Trained and equipped to support women's and girls’ rights, Leakwara —a victim of female genital mutilation at a young age— is a champion fighting against the vice and child marriage in Baringo. She is making progress.

She is an award-winning gender champion from the small and marginalised community of Ilchamus in Baringo.

Her motivation? It comes from growing up seeing women oppressed and voiceless, she says.

Most men in the community believe that a woman who is not circumcised does not deserve marriage. And they prevent sons from being circumcised if their mother has not been mutilated.

"I am fighting for girls not to be forced to undergo FGM and not to be forced into early marriages. Such cases have declined because we work with authorities to ensure they don’t happen," she said.

She has enemies, and they’re all men.

Her efforts have attracted hatred and denunciations from men who think she is inciting “their” women through her empowerment initiatives. One day she was attacked and one of her hands was broken.

"In June 2022, I was on my way home and was attacked by two men who tried to suffocate me. My cries attracted neighbours who came to my rescue. My hand was broken on that day,’’ she said.

"Some men stop their wives from attending my meetings, saying that my efforts are an exercise in futility. Some of the women are asked to explain why they attended my meetings. This causes most of them to be afraid,” she said.

She believes that with sustained sensitisation of women and girls, the retrogressive culture will be put to an end.

"Training women about their rights will help end these vices. They should be taken to counties which have no such cultures for benchmarking," she said.

Leakwara has lived with her mother since 1992 when her father who was sponsoring her education died. I did not continue with my studies after Standard 8," she told the Star.

She never lost hope and she has brought hope to many women and girls in Baringo where she was born.

Her passion for fighting against FGM and child marriage was motivated by the high number of cases reported to authorities.

A recent report by the National Research Centre shows that gender-based violence prevalence in Baringo county is at 64 per cent compared to other counties.

Leakwara, who is well informed and knows her rights, said women’s right to land inheritance and education for girls are also on her agenda.

It is taboo for a woman to inherit land in her community.

"My desire is to see a just society. I don’t want to see women and girls being abused or harassed. I want to see their rights being respected,’’ she said.

Around the world, more than 230 million women and girls have been cut, according to data from Unicef.

Africa accounts for the largest share of this total, with over 144 million women and girls having suffered.

The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey  data for 2022 shows the prevalence of FGM is 15 per cent in the country. That means 15 per cent of girls and women aged 15 to 49 have undergone FGM, which has no medical benefits, but can cause death, infection and child birth problems.

More than 40 per cent of women have experienced physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner during their lives.

Additionally, around one in four girls get married early, and about one in five suffer female genital mutilation in Kenya.

Thanks to Leakwara’s initiatives, fewer parents are not taking their girls from schools to force them into early marriages.

“No one is stopping their daughter’s education to force them into marriage and that is an achievement. We no longer see women being cut and if that is being done, it is done in secrecy,” she said.

She also helped amplify the voices of the people with disabilities and women in her male-dominated community by sensitising them to participate fully in governance and decision-making.

"I championed women's inclusiveness in governance, a gospel that was taken up by most women who heard my voice,” the activist said.

“Through such efforts, women from the Ilchamus community are actively seeking elective seats in elections," she added.

"People in my community used to believe that PWDs are a curse but through an NGO I started called IIchamus Disability Network, the perception changed," Leakwara said.

Her 32-year-old son Tugay Rafson, a farmer, said despite the challenges life has thrown at them, their caring mother stood up for them until they were grown up.

"It has really been difficult. We went to school when my mother was not in  formal employment. She was a single mother. We faced difficulties in paying school fees. She struggled to feed us until we are where we are now," Rafson said.

Leakwara’s area chief, who did not want to be mentioned for protocol reasons, lauded her efforts saying they have contributed greatly to reducing FGM and early marriage.

"Rongai Leakwara has really interacted with the community and she has championed many issues. Her sensitisation initiatives have helped the community shun backward practices such as FGM. As we speak right now, it is rare to find these cases," the government official said.

Inspired by Leakwara’s efforts, Benadina Kochei from Endorois, another marginalised community, started championing against FGM.

She explained that her community values FGM so much to the point that a woman who is not cut is not respected.  

"Women in my community must undergo the cut for them to earn respect. To make it worse, a mother will not be allowed to have her boy child circumcised without undergoing the cut herself. That is how deeply rooted FGM is," Kochei said.

Just like Leakwara, Kochei is at the forefront of sensitising women in her community to shun the FGM culture, despite facing threats.

Everlyn Lolgisoi, a public health nurse and a friend of Leakwara from the Ilchamus community, confirmed women who have not undergone the cut are stigmatised.

She said time has come for men to be actively involved in fighting such dangerous and harmful practices if they care about their wives and daughters.

"In our culture, men are the core persons in upholding traditions, so their involvement will help end vices such as FGM," Lolgisoi said.  

Article 10 of the Kenyan Constitution emphasises that the national values and principles of governance include human dignity, equity, social justice, inclusiveness, equality, human rights, non-discrimination, and protection of the marginalised.

Isaac Manyonge from the National Council of Persons Living with Disabilities said people like Leakwara have a right to be involved in governance issues including advocacy as they are protected by the constitution.

"At NCPWD we work with organisations of persons with disabilities. When they form support groups aimed at championing for their rights, do awareness and advocacy, we support them, especially in accessing government services," Manyonge said.

"Most of the persons with disabilities that have come together in counties have influenced devolved units to come up with County Disability Acts where they have created disability boards that have created disability funds," he added.

 The 68th annual Commission on the Status of Women, the UN’s largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, took place on March 11 to 12 this year. It was themed, “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”.

The conference noted that progress towards ending poverty needs to be 26 times faster to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

Over 100 million women and girls could be lifted out of poverty if governments prioritises education, fair and equal wages and expanded social benefits.  

This story has been produced by the Star in partnership with WAN IFRA in News Social Impact Reporting Initiative.