At the age of 15, Elizabeth Chepoghon lived peacefully with her family at Nakorete, a remote village in Kiwawa ward, West Pokot County, on the Kenya-Uganda border. However, due to the drought, Elizabeth has had to face the prospect of undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM) and then getting married at her tender age.
In her village, December is usually a month of celebrations, circumcision and marriage ceremonies. But the year (2021) was different as there were no celebrations with families dying of starvation due to drought caused by lack of rain. North Pokot (West Pokot) in Kenya is semi-arid, and crops do not do so well. Pokot community are pastoralists – their livelihood depends on rearing livestock. Many families who depend on livestock farming for their livelihood have lost their herds (cows, goats and sheep) to the drought. This resulted in most families migrating to neighboring Uganda where they have close relatives.
So, on December 21, 2021, Elizabeth woke up to a mundane day of household chores like fetching water (from a well far away) and helping her mother – Chemoyo Rodah – cook for her family. When she came home with water, her mother helped her dump it off her head. As she entered their hut, she saw her father – Loparatum Pkiror in their main hut, in a deep conversation with a man she knew. The man had recently frequented their home. He came from Uganda (not far from their village). “I knew him very well (Lokira Lotukei). He’s from Chepkararat, Eastern Uganda – just across the border”, said Elizabeth . “I thought”, she paused and with a deep breath, “I thought that he was a relative. I called him uncle”, said Elizabeth with regret. Upon her arrival, the man greeted her and briefly disappeared.
The next day she was sent to fetch firewood from a nearby bush. As she proceeded to her task, she was suddenly approached by 3 young men. They looked drunk. They held her and told her not to scream as they took her to her new home. “I didn’t know what they meant by ‘new home’ and what they wanted from me,” she said, tears welling in her eyes. I feared they wanted to rape me, or worse, kidnap and kill me. I cried out for help from my mom and dad. Her mother heard her daughters crying and called her husband for rescue as she also ran in the direction she was crying. Her husband was unusually quiet! As she ran, he chased after her and caught up with her. He said her action was embarrassing and useless since he had decided to marry off their daughter. This shocked her. So the man who visited their home was the man to marry her daughter and without her knowledge? Her husband said they had finalized dowry negotiations: “I took those people’s cows and nothing or nobody will stop me from getting what I want! Elizabeth has to go to settle this debt! I will sell some of the cows so we can get something for you and your kids”.
Her mother was unaware of her husband’s plan to marry off their daughter. She was shocked and deeply hurt by the betrayal. Why wasn’t she consulted? Is Elizabeth not her daughter too? Elizabeth was her only hope of escaping poverty – if she finished school. She remembered when this happened to her years ago and knew her daughter’s life and hope for education would be cut short. She screamed some more, but he beat her up and even threatened to kill her. She was powerless and helpless – no one came to her rescue.
The abductors took Elizabeth to a village in eastern Uganda, where she met the man who had visited her home the previous day. She later learned that she was to be circumcised and then married to the man, who was around 60 years old. She stayed calm and accepted what was about to happen to her fate. In her mind, however, she planned her escape. After two days, the kidnappers felt that she had finally adjusted to her new life and released her in the new home..
She fled the village early in the morning. After a day of traveling, she reached home to find her mother heartbroken. She was delighted to be reunited with her daughter, but feared the consequences of her husband when he returned home to find their daughter. She feared that her husband would take her back to where she was married. To protect her, she told her to take refuge in a shelter run by a women’s organization called KOMESI Women in Riwo ward.
Elizabeth had no choice but to go to the KOMESI shelter. Her mother did not offer her the protection she had hoped for. After learning about her daughter’s escape and her return home and later to the shelter, her father was angry with his wife and divorced her. He married another woman.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth was welcomed to the shelter and returned to school at Karon Primary School. She is happy and safe and is currently in Class 8. She has since promised to work hard to realize her dream and assist her mother. She has been receiving counseling support from the Umoja Development Organization (UDO), a community-based organization working in West Pokot in collaboration with Men End FGM Foundation, supported by UNICEF. The programme supports girls at risk of child marriage and FGM.