We have organized two annual cycles of “Alternative Rites of Passage” programs. In December 2005, following requests by members from several of our groups, the Daughters of Mumbi Resource Center offered an alternative rites of passage program. Building on local traditions that have remained one of the cornerstones of social identity in most Kenyan cultures, this program brings together groups of youths ages 13–18 to spend several days together with a series of counselors. They discuss subjects such as physical development, ethics, sexuality, family roles, rape and other forms of gender-based violence, drug abuse, inter-generational links/exchanges, kinship, positive cultural traditions, and more. Girls spend five days together while boys spend eight days together, as their program includes circumcision performed at a local clinic.
The program acts as a revitalization of a tradition that has in too many instances, for boys, turned into a rote medical procedure largely devoid of the cultural and ethical instruction it traditionally offered. In most communities, including where Daughters of Mumbi groups are based, female circumcision – female genital mutilation (FGM) – has gone “underground,” but is still seen as an option by many girls who crave a moment or process to mark their transition into adulthood. The Daughters of Mumbi alternative rites of passage program serves as an alternative and provides such a moment, a recognition of transition. By offering parallel programs for boys and girls followed by a joint graduation ceremony, the program aims to offer equivalent recognition of the different rites of passage.
For the 2006 program, in response to concerns that we were only reaching a small number of people, we added outreach seminars – multi-day events with about 250 young people, discussing most of the above topics. We also included inter-generational dialogues, which are very popular, as young people interact and discuss various issues with people from their grandparents’ generation, in a way not likely to happen in most home environments. The outreach seminars function both as stand-alone educational experiences and recruiting tools for the more intense residential programs.