Stop Female Genital Mutilation -- one girl at a time
You can rescue a girl like this one. Sponsor her, keep her in school, and protect her from FGM by paying her school fees.
This young woman is only 16, but if she had stayed in her village, she probably would already have been coerced into circumcision and an early marriage. In FGM-practicing societies, parents typically refuse to pay school fees for daughters who refuse female circumcision. Once they are cut, girls are quickly married, and their education ends.
One of our sponsored girls wrote to her sponsor: "Many of the girls back home are ever threatened with the statement: ‘We will not pay for your education if you do not agree to the knife.’ Many of my friends have fallen victims of this kind of cruel joke. In the end they became housewives since tradition regards them grown-up women once they see the knife. With this privilege, I am more than determined to continue with my education.” Read more of what our girls say.
This young woman is only 16, but if she had stayed in her village, she probably would already have been coerced into circumcision and an early marriage. In FGM-practicing societies, parents typically refuse to pay school fees for daughters who refuse female circumcision. Once they are cut, girls are quickly married, and their education ends.
One of our sponsored girls wrote to her sponsor: "Many of the girls back home are ever threatened with the statement: ‘We will not pay for your education if you do not agree to the knife.’ Many of my friends have fallen victims of this kind of cruel joke. In the end they became housewives since tradition regards them grown-up women once they see the knife. With this privilege, I am more than determined to continue with my education.” Read more of what our girls say.
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Succeeding without FGMSince 1999, the Godparents Association has helped dozens of Ugandan girls to study in secondary schools. After 2000, seeing that they were being forced into FGM if they stayed in their home areas, we brought girls to study at Peace High School, near Kampala, Uganda's capital. There they are exposed to wider opportunities, can learn English (Uganda's national language) more thoroughly, and gain a more rigorous education.
Though they came to us from village schools, by 2007 a number of "our girls" were scoring at the highest level in their national O-level exams, something that only 8 percent of Ugandan students do. In the same year, our first two goddaughters graduated from university, at the top of their class. (See their photo below.) In 2012 they were finishing master's degrees in social work and development studies. Two additional Godparents girls graduated with bachelor's degrees in 2012, and 8 were in their last year first university degrees in 2013. Four new university students will begin in August 2013, while 6 students remain at Peace High School. Godparents graduates also include 7 teachers, along with several nurses and nurse-midwives. In most cases, these girls were the first in their communities to earn tertiary degrees, offering examples of what uncircumcised women can do. Although in our first years the girls were ostracized and ridiculed at home, "our girls" are now widely admired and envied. Join us! |
 Our first university graduates |
 Two of our nurse-midwifery graduates |