By David Mafabi
December 9, 2010
Monitor
On December 3, 128 girls were circumcised in Bukwo. David Mafabi followed two girls through the ceremony and tells us their story.
Although the old tradition ‘Wonsetap Koruk’ (Female Genital Mutilation) has come a long way, it is still mysterious and disturbing how a Sabiny girl takes a brave decision to face this crude knife.
On December 2, 128 girls were preparing themselves to face the knife. Ms Annet Chemos and her counterpart were some of them and these were the two that I followed. Smeared with yeast and local brew, Chemos danced as did her counterpart. They sang songs of courage, stating that they had agreed to have the circumcision done.
I stood still as I watched them dance, then decided to dance a bit just to escape suspicion of a stranger i was there incognito. I listened to the song, looked at the young girls and I felt a burden weigh so heavily upon me to speak back but an inner voice restrained me.
Ms Chemos, 16, said when the annual ritual of FGM was announced, she felt one inner force telling her to run away but another asking her to stand it because her parents were more than determined to have her circumcised. “I thought to myself, ‘Run away and go where? But will I stand it?’ Even when I tried to remember that my mother withstood FGM and it was not painful, some element of fear lingered within me,” said Chemos.
“Then it all started with my friends and age mates announcing their intentions to go through it in order to be allowed to marry off, to be allowed to get food from the granary and in order to be allowed to collect dung to smear houses. I pondered once but later accepted and called my parents in secret and told them my decision like it is required in our culture,” Chemos added. The looks on the faces of the girls left no doubt in my mind that they were determined to undergo FGM the following day.
The group danced throughout the night from 5p.m to 5a.m. I did not dose off as this was the only way to keep watch and not lose them, as well as know where they are going to be circumcised from so I kept awake and followed every movement.
At about 5a.m. they took them for cleansing in a river, some rituals were performed and they were blessed and encouraged by old women. When we arrived at the place where the tradition was to take place, there was a scramble. The girls fell on an old torn papyrus mat and the surgeon assisted by another one holding a tray of ground yeast descended on each of them. The two pairs of the girls’ legs were spread wide open.
Dancing sideways in the direction of girls, the surgeon got her knife and took the cover off it. Holding the knife in her hand, she disappeared between the legs, and Ms Chemos screamed loud. The screaming got louder with every second but this did not deter the surgeon. She continued slicing away the labia minora at which point, I lost the courage to watch and walked away for a few minutes. Some young girls who were watching also shed tears.
Subsequently, the surgeon scraped the wall of the girls’ vulvas and put on them Lamwat, traditional local medicine here for treating girls who undergo FGM. The labia mimora is then bound together such that the girl has barely sufficient means to expel her bodily waste.
Ms Chemos was one of the 128 girls circumcised in the morning of December 3, in Bukwo district just three days after the 15th Sabiny day celebrations at Kween that gave police powers to arrest and prosecute any FGM surgeon or parents who force their daughters into FGM and the victims.
Even though this event took place six days ago, I still easily visualise the scene and feel the pain and trauma these young girls went through. Asked about the law on FGM, Mr Francis Cherukut, the father to Chemos says they have not heard anything about it although they have heard that some people have been arrested for carrying it our. “What does the law say about our culture? Should we abandon the culture of our ancestors? Who brought the law? Should we favour the law over our culture? This culture is ours and we shall stick to it whether government wants or not,” said Cherukut.
The ritual amongst the Sabiny is seen as a rite of passage for young women, and it is a ritual that few laws can seem to eradicate regardless of the efforts. The practice is typically performed by non-medical people, and is always performed without any anaesthetic. The tools used to perform the ritual range from knives to razor blades, and pieces of glass.
The Chairman LCV chairman for Bukwo Mr Reuben Chelimo said his people have been ambushed by the new law without sensitisation and that it will be difficult for them to stop FGM. “My people are saying the law is harsh, unfair and needs to be amended until all the people are aware of the law in place against the culture. This culture is deep rooted amongst the people and for now it is going to be like any other law where people are aware the law is there forbiding a certain crime but they commit the crime even when they know the consequences,” said Mr. Chelimo.
Although the new law also intends to establish appropriate and administrative measures to uphold the sexual rights and dignity of women and girls in the district and also modify customs of passage into womanhood, the culturally illiterate Sabiny insist there is no other way to womanhood known to keep the morality of women apart from FGM.
The effects of female circumcision
No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ), the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (IAC), the European Network for the Prevention and Eradication of Harmful Traditional Practices (EuroNet FGM) and the Senegalese association “La Palabre” all say that besides the pain girls go through while enduring the undergoing FGM, there are additional physical and mental damages she must cope with.
Suffering from diseases
Reports indicate that all women who have had the ritual performed on them will suffer from one or more of the following: infection, haemorrhage, vaginal cysts, toxic shock, painful intercourse, and difficult childbirth.
“Besides over bleeding, there is also the question around the effects this ritual may have on the risk of spreading the HIV virus. In most countries, it is common for many women to be circumcised with the same instrument without that instrument being sterilised beforehand, this puts the girls undergoing the practice at high risk of HIV infection,” reads a report by No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ).
Emotional scars
Ms Mary Chelimo, 48 who underwent the practice 36 years ago says in addition to the physical damages caused by female genital mutilation, the ritual leaves behind many emotional scars as well. “I have four girls but I will never circumcise them because I know what I have gone through as a mother during delivery of these children. I have an emotional scar but I also develop severe pain during delivery, it is so painful that you even fear to tell the medical workers what you are suffering from,” said Ms Chelimo.
Low self esteem
The 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution to ban female genital mutilation worldwide says that women who undergo the ritual tend to have very low body confidence, experience severe forms of sexual dysfunction, feel forced into their gender-controlled roles, and display a sense of self-worthlessness in their daily activities.
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