Exodus film highlights success of Maasai Warrioress project

Ahead of International Women's Day (March 8), Exodus Travels has released a film that supports its campaign with a Kenya-based charity tackling female genital mutilation (FGM).

It highlights the work of SAFE Maa, a Kenyan-based organisation and UK-registered charity.

The release of the film also marks the one-year anniversary of the end of FGM practice in the Loita Maasai community, a remote Maasai community in the Loita hills of southwest Kenya.

The original film from 2017 has been edited to showcase the historic gathering of Maasai elders last year to ban the FGM practice altogether, following a 10-year campaign.

In 2017 the film said that 30% of girls were not receiving ‘the cut'. Two years later the elders called for an end to their tradition with the signing of the ‘declaration of abandonment' in February 2019.

Exodus Travels worked with and helped to fund SAFE Maa in the 10 years leading up to the signing of the ‘declaration of abandonment' last year.

When the FGM abandonment programme began in 2010, all girls in the Loita Hills were receiving the cut as part of their graduation into womanhood.

The campaign to stop the tradition featured youth forums, one-to-one conversations, leaders' meetings and workshops about circumcision.

The Loita Maasai community now has an alternative rite of passage for girls without the process of cutting.

Sarah Tenoi, general manager of SAFE Maa, said: "The declaration has changed the way women feel about themselves. They are happy, and they are proud.

"The declaration made by our leaders has made the cut much harder for anyone to justify.

"They now have to not only go against the laws of Kenya, but also against the new law of our culture. I see a new confidence in the women of Loita – they know their voices are being heard.”

Exodus says there is still progress to be made in Kenya as people in more remote areas still cling on to the practice – so the charity's work is on-going and the operator is continuing to support SAFE Maa.

To find out more, read the story of SAFE Maa and Sarah Tenoi on the Exodus website.