Only educating girls can help eradicate female circumcision
Feb 05, 2009
Today, Uganda joins the rest of the world to mark the international day of zero-tolerance to FGM. There have been efforts to fight the practice in Uganda, but, among others, the practice is fuelled by poverty. <b>Frederick Womakuyu</b> writes that it is o
Today, Uganda joins the rest of the world to mark the international day of zero-tolerance to FGM. There have been efforts to fight the practice in Uganda, but, among others, the practice is fuelled by poverty. Frederick Womakuyu writes that it is only through provision of scholarships to girls and benefits to the surgeons that the practice will be completely wiped out
Sebei region is a mountainous area bordering my region, Bugisu, in the east. It has a population of about 300,000 people. I grew up with the Sabiny and shared common things with them, including the circumcision of boys to initiate them into adulthood.
Despite this background, however, there is one thing that differentiated us — Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The practice, where a girl’s partial or entire external genitalia is cut off to initiate her from childhood to adulthood, formed another tradition of the Sabiny.
Many Sabiny widely practised FGM with impunity regardless of the dangers. At the time, circumcision of girls used to be done behind closed doors by old women.
As a boy, I was always curious to know what goes on in there. During a visit to one of my friends, we sneaked into a house where circumcision was taking place. What went on there was hell: The entire genitalia of the girls were cut off. They bled profusely and for the first time, I came face-to-face with the dangers of FGM.
After cutting one girl, they used the same knife on another. Two weeks later, one of the girls died on her way to hospital due to overbleeding. Another succumbed to tetanus.
After realising the ills of FGM in the 1990s, many educated Sabiny joined the international community to fight the practice that was not only causing grave harm to the health of the girls, but also hindered their education.
A community-based non-governmental organisation, Reproductive Educative and Community Health (REACH) spearheaded the advocacy and health education campaigns against FGM. Dr. Steven Chebrot, the former area MP and Jane Francis Kuka, former Woman MP, took part. Indeed, the campaign had a big impact. At least half of the girls that were to undergo FGM denounced it. With the help of the Italian Mission under a lady called Sister Isabella, girls were given scholarships to study at Gamatui Girls’ School in Kapchorwa.
As a part-time teacher at Gamatui Girls’ School, I saw over 100 girls denounce FGM every week and embrace education. I learnt that due to poverty, parents were circumcising their girls to marry them off to get bride price. Parents who had wanted their girls to get free education would threaten to circumcise them. And when the mission heard this, they would offer the girls scholarships.
However, when the politicians saw scholarships ‘flying’ to these girls, they looked for ways of making their relatives benefit, even when they were not eligible. This is how the FGM campaign was bogged down. The children of the poor stopped benefiting and the scholarships went to the rich. The Sabiny started hating politicians for “influencing who gets scholarships.â€
Though many people were made to believe that the politicians lost their positions because they were anti-FGM, the truth is, they deprived some parents of a chance to access scholarships for their girls.
It is against this background that the people of Sebei stopped fighting FGM. When the sponsors of the girls saw the programme being washed down by the politicians, they withdrew their support.
It is for this reason that FGM emerged once again. Several attempts by REACH to sensitise the people hit a snag because, unlike the previous programme that used to come with scholarships and benefits like heifers for the girls and the ‘surgeons’, this one is only based on messages, which messages, the community says “are not edible.â€
Recently, Kapchorwa district passed an ordinance banning FGM. But this has not worked. During the same period, over 500 girls were circumcised in the region. As a person on the ground, I overheard leaders of the region say: “Without scholarships for our girls and benefits to the surgeons and care-takers who initiate the girls, FGM will stay.â€
Parliament is proposing a bill to outlaw FGM. But a law without benefits and effective enforcement will not work.
Uganda is following in the footsteps of 18 other African countries that have criminalised FGM. These include; Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Togo. The penalties range from a minimum of six months to a maximum of life in prison.
There have been reports of prosecutions in several countries, including Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Uganda should strictly follow this model in addition to educating girls. It is a proven fact that FGM can be eliminated in society by educating the girl-child like in the case of Ghana.
Uganda should also come up with a law that prosecutes foreigners or immigrants who practice FGM.
Twelve industrialised countries that receive immigrants from countries where FGM is practised — Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, UK and the US — have passed laws criminalising the practice. In Australia, six out of eight states have passed laws against FGM. In the US, the federal government and 17 states have criminalised the practice.
France has relied on existing criminal legislation to prosecute both practitioners of FGM and parents procuring the service for their daughters.
It is estimated that about 130 million women worldwide have undergone FGM, with an additional two million girls and women undergoing the ritual every year. Last year, about 900 girls underwent the ritual in Karamoja and Sebei regions.
Sebei region is a mountainous area bordering my region, Bugisu, in the east. It has a population of about 300,000 people. I grew up with the Sabiny and shared common things with them, including the circumcision of boys to initiate them into adulthood.
Despite this background, however, there is one thing that differentiated us — Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). The practice, where a girl’s partial or entire external genitalia is cut off to initiate her from childhood to adulthood, formed another tradition of the Sabiny.
Many Sabiny widely practised FGM with impunity regardless of the dangers. At the time, circumcision of girls used to be done behind closed doors by old women.
As a boy, I was always curious to know what goes on in there. During a visit to one of my friends, we sneaked into a house where circumcision was taking place. What went on there was hell: The entire genitalia of the girls were cut off. They bled profusely and for the first time, I came face-to-face with the dangers of FGM.
After cutting one girl, they used the same knife on another. Two weeks later, one of the girls died on her way to hospital due to overbleeding. Another succumbed to tetanus.
After realising the ills of FGM in the 1990s, many educated Sabiny joined the international community to fight the practice that was not only causing grave harm to the health of the girls, but also hindered their education.
A community-based non-governmental organisation, Reproductive Educative and Community Health (REACH) spearheaded the advocacy and health education campaigns against FGM. Dr. Steven Chebrot, the former area MP and Jane Francis Kuka, former Woman MP, took part. Indeed, the campaign had a big impact. At least half of the girls that were to undergo FGM denounced it. With the help of the Italian Mission under a lady called Sister Isabella, girls were given scholarships to study at Gamatui Girls’ School in Kapchorwa.
As a part-time teacher at Gamatui Girls’ School, I saw over 100 girls denounce FGM every week and embrace education. I learnt that due to poverty, parents were circumcising their girls to marry them off to get bride price. Parents who had wanted their girls to get free education would threaten to circumcise them. And when the mission heard this, they would offer the girls scholarships.
However, when the politicians saw scholarships ‘flying’ to these girls, they looked for ways of making their relatives benefit, even when they were not eligible. This is how the FGM campaign was bogged down. The children of the poor stopped benefiting and the scholarships went to the rich. The Sabiny started hating politicians for “influencing who gets scholarships.â€
Though many people were made to believe that the politicians lost their positions because they were anti-FGM, the truth is, they deprived some parents of a chance to access scholarships for their girls.
It is against this background that the people of Sebei stopped fighting FGM. When the sponsors of the girls saw the programme being washed down by the politicians, they withdrew their support.
It is for this reason that FGM emerged once again. Several attempts by REACH to sensitise the people hit a snag because, unlike the previous programme that used to come with scholarships and benefits like heifers for the girls and the ‘surgeons’, this one is only based on messages, which messages, the community says “are not edible.â€
Recently, Kapchorwa district passed an ordinance banning FGM. But this has not worked. During the same period, over 500 girls were circumcised in the region. As a person on the ground, I overheard leaders of the region say: “Without scholarships for our girls and benefits to the surgeons and care-takers who initiate the girls, FGM will stay.â€
Parliament is proposing a bill to outlaw FGM. But a law without benefits and effective enforcement will not work.
Uganda is following in the footsteps of 18 other African countries that have criminalised FGM. These include; Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Togo. The penalties range from a minimum of six months to a maximum of life in prison.
There have been reports of prosecutions in several countries, including Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone. Uganda should strictly follow this model in addition to educating girls. It is a proven fact that FGM can be eliminated in society by educating the girl-child like in the case of Ghana.
Uganda should also come up with a law that prosecutes foreigners or immigrants who practice FGM.
Twelve industrialised countries that receive immigrants from countries where FGM is practised — Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, UK and the US — have passed laws criminalising the practice. In Australia, six out of eight states have passed laws against FGM. In the US, the federal government and 17 states have criminalised the practice.
France has relied on existing criminal legislation to prosecute both practitioners of FGM and parents procuring the service for their daughters.
It is estimated that about 130 million women worldwide have undergone FGM, with an additional two million girls and women undergoing the ritual every year. Last year, about 900 girls underwent the ritual in Karamoja and Sebei regions.