Nonprofit seeks to empower girls in Kenya

GLEN RIDGE, NJ — The nonprofit Pastoralist Child Foundation, of Glen Ridge, which seeks to educate children in Kenya about the harmful effects of female genital mutilation, will host the “Kenya Dig It!” fundraising gala at the Glen Ridge Country Club on Oct. 25.

The organization, which has already received UNICEF funding, hopes to raise $40,000 to provide youth workshops that focus on finding alternative rites of passage for girls, the consequences of early marriage and pregnancy, and the importance of a formal education.

Borough resident Sayydah Garrett is the founder and president of PCF, which is guided by a board of seven that includes Kate Patrick, wife of Glen Ridge Mayor Stuart Patrick. Garrett discussed the organization last weekend in her Clark Street home.

She said she went to Kenya on a safari in 2012 and stayed at the Samburu Game Lodge. On her itinerary was a visit to the village of Namayiana. Samuel, the assistant restaurant captain at the lodge, told Garrett that it was his village and discussed FGM with her. Garrett had seen a documentary in 2001 on the subject, but it was not until she spoke with Samuel that she learned the scope of the practice. He told her he wanted to eradicate the practice before his youngest sister underwent the ceremony. Garrett resolved to help.

“I was living in New Jersey, but I had 10 years of nonprofit experience,” she said.
She returned to Glen Ridge and established PCF with the goal of eliminating such mutilation in the Kenyan counties of Samburu, where Samuel lived, and its sister county of Maasai. According to Garrett, Samburu’s population is 260,000 Maasai’s is 1.2 million; most inhabitants are seminomadic and their livelihoods depend upon livestock herding. The two counties’ FGM rates are the highest in Kenya, she said.

“What is scary is that 500,000 girls and women are in danger of the procedure,” Garrett said. “It’s an ingrained tradition. We’re trying to raise the awareness of elementary school girls in these two counties.”

According to the World Health Organization, some 200 million girls and women worldwide have undergone FGM procedures in 30 African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries, where the practice is most prevalent. The organization considers the practice to be a human rights violation of girls and women, one with long-term health consequences.

“What we would like to emphasize is the education of the girls,” Garrett said. “We have a sponsorship for them to attend secondary boarding schools and university. And we’re empowering girls and women. We’ve helped women to start businesses.”

The foundation also established annual soccer and volleyball tournaments for boys and girls, at which 400 youths from Samburu compete for the prized PCF trophy, Garrett said. Between games the youth attend sex education classes.

“In 2015, I contacted UNICEF/Kenya,” she said. “I told them about PCF and received a $50,000 grant to provide workshops for boys and girls in Samburu county. The workshops are for eight to 17-year-olds; 60 at a time attend over four days in April, August, November and December.”

She said the majority of donations come from individual donors, but PCF has received $20,000 from the Wallace Global Fund. Additionally, some Glen Ridge families have committed to sponsoring a girl’s education at $1,500 annually for four years.

“We have three girls in a university,” Garrett said. “One, whose name is Makaki, was sponsored by a Glen Ridge family. She just started at the University of Nairobi on a full scholarship to study commerce. That’s a huge success.”

She said two Glen Ridge High School girls started a club called “Girls for Good,” which sponsored another Kenyan girl.

Samuel, who is also a PCF board member, interviews the families of Kenyan girls who wish to receive sponsorship for schooling, Garrett said. Families must sign a contract stating that their daughters will not undergo any FGM procedure, will not become pregnant and maintain at least a C average in school.

“If you’re sponsored by PCF, you have to step up to the plate,” Garrett said. ”There’s no messing around.”

Kenyan men are shown a video detailing the FGM procedure as a way to educate them about the practice.

“The men are clueless,” Garrett said. “Some start to cry and decide right then and there that their girls will not be cut. We don’t sugarcoat anything.”

She believes her foundation has prevented more than 2,000 girls from undergoing the procedure.

The upcoming gala is a first for the Pastoralist Child Foundation. Within a network of nongovernmental groups, Garrett said, the goal is to end FGM worldwide by 2030.

For more information about the “Kenya Dig It!” gala, call 973-980-7860 or click here.

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