Zazu finishes her dressing by wearing a white dust coat bearing her name on it with a plastic tag. This is all she had dreamed of since her childhood , to be a social worker who would sensitize her community on the evils of female genital mutilation. Turning on the door she looked at her graduation portrait and smiled. She had done it! But now she’s working not smoothly as the young Zazu aspired. She’s faced with constant rebellion, name mentioning and all other evil words that would come from the villagers mouths .
She rushes to her living room, sips some tea while checking her wall clock it’s almost eight in the morning and she whispers ,’ am almost late!’. She ties her braids into a nice bun and secures them with a piece of leso with the words ,’ ukeketaji sio haki’ ( FGM is not a right). She takes her file and dashes out .
It’s thirty minutes past eight in the morning when Zazu reaches the valley that separates her village from the thick and wild forest . She crosses the valley to reach Mamuk village where the dark secrets and blood pool of innocent girls is shed everyday. Ironically, nobody speaks of it even for the women who loose their daughters everyday. Zazu sees this as being too backward and barbaric . She meets many women who have gone to fetch water carrying large pots on their heads. They stand aside to let the brainwashed, western civilised and educated daughter of the late mzee Katola to pass. Surely evil thrives when silence shouts.
Just a few metres she meets with the chief who orders her to stop the campaign and propaganda that he has heard about her sensitization. Zazu is not shaken and responds to him telling him he knows the evil behind all this but he’s silent. She reaches Mamuk village and joins other advocates who go door to door educating people on the severe consequences of FGM. Evening seem to have arrived earlier today, Zazu is heard telling one of her co worker as they head back to their homes. Indeed it’s a challenging task but Zazu is proud of the numbers of girls she has saved and visits them at their shelter every month . They have many dreams and just like her, she knows they are indeed valid!.