The Girls of Meru

Eleven-year-old Alice was on her way to school when she was dragged into the Kenyan bush by a stranger. When her stepmother reported the rape, police promised to make an arrest, but only if she paid them. Alice’s stepmother had no money. So the perpetrator went free. In Kenya, one in three girls will experience sexual violence before the age of 18, yet police investigations into the crime are the exception rather than the rule, leading to a culture of impunity around rape. But Alice and a brave group of girls like her help set a legal precedent for child protection worldwide. Like Alice, many young rape survivors in the town of Meru end up at Tumaini Shelter, where they begin to heal. From inside Tumaini’s walls come 160 girls, ages three to 17, who sue the Kenyan government with the help of a legal team led by Canadian human rights lawyer Fiona Sampson and the head of Tumaini Shelter, Mercy Chidi Baidoo. This international team—including lawyers and activists working together across the globe—pursue an unheard of solution to child rape: challenge the Kenyan government to uphold its newly ratified and highly praised constitution, which protects the equal rights of all, including girls. Their unique case makes legal history and sets a standard for protecting girls against sexual violence. Over five years, filmmaker Andrea Dorfman follows the story of the Tumaini children, whose identity is court-protected, through stirring glimpses of faces, hands and feet, arresting animation, and tiny voices growing strong. The girls of Meru—and their fight for justice—resonate across a world where the rights of young women are too often dismissed. In this heartbreaking yet uplifting documentary, Dorfman captures a brilliant pursuit for meaningful equality, one that puts the law in the hands of those who need it most.