KAPCHORWA: Anna Chebet, 22, a student in Gamatui girls’ secondary school in Kapchorwa district says to date she does not understand why girls in Sebei undergo FGM.
She says in December 2018, she saw girls being forced into the cultural ritual, where their clitoris were cut off under the reasoning that “girls were being shaped into womanhood and that FGM brings honour to family, clan and entire village”
“I hate this entire thing, it is bad, it takes away our dignity and rights as girls, it is so barbaric, I wish someone would one day stop it forever, someone needs to speak for us to save us,” said a visibly annoyed Chebet 1 February 2022.
Chebet is one of the girls who, given the opportunity, would fight all the people involved in FGM cultural ritual. But because Chebet fears to become an outcast in her community, she has also chosen to keep quiet do the awareness among girls silently.
This comes barely three days as the world in preparing to mark the international Day of Zero tolerance for FGM on 6 February, a day to raise awareness of the practice and to work towards its elimination.
Records at UNICEF indicate that worldwide, there are an estimated 100 million to 140 million girls and women who have undergone some form of FGM against their will, and if current trends continue, some more than 15 million girls (aged 15-19) will be cut by 2022.
Like The REACH programme, the WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA collectively regard FGM as an inhumane practice based on health risks and human indignity that accompanies FGM.
In Sebei sub-region [Kapchorwa, Kween and Bukwo districts] FGM reflects a deeply rooted inequality between the sexes and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women, one that attempts to control women’s sexuality and ensure premarital virginity.
Reports from Data produced by The REACH programme in Sebei sub-region indicates that FGM here is performed on young girls/women and adolescencents and causes both immediate and long-term health complications, including severe pain, excessive bleeding, scar tissue and keloids, shock, and even death.
The REACH programme statistics from the Sebei sub-region suggest that about 24% of girls/women aged 10 to 45 have experienced some form of genital mutilation – while 66% of women between 25 and 35 have undergone gender Based Violence.
According to UNICEF, there are also psychological problems too, like as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the trauma of the procedure follow women throughout their lives and that FGM deprives women/girls of the opportunity to make critical, informed decisions about their bodies and lives at an early age, reinforcing the idea that women are not equal to men within their communities.
As the world plans to mark the International day of Zero tolerance to FGM, The Reach programme will use the opportunity to educate the public on issues of FGM, mobilise political and religious will to eradicate FGM and celebrate achievements and preserve gains made so far in the efforts of ending FGM.
Ms Beatrice Chelangat, the director General of the Reproductive Education and Community Health programme [The Reach] involved in the fight against FGM says that FGM/C is a culture where the guarantee of a girl’s virginity is viewed as a prerequisite for an honourable marriage.
She adds that the belief that FGM/C enhances a girl’s chances of finding a husband helps perpetuate the practice in all areas practicing FGM despite the law passed by government against it in 2010; The FGM ACT 2010.
But she explains that the words that come from Chebet, one of the students trained by The REACH programme to be an ambassador in the fight against FGM reveals how reproductive health education, seems to be paying off, with the number of girls affected reducing, albeit across Sebei sub-region.
She adds that educated young girls and boys can help end FGM within their communities and that as NGOs fighting against FGM, they need to reach out to community young people in schools, in communities and educate them about the risks and consequences of FGM.
“We need to offer free presentations to schools, start Drama groups in schools on FGM and show videos on dangers of FGM in the communities, we also need to reach an even broader audience, hang up anti-FGM posters in the villages in local languages in order to end this monster,” said Ms Chelangat while addressing women in Kapchorwa district about FGM and GBV.
She noted that empowering young girls will give girls control over their own lives and say no to FGM in their communities.
“We need to establish safe space programmes that offer a varied curriculum, including life skills, health lessons, and financial literacy. Our government should ensure that they provide resources for those at risk of FGM as well as survivors of the procedure to give our girls/women hope,” Ms Chelangat added.
Chebet says further that the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 saw the introduction of restriction measures meant to curb the rapid spread of the Coronavirus and that restrictions included the closure of schools, yet schools are often used as safe spaces for girls at risk of FGM.
“And Corona virus increased vulnerabilities of girls and exposed them to abuse, sexual violence, early and forced marriages, and degrading treatments besides FGM. We now need better, someone must help the girl-child,” said Chebet.
According to Chebet, the target of the International Day for Zero tolerance to FGM should not only be geared towards empowering the ordinary Sabiny girls and women to discard FGM but to also enable them engage with public policy to ensure that their needs are catered for, their rights are catered for and to end the suffering, humiliation, physical and mental abuse of the women and girl-child.
Ms Kate Cherukut from Kween district vividly recalls the excruciating pain she underwent as she was being ‘initiated into womanhood’. She tells her story with teary eyes, as the memories are still fresh.
“We were treated like animals in a slaughterhouse. We were forced to lie down, with our heads pressed hard on the ground and our mouths gagged to prevent us from shouting. I would never wish that experience on my child,” Ms Cherukut says.
“I wish that everyone around the world would realize the terrible physical and psychological repercussions of FGM so that it can end – now,” added Ms Cherukut.
Like Cherukut, many Sabiny girls face a lot of problems after genital mutilation and they stay with this pain for the rest of their lives. The practice is meant to reduce a women’s desire for sex and in doing so, reduce the chance of sex outside marriage.
Ms Kokop Sande, a former surgeon and trainer of surgeons who is now preaching against FGM practice in Sebei sub-region says that it is not about holding international days on 6 February but it is about practically involving everyone in the fight against FGM in our communities.
She adds that where power and choice are determined by gender, millions of girls are robbed of their childhoods, education, health and aspirations every day by the harmful practices of child, early and forced marriage and FGM.
Ms Ferosi Chemusto, 82, a former surgeon says that FGM is a traumatizing Act, non biblical that must be stopped to give girls/women respect and dignity they deserve.
Although other women who have undergone FGM in their childhood stay silent, Chemusto has decided go public after she declared Jesus as her personal savior and today she goes through the villages to tell women/ girls against FGM.
She explained that among the Sabiny, FGM is directly linked to marriageability and is typically carried out on young girls below the age of 15 to make them eligible brides and that is Sebei early marriage and FGM go hand-in-hand because they believe that cutting a girl increases her marriageability.
Mr Nelson Chelimo, the former LCV chairman for Kapchorwa and an elder in Sebei sub-region now says as the world celebrates the international Day of Zero tolerance to FGM , we ought to have it in our mind that FGM is inhumane and that according to WHO, it is a violation of human rights.
Mr Chelimo called for the empowerment of girl-child and women to help end FGM and espouse social norms that promote gender equality, women’s empowerment and universal access to sexual reproductive health information and services.
“The only sure way to stop FGM is to continue educating/ sensitising the masses about the dangers of FGM, involving the people who have snubbed the archaic practice to sensitise the community about the dangers,” said Mr Chelimo.
He noted that although through The REACH programme education programmes some victims of FGM have come out to discourage their peers from embracing the culture, a lot more sensitisation still needs to be done.
“Let the 6 February, Zero FGM tolerance day celebrations stick to the point that FGM should be wiped out as it degrades women and denies them the right to enjoy their lives and make decisions that affect their health and wellbeing,” added Mr Chelimo. Ends
About FGM in Uganda
Female Genital Mutilation [FGM] comprises all procedures involving the removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons, as defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Most often, FGM is practiced on girls and young women under 18. FGM is not prescribed by any religion and has no health benefits. On the contrary the practice can cause life-lasting physical and psychological trauma.
In Uganda, FGM is practiced mainly by the Kalenjin ethnic group which includes; the Sabiny in the districts of Kapchorwa, Kween and Bukwo and the Pokot in Tepeth and in the districts of Amudat, Nakapiripirit and Moroto as well as Karamoja region. Ends