Inspirational Woman: Rhobi Samwelly

Today our inspirational woman is Rhobi Samwelly, a woman who has devoted her life to helping girls to escape the threat of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation). Rhobi herself was a victim of FGM and now fearlessly has risked her life to stand up against cultural traditions that are harming (sometimes killing) so many girls across the world. She speaks up for the voiceless and has spoken worldwide to ministers and ambassadors. Known as Mama Rhobi, she has established Hope for Girls and Women, safe houses that have rescued hundreds of girls running away from the threat of FGM, providing refuge for at-risk girls in cutting season in the Mara Region of Tanzania. (Yes, this does really happen today. We have seen ourselves the girls that have run to Mwanza, and be helped through the work of Christ Daughters) At the safe houses, girls are supported in getting an education or vocational training. Rhobi then works tirelessly to reconcile the girls with their families and works with local village leaders, teachers and parents to develop alternative rites of passage which do not compromise the health and human rights of young girls.  Rhobi has a tragic and painful story, but it is inspirational how she has used her story to go on to change the lives of so many others. 

If you would like to find out more about this, about Rhobi and some of the very bravest girls in the world, you can do this on International Women's Day! Follow the link below to a sign up for a screening on Monday evening of the incredible film by Canadian filmmaker and founder of END FGM Canada, Gisette Portenier. Louisa and I will be there! And Rhobi will be joining afterwards for a Q&A session! 

(Amisadai)

Find out more here! In The Name of Your Daughter Screening

Volunteer as a Mapper (Louisa)

Now if this is something you #choosetochallenge there is a good way to get involved at home! And this is through mapping! I, Louisa, have been doing mapping as my voluntary service for the Duke of Edinburgh award. Some may think that lockdown meant there was not much we could do to volunteer ... but this is something really valuable you can do online from home! Janet Chapman from The Tanzania Development Trust (co-hosting the screening of the film) has set up a very good program in Tanzania called Crowd2Map, which is really helping to protect girls at risk of FGM and helping in all kinds of other ways for community development. 

Navigating to people and places in need, planning and development is very difficult when you can't find the way. We know this from living in Tanzania! It is hard to explain this to people in England when there are tarmac roads going everywhere you need to go and everyone is using GPS. But in Tanzania it is very different. Even to try to explain to people how to find our house in the city, we had to tell people to go past the little shop, turn onto the dirt road after the little banana stall, then go up a hill which feels like its a river bed, past the mango tree and our house is opposite the big rocks. (To find the house where we lived in a rural village was even harder!) I waited a very long time for everyone to arrive at a big birthday party one year! And once we had to try and explain the way to an ambulance trying to find us and Dad was out on the road trying to find it. So imagine that situation for so many people all over the country. So many girls in trouble. But crowd source mapping can make a really amazing difference! Online mapping volunteers everywhere can add roads and buildings to Open Street Map from satellite images and then people in Tanzania (it is done in other countries too) are trained as mappers and they add the names of the villages, hospitals, churches, shops etc. 

I am really enjoying being part of it and right now I am working on mapping an area in Tabora where there will be a project reaching out to keep girls in schools! It is easy to do, simple to learn with good instructions, it can be done anytime on your own. You simply pick the project and area you want to work on and start mapping! It's interesting to be involved, great to know you are helping people. And with lots of people just mapping their small bits, it all makes a big difference. You can find out much more about mapping here! 

Thank you to everyone who is supporting our #HelpTheHive Fundraiser! 

And don't forget to share your own stories of women who have inspired you! Thank you!