Who is Rhobi Samwelly, the face behind Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania?
Rhobi Samwelly is the Founder and Director of Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania, a respected Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Gender Based Violence (GBV) activist.
Rhobi grew up in a small village in rural Tanzania. She is passionate about the elimination of FGM because of her own experiences. She was 11 years old when her best friend Sabina underwent FGM and died because of significant blood loss, and 13 when her mother informed her that she will be cut. Rhobi questioned her mother, asking the pertinent question, “Do you want me to die like Sabina?” Rhobi’s mother replied that they would choose a “good cutter” and that she would not die. Rhobi pleaded not to be cut, but her mother was adamant that it was to be done. Her mother told her that it was the Maasai tradition and that there was no other option. Rhobi contemplated running away, but realized that she didn’t know anybody in the local town, and that her dream to continue schooling would not be possible. She eventually was cut, but lost a lot of blood during the process, and her parents feared that she would die. When she eventually regained consciousness, she asked her mother if she was going to allow her younger sisters to be cut as well, to which her mother replied no. From that day on, Rhobi’s family and surrounding neighbors decided not to cut their daughters.
“Do you want me to die like Sabina?”
Rhobi finished school and went on to train as a teacher. In 2011, she went back to her community to start working on the elimination of FGM. In 2012 she was asked by 16 girls to protect them against FGM which she did. Hope for Girls and Women Tanzania was established in 2017. In Rhobi’s words, “the vision is to free societies of gender-based violence, including FGM and child marriage”.
FGM, although outlawed and defined as an illegal act in Tanzania, is still practiced in the Mara in girls as young as 6 years old in preparation for them to be married. It is considered honorable and is traditionally believed to increase a girl’s value for marriage. The thinking is that if a girl is cut, she is ready to be married. FGM therefore affects girls not just from a health perspective, but also limits their dreams, making them unable to continue with their education.
Rhobi established Hope for Girls and Women as an independent non-profit in 2017, with the aim of providing services including the development and maintenance of two safe houses, counselling and education to women and girls, as well as engaging government officials, leaders at various levels, teachers, parents and families to implement a multi-prong strategy to end the practice of FGM in the Mara.
To date, more than 3,000 girls have been rescued and supported through the safe houses, with more than 90% of girls reconciled with their families. This unfortunately is not always possible for various reasons. Girls are supported in completing their education, and are offered the opportunity to go through vocational skills training, allowing them to become self-sufficient.
Rhobi speaking to hundreds of girls at the Hope safe house
In 2018, Canadian filmmaker Giselle Portenier released an award-winning documentary about Rhobi’s work, the girls risking their lives to stand up for their human rights, and Rhobi's amazing efforts to encourage communities to stop cutting their girls.
“In a career of international human rights filmmaking that spans close to three decades, Rhobi Samwelly’s passion and resolve to save girls from female genital mutilation stands out like a beacon in the night. She is a true force of nature, a human rights champion with the determination to fight through whatever obstacles are put in her way until FGM is history in her community.”
Since then, Rhobi Samwelly’s work has caught the imagination of organizations world-wide; she has spoken at the United Nations in New York, to 200 International parliamentarians in Canada, and received numerous awards, including one of Tanzania’s highest honors, the Honour Award. Other awards include Recognition for Excellence in working towards ending Female Genital Mutilation given by Embassy of Canada, the EU and UNFPA and the Respected Queens All Fame (Malkia wa Nguvu-Tuzo ya Heshima) award given by Clouds Media Group. Rhobi also received the Mariane Initiatives award for Human Rights Defenders given by President Emanuel Macron and is currently in France as part of this award.
Rhobi at her desk