This piece is put together for the sole purpose of creating more awareness in the mind of readers either young or old. As found on the tweeter page of @thegirdlengr, these are a compilation of revelations made by victims of FGM and by extension, support from the president of Ghana.
Mr Amadou said:
It's not just Sudan and Somalia that sew up their women's genitals from birth; it's very common in Gambia too. I'm of the Wolof ethnicity in Gambia and experienced this through my wife; she was circumcised and sealed up as a 6-year-old girl!
On our first night, I couldn't penetrate as hard as I tried; her plea and tears broke my heart. I used a torch to look at her genitals and almost had a cardiac arrest!
It was bloodied with some loose thread! I called an Ngangsingba (circumciser) to loose her. I'm still in shock!
A STRONG MOTHER
Mrs Tayo Layi said:
I recall when I had my daughter and my mother-in-law boldly said, "Tayo, a maa se idi e (we will mutilate your daughter's clitoris)". I didn't really understand what she meant until my husband got home and explained what his Mum meant. I got angry the moment he said that and swore she won't be circumcised!
So, I stopped dropping her at their place for fear of them circumcising her before I returned from work. Who does that? I won't ever allow her go through the pain I went through all in the name of tradition.
THE SOMALIAN PERSPECTIVE
Hajia Fatia said:
"In Somalia, it's hard to see a girl or woman who is not with a 'sealed genital' - even women as old as 50 years old.
I was infibulated before marriage and have had my genital reinfibulated for the 7 times I've given birth. I also have it resewn when my husband starts to complain.Women live daily with pain and risk our lives because of men's desire for a tight opening for sex.There's also a societal belief that if our men had a chance to have sex with an 'infibulated woman,' they will divorce the 'uninfibulated ones'!"
FGM SUPPORT FROM GHANA
President Nana Akufo-Addo has urged traditional leaders in the Bono Region to join Govt clamp down on certain outmoded cultural practices that infringe on women's rights, such as: #FGM, accusing women of witchcraft, trokosi and bad widowhood rites.
According to the President, there is no scientific justification as to why a people are subjected to those norms, adding that, “I ask you to be on the forefront of our fight to discard these noted practices, which should have no place in the Ghana of the 21st century.”
FALSE ACCUSATION
Many girls have been falsely accused and punished for being pregnant because of swell of their abdomens.
Fact is, #FGM can cause this swell by obstructing the flow of menstrual blood that can then cause haematocolpos (accumulation of trapped menstrual blood). There was a case in Sudan that a 15-year-old girl was suspected to be pregnant, much to the shame and fear of the girl’s family, until the true nature of the problem was discovered: the girl, who had never menstruated, had such a small opening she had difficulty passing urine and her menstrual discharge had been completely obstructed, perhaps because of the vulvo-vaginal atresia (absence of an opening). Fact is, menstrual flow may be retained due to the tiny vaginal opening; girls or women can die as a result of this.
#EndFGM #endfgmpreventcorona #nofgm
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