March 8th is International Women's day. I would like to join with http://www.thevoicesofthem.blogspot.com in their fight against female genital mutilation(fgm) in countries around the world. This mutilation is usually done to girls between the ages of three and six by the women of their family.Using pieces of glass, razor blades, or filthy knives, these mutilations are performed with no anesthetic. A pack of mud and herbs are placed on the wound and the girls are held in isolation till they heal. Muslims insist women must undergo this mutilation to remain faithful to Islam, even though it is not mention in the Koran. In Britian today, its estimated that at least 66.000 women and girls have been mutilated. More that 100 million women and girls are estimated to have had FGM. Please visit the above site and sign the petition to stop these mutilations.
Visit, sign, and stay abreast of events, etc. surrounding this issue. We must not sit by quietly while others suffer...Patriotism reaches beyond borders!
Could I just point out that not all Muslims insist women must undergo this mutilation, and that it pre-dated Islam and the arrival of Christian missionaries in Africa by a long way. It is a cultural rather than religious practice, and some Jewish and Christian communities in Africa follow this dreadful practice.
ReplyDeleteThank you A for your clarification. Any info you want to add please feel free. So happy to have you visit and comment.
ReplyDeleteDear Sharon, sorry for not answering any sooner, I will get to the mails and also other comments very soon. I was in Germany last weekend and afterwards had to take care of urgent matters here at home...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, great entries and I will comment on this one first:
Though I haven't been down to Africa and other places to check out how it's being done in the field, I came in touch with the subject through aid organisations, while working in a refugees' camp here in DK and unfortunately a friend had it also done to his own son, before we got to know him.
As far as I know,doing it to girls is not a Moslem-thing to do, they rather do it to boys... but I'm not sure there either.
I also believe that these are older traditions than the religions we know and in the beginning they might well have been done for "sensible" medical reasons (well, as sensible as a witchdoctor would get at that time...)
In the refugees' camp we were confronted with the issue whether the Danish state should pay for something that we believe is wrong and a criminal act against the child. But as one of the nurses argued: "Do it! For God's sake just do it! Because they WILL get it done somewhere, down there in the bush, by the oldest of the village, without an anaesthetic, just with a raisor blade or a piece of glas with quite a significant risk of the child contracting tetanus...!"
I once saw a little girl on TV getting circumcized, still remember her screams and if that hadn't been convincing enough, I also got a simular experience myself, when I gave birth to my youngest son. The fact that they cut me up without an anaesthetic is not that unusual, because sometimes there is just not enough time to give one, but why the nurse insisted on sewing it up without one is something I still don't understand and which I can only see as complete cruelty, and I can tell you, it is just as painfull as you would imagine it to be!
But the solution can not be to tell the parents who have those things done to their children, that they are either stupid or criminal. A solution can only ever be reached through understanding. They have to understand what the history behind it is and why it isn't the optimal thing to do anymore. Only then will they stop doing it!!!
So I would suggest getting involved with people from other cultures, making friends, getting on good terms and eventually you can also talk to them about such sensitive subjects and get a good result.
love, sarah sofia