Advocating for the African Girl Child
By Maurice Anyango
This is Maurice. As you all probably know, God called
me to serve him by showing the world the way to eternal life. I
have been so much dedicated and always worked hard to see
that at least my words and deeds become a testimony to peo-
ple who meet me. In my life, I have always wanted to be a
friend to all, a thing which I really like. I don’t want to have
any enemy in the world. I have always learned that in order to
be happy, I should always love people despite their weak-
nesses. I know very well that I also have my own weaknesses.
We should not always dwell on the negative side of someone
but we should learn to see the positive side of people.
The experience of one of our girls
Today, I want to speak about something that has made me
get enemies unexpectedly. Some few people hate me these
days for the stand I take and for what I feel is the right thing to
do. Some of them have even threatened me with death.
On the 17th November 2005,
a woman came to our orphanage.
She came to request for a place for
a girl who had been sexually
abused and was desperate. This
girl never wanted to go back to
her grandparents. Of course she
was an orphan, and that is why
this woman thought it wise to re-
quest for a place for her at our or-
phanage. She was a seventeen-
year old girl who truly needed im-
mediate assistance. She had been
forced to marry a man whom she never wanted, because the
man had promised her grandfather several heads of cattle as
dowry. The girl refused and even ran away to avoid this evil
marriage. Then the grandfather sent some strong teenage boys
to go look for her. Of course the husband-to-be had to pay the
boys for the task. The boys searched for two days and finally
found her and took her directly to that man’s house.
That very day, in the presence of the boys, that man sexu-
ally abused her and declared her married. This girl cried in
pain and had totally no one to help her. She then managed to
escape after she cheated the man that she had accepted to stay.
The girl told him that, “Because you are the first man to see
my nakedness, I have willingly accepted to marry you and
will not leave you for the rest of my life.” When the man heard
that, he felt so happy and knew he had succeeded. He told the
girl just to stay at home while he went to buy some chicken for
their dinner. I think this was in celebration of his success. He
went back home with the chicken only to find that the girl had
escaped. Then the girl went and reported to the chief who
never even wanted to take any action.
Fortunately, someone who was at the chief’s camp heard
her telling her story and directed her to this woman who came
to look for a place for her. I am glad the woman took the issue to
the police and the man was arrested. He is still serving part of
his eleven-years jail term for sexually abusing the girl.
I learn to be an advocate for the African girl child
As we were discussing with this woman, I came to find
out that she is one of the few brave women in Africa who are
advocating for the rights of the African girl child. I found out
that the girl she helped was not even her relative. They had no
blood relation at all. This made me get interested and I wanted
to know more from her. We had a long discussion, which I
cannot explain all for lack of space in the newsletter. But in
short, our discussion lit some fire in me. Even though I used to
advocate for the rights of the children, but not to the depth that
she was doing it.
The woman met her death in February this year just when
she was on her way from a shop at 8:00 p.m. She had bought
sugar and some loaves of bread
and was walking home as she al-
ways did, when some five men
approached her and demanded to
know why she is always against
men. Before she could answer
them, one of them hit her on the
head with a blunt object and she
fell down. She died five days after
the incident. Even though it was
dark, she could identify two of her
killers. They were arrested and
they mentioned the other three.
Their case is yet to be decided and they are still in the police
cells.
African traditions do not value girls
In some communities in Africa, advocating for the rights
of the girl child is very risky. This is because some traditions
in Africa do not value girls. This is so even in my commu-
nity. Girls, or even women, were not allowed to talk in the
presence of men. They were not allowed to even contribute
in a topic of discussion. They were taken to be so inferior,
and just a tool meant forbearing children. Most communities
considered it an abomination for a woman to give advice in a
home. Wife beating was the order of the day. The worst part
of it is that even women themselves enjoyed this kind of
beastly lives.
Girls were not allowed to choose men for themselves. Of-
ten, their parents did the choosing for them. They had to marry
the choice of their parents whether they liked it or not. They
were not allowed to question even the character of the hus-
band-to-be. Men overpowered their wives to an extent that if
one felt like marrying a second wife, he would tell his wife to
look for a nice lady for him. The woman would go around
looking for a co-wife for her husband.
-6-
Girls, or even women, were not
allowed to talk in the presence of men.
They were not allowed to even
contribute in a topic of discussion.
They were taken to be so inferior, and
just a tool meant for bearing children.
Most communities considered it an
abomination for a woman to give
advice in a home. Wife beating was
the order of the day.
