Safe Engage Foundation today marked a powerful milestone as it celebrated five transformative years of reshaping the lives of vulnerable children in the Kuria community.
During its fifth annual “Lifeline” event held in Kehancha, the organisation announced a significant expansion of its work—from primarily protecting girls from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) to now rescuing boys trapped in Kuria’s increasingly dangerous artisanal gold mines.
The move signals a bold new chapter in the Foundation’s mission to safeguard childhood in one of Kenya’s most socially complex regions.
Addressing hundreds of community members, government officials, religious leaders, and civil society partners, Executive Director Ms. Christine Alfons said the organisation’s journey has been fuelled by a resolute belief that every child in Kuria deserves the chance to grow, learn, and thrive.
“We began by shielding our daughters from the blade; today, we are equally determined to pull our sons out of the mines,” she said. “Every Kuria child deserves a childhood free from harm—and we will not rest until that promise is kept.”
Her remarks resonated deeply in a region long scarred by intertwined crises. Kuria remains one of Kenya’s most persistent FGM hotspots, with some clans recording prevalence rates of more than 80 percent.
December has long been feared as “the cutting season,” when clandestine ceremonies spike, underground initiation rites re-emerge, and many girls vanish into forced early marriages immediately after undergoing the cut.
Cross-border networks often ferry girls into Tanzania to evade Kenyan law officers, making enforcement even more challenging.
At the same time, the region’s gold-mining belt—stretching through Nyamongo, Komomange, and surrounding villages—has quietly pulled thousands of boys out of classrooms and into perilous mine shafts contaminated with mercury and plagued by frequent collapses.
Many boys work overnight shifts for minimal pay, exposed to toxins, exploitation, and life-threatening injuries. For families suffering under poverty, the mines have become both a lifeline and a trap, costing school-age boys their childhood and education.
Safe Engage Foundation has spent the past five years confronting these dual threats head-on.
Since 2018, the organisation has rescued more than 1,200 girls from FGM, supported over 800 girls through alternative rites of passage, trained 300 community child-protection volunteers, and established safe houses that serve as refuge during peak risk periods.
With the crisis in the mines worsening, the Foundation is now scaling up mine-site monitoring, emergency rescue efforts, psychosocial support, and family economic assistance to keep boys out of hazardous labour.
Speaking at the event, Kuria West Children’s Officer Ms. Joyce Keno warned that the upcoming festive season could become “a hunting season for our children” if proactive measures are not intensified. She stressed the urgent need for more safe spaces, community vigilance, and stronger law enforcement to counter both FGM and child exploitation in the mines.
Faith leaders echoed the call. Bishop Solomon Rioba of Streams of Water Fellowship Church urged the religious community to lead moral renewal and defend the dignity of Kuria’s children. “We cannot be silent when children are being cut or buried alive in collapsing mine shafts,” he said. “Every child is created in the image of God and must be protected.”
The event also drew support from advocacy groups. Ms. Sha Givens, founder of I Can Fly Foundation, encouraged the use of sports, arts, and creative mentorship to steer children away from harmful practices.
“Give a child a football, a paintbrush, or a stage, and you give them a reason to stay away from the mines and the knife,” she said, announcing plans to collaborate with Safe Engage Foundation on holiday sports and arts camps across Kuria.
Migori County Deputy Governor Dr. Joseph Mahiri, who formally closed the celebration, reaffirmed the county’s commitment to strengthening child-protection systems.
He expressed concern over rising school dropouts linked to mining and child marriage and vowed to expand rescue centres, reinforce law enforcement, and support the reintegration of rescued children back into school.
“We will explore sustainable livelihoods so that poverty no longer pushes our children into harm’s way,” he said.
As the festive season nears—historically the peak period for both FGM and mining exploitation—Safe Engage Foundation has issued a call for greater collaboration among national and county governments, faith institutions, corporate partners, and the wider public.
“Protecting a child is a community responsibility,” Ms. Alfons said in her closing remarks. “Today we celebrate five years of changing destinies—but the work is far from over. Together, we can ensure that no Kuria child is ever left behind again.”
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