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Anticipated for December, we have received word that the FGM season has started already in the Mara region of Tanzania. We are rushing to map two tasks that will help Mugumu Safe House workers to identify & reach villages at risk:

http://tasks.hotosm.org/project/1788

http://tasks.hotosm.org/project/2261

Please help & invite all your friends to do mapping!

All you need is a PC and a mouse. Here’s an excellent instructional video, and detailed PDF instructions on how to get started.

Remember – every bit of land mapped makes a difference. 

Here’s what we know about the affected girls so far:

Received a note from Wambura Kisika, the legal officer at the Mugumu Safe House! Here it is, in his own words, why our mapping is helping their crucial effort to fight FGM:

On our side we are doing fine at the safe house. The map is very important because most of the villages where the girls come from are remote areas, there no passable ways, no bridges for the rivers, settlements are scattered and some areas with some dangerous animals, so as can remember we are working with volunteers who informs us about the incidents in villages, during the cutting season when we are informed of the incident we have to know the road to that particular place which is passable, the volunteers also should know the road where we can meet and the girls also have to know the road to the safe house.
Currently we using the map to reach some place where we never reached before, educating them about the effects of FGM and making  demonstration for those who would like to run to the safe house during the cutting season we are also thinking to use the map distance to plan the fuel budget for collecting some girls who will fail to reach the safe house and during returning them back home…

– Wambura Kisika, Mugumu Safe House

Find yourself bored on a rainy summer night? How about some OSM mapping to end FGM ?

We’ve been mapping the are around Mugumu in Tanzania, where female genital mutilation (FGM) – the tradition that threatens the life and health of women – is still prevalent.

With the help of our online volunteers and an army of recent mapathon mappers, our task on HOT tasking manager, which covers a large proportion of Mara region, is already 65% done!

LET’S GET TO 100% BEFORE THE NEXT CUTTING SEASON STARTS IN DECEMBER.

Rhobi Samwelly, the founder of Mugumu Safe House & Vocational Training Center explains why mapping helps her cause:

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

Before we started mapping, there were 1, 522 km of roads in the region of Mara. 

Now there are 7,005 km.

Before we began, there were 2, 807 buildings in the area of Mara.

Now there are 47,480.

ALL THANKS TO A BUNCH OF VOLUNTEERS WITH A LAPTOP & A MOUSE! 

Yep, that’s all you need – and your efforts may help protect thousands of girls from FGM next winter.

LET’S END FGM THROUGH MAPPING TOGETHER!