{"id":181274,"date":"2025-09-02T16:42:59","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T14:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=181274"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:54","slug":"coschappers-pranet-en-juulia-in-kenia-in-west-pokot-ben-je-meer-dan-dertig-koeien-waard-als-je-genitale-verminking-ondergaat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2025\/09\/02\/coschappers-pranet-en-juulia-in-kenia-in-west-pokot-ben-je-meer-dan-dertig-koeien-waard-als-je-genitale-verminking-ondergaat\/","title":{"rendered":"Medical interns Pranet and Juulia in Kenya: \u2018In West Pokot you are worth more than thirty cows if you undergo genital mutilation\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summer, medical students Pranet and Juulia are giving information sessions in Kenya on genital mutilation, menstruation and contraception. They are also working at the local hospital. For EM, they are keeping a diary. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Pranet (left) and Juulia (center) provide information on anatomy, female genital mutilation, menstruation and contraception in West Pokot.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPranet Chaudhary and Juulia Ferdinandusse<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Day 1 \u2013 From Rotterdam to Kapenguria<\/h2>

Our journey begins on an overcrowded tram to Rotterdam Central Station. Full of expectation \u2013 and nerves \u2013 we\u2019ve stuffed our suitcases with menstrual products, four hundred paracetamol tablets, notebooks and plenty of stroopwafels.<\/p>\n

After a night at Juulia\u2019s parents\u2019 in Brussels, we board the plane. With quite a bit of turbulence, we land in Nairobi. The next day we travel on to Kapenguria, a village in West Pokot, in western Kenya near the border with Uganda. Along the road we see people, donkeys, pigs, goats and cows. Pranet feels transported back to the Indian countryside, while Juulia mainly takes lots of photos. What surprised us most was the lack of litter on the streets \u2013 something we\u2019re not used to in Rotterdam. Apart from the brown tap water at Juulia\u2019s and the broken bathroom lights at Pranet\u2019s, we have a fine and above all safe place to stay in Kapenguria for the coming days.<\/p>\n\n\t

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Een lijst van afbeeldingen<\/h2>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t
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