Maasai women erupted with mocking heckles as a community elder, wrapped in a traditional red blanket, claimed that female genital mutilation had all but stopped in their community in southern Kenya.
The women know that mutilating young girls by removing their clitoris and inner labia — framed as a rite of passage — is still an entrenched practice in some remote villages of Narok county, around three hours from the nearest tarmac road.
One local nurse told AFP some 80 percent of girls in the area are still affected, despite the practice being made illegal in 2011.
“Why are you telling people that you have stopped, when we have teenage girls coming to the hospital who have been cut?” asked a woman in the crowd, gathered in Entasekera village to discuss the issue.
The women nodded
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