Sintei's Story

In Sintei’s home, circumcision was said to protect girls and keep families in order. Sintei was not circumcised. By the time she was twelve, that difference had turned into punishment. Food became something she could be denied. Clothes stopped coming and affection disappeared. Eventually, her father sent her away.

She moved between relatives, carrying the same hope each time that this place would be different. It never was. The houses changed, but the rejection didn’t. By the time she finished primary school, she had already learned how quickly belonging can be withdrawn.

Then she joined high school, and there was no family home left to return to. She stayed where she was allowed, not where she was wanted. Her mother could not bring her back. She was still married to the man who had chased Sintei out.

At sixteen, Sintei became pregnant.

What followed was not anger. It was shame. Her family said they could not associate with a child born to an uncircumcised woman. In that belief system, Sintei’s son was not just inconvenient but unwanted.

Her mother was the only one who stayed when no one else did.

She raised the baby while Sintei returned to school and finished. She then moved to town and started life alone until she completed her computer classes. When no job came, she did what many women quietly do when survival leaves no clean options: Prostitution, to feed herself and her son.

Dating married men became another way to keep going. But this came with conditions and dignity was negotiated daily. When she became pregnant again, the married man quickly disappeared.

Today, Sintei is raising her children alone. Her son joined university and later deferred so his sister could complete high school.