Samburu Girls Foundation // Josephine

Josephine is a firecracker. She has a young energy and an infectious, full smile. You'll notice that one of her bottom front teeth is missing, which is a traditional custom for Samburu women. When a girl is very, very young (I think around 12 years old?) she has her bottom (adult) tooth pulled out and she is not aloud to cry or even make a noise despite the terrible pain. Needless to say, she is a strong and resilient woman.

It's hard to define the line between what traditional practices should stay, and which ones should be deemed inhumane. Josephine has dedicated her life to illegalizing and saving young women from three practices in particular:

1) Beading // "(aishontoyie saen) is a major cultural practice found in the Samburu community. Samburu morans, young worriers aged 15-35 years, are not allowed to marry. Hence girls as young as 9 years old are assigned to male relatives by use of red traditional beads. The young girl is adorned with beads, signifying ‘engagement’ for sexual purposes only. The mother of the beaded girl builds a hut outside their manyattas where the male relative visits the beaded girl to engage in sexual activity at any given moment he wishes. The ‘couple’ is allowed to have sexual intercourse but pregnancy and the use of contraceptives are forbidden. In case pregnancy occurs, it has to be terminated by use of herbs or by crude abortion. If the baby is born, it is given huge amounts of tobacco and abandoned in the forest as it is an outcast"

2) Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) // the practice of using razors or other blades to remove "external genital organs of a female for customary or any other non-therapeutic reason." It's internationally recognized as a violation of female human rights, but more than 125 million females alive today have been cut around various countries.

3) Child Marriage // "after girls have undergone FGM, they are expected to get married immediately the following day. The fact that they are still children does not exempt them from such a heavy responsibility. Marriage for girls can lead to complications in pregnancy and childbirth, one of the main causes of death of young girls aged 15-19 in Kenya."

As a co-founder of the Samburu Girls Foundation, Josephine has helped rescue over 280 young girls and helped them find sponsors for a formal education, as well as find mentors to motivate and support them. During one of the workshops at the camp, a speaker asked the girls who they see as a role model in their lives, and so many of them echoed Josephine's name that the speaker had to say, "does anyone have an example aside from Josephine?" She is a mother figure and an inspiration to these girls, namely because their lives would have been dramatically different it wasn't for her courage to speak up. I've featured some of the girls' stories in the "Kenya" tab if you want to take a peek!

I remember when I first heard about Josephine, I was in awe of her NGO and how internationally admired she was -- from the United Nations to President Obama. Then as I got to know her personally, I stopped and thought through just how hard it would be to walk in her shoes. As someone who stood up and spoke out, she is now outcasted by the community that she grew up in. As a leader in this movement, she is constantly on the job running from meeting to meeting to meeting. As a political figure, she is constantly being criticized and targeted, sometimes in very threatening ways. And as I continued to see Josephine day after day, her smile and energy somehow wouldn't fade. In her, I see someone who has a true, deep passion to make positive change in very, very personal ways.

Seeing her impact made me think a lot about what cause or issue I would fight that hard for. What problem or injustice would I be willing to risk my own safety and comfort for? What is worth standing up and speaking out about? Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what that one thing or cause is, but I hope to narrow in on it and make an impact in the way that Josephine has. What. A. Power. Woman.