In Ethiopian rural areas there are far fewer schools than in cities. Ethiopian education policy attempts to treat boys and girls equally, however water carrying, fuel wood collection, taking care of family, and other duties falling to girls leave little time for school. Today girls enter grade one in equal numbers with boys, yet more than half of girls who enter grade one fail to complete even grade four. For the few who complete 8 to 12 years of schooling, there are scarce opportunities for further study.

Lack of opportunity for girls' further education has far reaching consequences. Rural girls, some of the brightest students from their villages, must leave their home regions in often in futile search for further education or employment. Many are forced into prostitution and become victims and agents of the increasingly rapid spread of AIDS. The HIV infection rate among girls in Ethiopia, ages 15-19, is seven to ten times that of boys of the same age.

In most of Ethiopia female circumsion is seen as necessary for marriage mandated by scripture though neither Bible nor Quran mentions it. Virtually every Kembatta girl endures this life threatening ordeal at puberty, and lives with the consequences. FGM is profoundly damaging. Scarred genitals reopen and are easily infected. In the age of AIDS, FGM is emerging as a major contributor to the virulent spread of HIV, therefore must be understood as dangerous to the entire society. Without such understanding, even if FGM is legally prohibited it will only be driven underground. KMG is dedicated to fostering, among those who practice it, the understanding necessary to abolish FGM from within.

 

The ultimate goal of KMG is to empower women to redress the cruelties of inequity and discrimination that girls and women have suffered for time beyond memory.

To achieve this goal, KMG has established programs in three interrelated areas:

1) Health:

There is currently no reproductive health education in the region. KMG will offer reproductive health education and extensive community outreach programs emphasizing the need to eliminate FGM. KMG's Mobile Health Clinic with its Community Based Health Workers, will include FGM education as part of its effort to improve reproductive health, reduce maternal and infant mortality, and slow the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases in the region.

2) Livelihood:

In rural Ethiopia girls and women do tedious, back-breaking, spirit crushing work, in their attempts to meet the needs of their families. KMG’s vocational and entrepreneurial programs will expand women's economic alternatives, and introduce new income generating skills and environmentally sound technologies.

3) Environmental Restoration:

Much of the region is deforested, with water sources diminishing. This increases the burdens of water carrying and fuel collection. The KMG Center will be designed as a working model of a self-supporting, permaculture community, using solar and wind power, to educate and give technical assistance to surrounding communities. Introducing the use of non-polluting technologies will reduce dependence on fuel wood, and aid in watershed reforestation.
 

KMG has received a land grant of 30,000 square meters in Durame town. Land clearance and construction will begin in September. KMG Center buildings ultimately will include administrative offices, workshops, classrooms, dormitories, a library and community resource center, and home base for the Mobile health Clinic.

The first structure will be Mentti Hasawi Mini (Women's Dialogue House), where women can meet, come to know about themselves, understand the struggles they share with other women, and experience their collective power to make positive change.

In a all its programs KMG will attempt to merge the best of traditional wisdom and expertise with the best of modern science and technology, in preparing women, young people and whole communities for the future.

 
     If you would like to support KMG and its activities, please send me email by clicking here or contact Boge Gebre, The
     founder of KMG-Tope:

     Boge Gebre, Executive Secretary
     Kembatti Mentti Gezzima- Tope
     Post Office Box 13438
     Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA
     TEL : (251-1) 51-17-40
     FAX : (251- 1) 51-15-49
     Email: kmg_tope@yahoo.com

     Contact Person in the US:
     Bridget McBride
     TEL: (323)651-1336
     FAX: (323)651-0921

---