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The Struggle to End FGM/C
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Excerpted from “The Cut”
by Maryam Sheikh Abdi
I was only six years old
when they led me to the bush . . .
Too young to know what it all entailed,
I walked lazily towards the waiting women.
Deep within me was the desire to be
cut,
as pain was my destiny:
it is the burden of femininity.
So I was told.
Still, I was scared to death . . .
The cutting began with the eldest girl
and on went the list.
Known to be timid, I was the last among the six . . .
Finally it was my turn, and one of the
women winked at me:
Come here, girl, she said, smiling unkindly.
You won’t be the first nor the last,
but you have only this once to prove you are brave! . . .
Obediently, I sat between the legs of
the woman…
and each of the other four women grasped my legs and hands.
I was stretched apart and each limb firmly held.
The cutter begun her work . . .
To read the rest of “The Cut,” go to
www.popcouncil.org/rh/thecut.html. |
Each year, two million
young girls undergo female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), according
to the United Nations. Between 100 and 140 million girls and women
globally have been subjected to some form of FGM/C, most of them in 28
African countries, though some live in Asia and the Middle East (World
Health Organization). The practice is also found in Europe, Australia,
Canada, and the United States, primarily among immigrants.FGM/C, also referred to as
female circumcision, describes longstanding traditional practices that
range from light cutting to the removal, and sometimes the sewing up, of
the external female genitalia. The possible repercussions of FGM/C are
numerous, including psychological trauma, difficulties during
childbirth, gynecological problems, and even death.
The Council has been
active in the effort to end FGM/C for over a decade. Through its
Frontiers in Reproductive Health program, the Council has conducted
field-based research to document the extent of FGM/C, the types of
cutting, and the resulting complications. Other projects study the
meaning FGM/C has for its practitioners; test and evaluate programs
designed to eradicate the practice; and provide training and technical
assistance in research design, analysis, and application to partner
organizations and governments. Publications about FGM/C are accessible
at no charge from
www.popcouncil.org/frontiers/projects_pubs/
topics/fgc/fgc_af.html.
The Frontiers program
helped to launch and continues to advise the International Network to
Analyze, Communicate, and Transform the Campaign Against FGC/FGM/FC
(INTACT Network), which uses evidence and analysis in working to end the
practice. INTACT’s monthly newsletter is available at
http://62.241.134.47/intactnetwork.
One collaborative project
with UNICEF and the Danish International Development Agency is set in
the North Eastern Province of Kenya, where over 98 percent of girls are
cut in the most severe form of FGM/C. The project aims to strengthen the
capacity of local health systems to manage medical complications during
antenatal care and delivery. In the Somali-dominated Wajir District of
Kenya, this project also involves initiating culturally appropriate
educational strategies to change the perception that Islam supports FGM/C.
For at least one Frontiers
program officer working among the Wajir Somali, FGM/C is a personal
issue. Maryam Sheikh Abdi, of the Council’s Nairobi office, underwent
the ordeal herself at the age of six.
“It’s a deeply rooted
practice and a strongly held belief among the Somalis,” Abdi says.
“Because the practice has been wrongly associated with Islam, we try to
reach religious leaders who can declare FGM/C a harmful, un-Islamic
act.” Abdi holds meetings with Somali scholars and facilitators from
other Muslim communities who do not practice FGM/C. Participants discuss
positive Muslim religious guidelines known as shariahs that are violated
by the practice, such as those that state that cutting healthy organs,
causing any physical harm, and changing what has been created by God are
all unlawful under Islam.
“A consensus is emerging
in which the scholars have agreed that the practice has no strong basis
in Islam and therefore cannot be regarded as a religious act,” she says.
“We are hoping this verdict can make it easier for community abandonment
of the practice.
“Not least of Abdi’s
contributions to the eradication of FGM/C is the brutally honest,
graphic, and moving poem she has written about her experience. She has
given the Council permission to use it to communicate the violence and
trauma of female genital cutting. [See box]
USAID, UNICEF, and the United Nations
Development Programme are among the funders of the Council’s FGM/C
activities. Collaborating organizations include CARE International,
Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, Macro International, UNFPA,
UNICEF, and WHO.
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