V-Report from Kenya: 10 Year Old Girl Dies from FGM

This info was sent to me by Vday Vmail, so of course I had to share!!!!

V-Day supporter Kim Rosen was recently working at the V-Day Safe House in Narok Kenya, and sent us this first hand report of tragic death that we wanted to share with you. V-Day is committed to continuing to work to end Female Genital Mutilation. This story reminds us all that there is more work to be done.

On August 18, in the tiny village of Narosura in the Rift Valley, a 10 year-old girl died from Female Genital Mutilation. At 5 that morning she was cut. By 10, she had bled to death.

Her family wrapped the body in a sheet and secretly buried it a few yards from their huts. By that afternoon, there was no evidence of the crime.

If it were not for the network of conscience that Agnes Pareyio has woven into the Maasai community, this child's death would have gone unnoticed. But an anonymous "informer" called her on the morning of the ceremony, in time for her to send one of her collaborators and an officer of the law to the hasty funeral.

As a result, for the first time in Maasai history, a circumciser has been arrested.

This child's death is reminder that the work is far from done. Girls are still being cut in the Rift Valley and many other places in the world. Some are dying. All are scarred for life. Agnes Pareyio is one of the leading activists of the V-Day movement. Please join us in continuing to support her work to change the fate of Maasai girls and stop FGM worldwide.

Click here for a full report >

Click here to support the V-Day Safe House in Narok, Kenya >

The Vagina Monologues Reaches Its 5000th Performance in Mexico City, Raising Awareness of Violence Against Women in Juarez at Every Show

In the last 14 years, over 400 women and girls have been killed or disappeared in Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas. Many of the victims were raped, mutilated and tortured. One of the victims was a six-year-old girl. Despite the fact that these murders have persisted, there has not been significant progress in providing protection to the women of Juarez or in bringing the perpetrators to justice. In 2004 V-Day's annual Spotlight Campaign focused on the Missing and Murdered Women of Juarez bringing the issue to thousands of women and men all over the world.