The link above is to an article in The Guardian about a Kenyan village developed by a Kenyan woman for Kenyan women and children only. Men are not allowed. In this way the women are allowed a life free from genital mutilation, rape, and domestic violence. Men are simply not allowed to live there. The women live frugally by charging for tours of the village and by selling their jewelry. Is this an extreme measure? Yes, but these women live in a culture where female mutilation is a way of life. Rape is part of life. Domestic violence is part of life. Given the situation in which they live this solution seems reasonable. And Kenya is one of the more developed nations in Africa. Other countries are worse. I have visited Samburu in the northern part of Kenya. I visited a village there and went inside a hut made of mud and dung. I bought jewelry there. I talked to a woman who said her girls were not going to be mutilated. Her girls were not going to be married as children. Her girls were going to get an education. I also met a pair of girls who were around 12 years old. They smiled and acted shy. They wore the cowrie shell headbands that indicated they were recently inducted into womanhood which was a misleading way of saying they recently were mutilated. Meeting those girls and later learning about their headbands was the most moving and upsetting part of my journey to Africa. Will this segregated village work in the long run? I don't know. What happens when the male children grow up? Are they cast out from the village? Is this a sustainable option for a growing community? Are things really better for the people in Kenya than they were in 2007 when I was there?
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