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A few months ago, one of our local broadcasters; NTV Kenya aired this very moving documentary highlighting the plight of intersex persons in Kenya. Some of the families interviewed were full of fear and confusion. Others had undergone counseling to handle their child’s condition. One couple took their son to the hospital for tests to ascertain his gender were baffled to learn that their son was indeed a girl when the lab results came out. Following this revelation,the parents of the intersex child were unsure how they would present their child to the world as they were sure he was male. They shared that their close friends and relatives had asked them to kill the child as many had done it before. As it is believed to be taboo in many communities to have a child with ambiguous genitalia. The Mail and Guardian reports that most if not all intersex children are killed soon after birth in smaller remote villages in South Africa. They are snuffled out with a graphic twist of the neck to rid the community of this ‘omen’.
Intersex persons suffer from discrimination and many are isolated from society because of their condition. In some of the communities where these children are born, they are subjected to such cruel invasions of privacy where they are poked at and examined as if they’re specimens. This backlash can weigh heavily on the individual causing high level of stress, identity crisis and in some cases the individual takes their own life.
All is not gloom and doom, as there have been instances where intersex persons have been integrated into daily life and their existence has been acknowledged. One such example is in Zambia where the church has accepted intersex community. If you or anyone you know maybe in need of any security services, report all incidents by
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