A 28 year-old expectant woman is seeking protection after her husband allegedly insisted that she has to undergo Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Ms Susan Nyambura, a mother of three, is currently housed by a Good Samaritan in a semi-permanent single room in Kitengela town, Kajiado County, after being abandoned by her husband of eight years.
When Nation.Africa caught up with Ms Nyambura in Kitengela town on Saturday morning at her single room where she has been staying for the last two weeks, she looked depressed.
She was found lying unconscious by the roadside in Kitengela town by well-wishers. Her twin sons were crying beside her.
Ms Nyambura had travelled from Nakuru to Kitengela town to visit her husband, a bus driver on the Kitengela to Nairobi route.
The tiny room is virtually empty. There is no bed apart from a worn out old mattress and pair of bed sheets on the cold floor where she sleeps with her children. The clothes donated by well-wishers were heaped on one corner of the house with a few utensils near an old stove.
No mosquito net
“I usually sleep here with my sons. The mosquitoes keep me awake the whole night, I cannot afford a mosquito net. Sometimes, we sleep on empty stomachs,” Ms Nyambura told Nation.Africa on Saturday.
There was drama at the Kitengela Bus Park last Wednesday when Ms Nyambura’s husband allegedly abandoned her and her children at the bus terminus. The man allegedly advised his wife to undergo the “cut” before a reunion.
“I had gone to plead with him before he fled, touts donated some money for our upkeep,” she added.
The woman, who is in her third trimester of pregnancy, said that her 48-year-old husband has been pushing her to undergo the “cut” since 2019 saying that living with a woman who has not undergone the rite of passage is a taboo.
She claimed that her husband also wanted their nine-year-old daughter to undergo the cut before she was rescued by a Nakuru-based NGO.
“My husband has been insisting I get circumcised. It is a trend running in their family. His brother forced his wife to undergo FGM two years ago. He often refers to me as a child,” she said.
Had a miscarriage
She claimed her husband had been physically abusing her for refusing to undergo FGM. She claimed that due to the beatings, she had a miscarriage in 2018.
Ms Nyambura currently requires urgent medical care after attending a prenatal clinic on Friday.
“I’m suffering, my tomorrow is bleak but I will not undergo FGM. I loved him, but FGM is a no-go-zone for me,” she concluded.
She is now seeking assistance from well-wishers and government agencies. She claimed that she had been receiving threats.
Speaking to Nation.Africa on phone, the alleged husband denied forcing his wife to undergo FGM. He said that he was ready to take care of his children.
“The accusations levelled against me are malicious and meant to malign my name. It is the parent’s responsibility to take care of their children but I am not ready to live with her as husband and wife,” said the man.
Kitengela village elder Fatuma Muhammed, who helped to secure a room for the woman and her children blamed the man for abandoning his family and allegedly forcing his wife to undergo FGM. BY DAILY NATION