Some Kenyans have fled the country and are seeking asylum in Ireland.
They have also expressed interest for a permanent relocation to the Western Europe nation citing persecution at home.
They cite loss of family members, property, alleged assault and forced displacements from their homes as reasons for their appeal to the Irish government to intervene and provide them stay recognition documents.
Most of them hail from the Western Kenya region.
However, as they seek protection out there, the couple says in a letter that they were only being persecuted for being against female circumcision.
In 2017, Rodgers Kahi and his wife Faye were working with one Ronald, one of the directors of the Community Based Organisation (CBO), Gifted Hands Organisation.
The organisation was promoting the welfare and development of rural women, their rights and fighting poverty, according to their letter.
“In Maragoli Sub-tribe, female genital mutilation or female circumcision is a practiced tradition and as champions of women rights through the CBO, we used to educate women and young girls against this harmful traditional practice and its health implications,” they said, noting that however, a section of the population were against their campaign and started receiving threats of eviction.
In June 2017, they claim Ronald was shot dead at his home in Lukisi village and this elicited fear he could have been shot because of that campaign against FGM.
Two months later, in August 2017 Rodgers Kahi was shot with an arrow at his leg and, admitted to hospital for a period of one week.
“The community was hostile to us because of championing our course and we were evicted and our house was burned,” the couple narrated.
In the letter, they explain that this made them realise their lives were in danger and had to relocate to Nairobi for safety.
“We are hereby requesting for protection to save our lives by granting us stay in Ireland,” the couple stated.
In 2016, the number of asylum seekers applying to stay in Ireland fell by 32 per cent from 3,270 applications in 2015 to 2,235 in 2016.
It is believed asylum seekers have been put off coming to Ireland since immigration laws were tightened several years ago.
There were more applications for asylum in Ireland from Syrians than any other nationality.
About 245 Syrians applied translating to 11 per cent of the total.
This was followed by applications from Pakistan which had 235 applicants followed by Albania with 220.
