By Assan Bah
Madame Fatou Keita, a married woman in Kulari village, Tumana District, Upper River Region (URR) has said that women who underwent Female Genital Mutilation\Cutting encounter childbirth complications and risk of separation.
She revealed: “During childbirth, many women suffer because of FGM/C. It affects the health and wellbeing of women that’s why we want to end FGM to protect our daughters in their marriages and homes.
“We are not fighting any religion, we are not fighting any law, we are only fighting for our health.”
The FGM\C survivor said: “We the women are facing so many difficulties, we have suffered. If we say we have not suffered then we are lying. When our daughters go to their matrimonial homes, they face difficulties.”
According to her, many marriages failed because of the practice of FGM/C.
“Many marriages do not work because of FGM because when a man sees something in you and if he doesn’t like it, he will divorce you. I have witnessed instances where women suffered in their marriage and childbirth due to FGM/C. My neighbour was divorced due to FGM/C a day after being brought to the husband’s house. We have suffered and we want to end that suffering.”
Keita said they want their daughters to have good health and stable marriages, noting that FGM has caused lots of problems that do not manifest until when one is married.
“We used to practice it before because we did not know the consequences it would have on us, but we now know the consequences of the practice due to the pain it is causing,” she added.
Speaking on the Bill which seeks to repeal the ban on the practice of FGM/C, she said: “National Assembly Members should sympathize with the women, their sisters and mothers because they [lawmakers] have the power. We are suffering and they should help alleviate the suffering we face in our matrimonial homes. Marriage is not easy and we want to get married. Women have suffered, if you see we are talking and appealing, it is because we have suffered. Let us not look at an individual interest, but the health of all women.”
Fatoumatta Krubally, another survivor of Female Genital Mutilation / Circumcision (FGM/C) in Koba Kunda, Upper River Region (URR), advocates for the ban on FGM/C to be maintained, saying “the woman’s body is precious and should be left as it is”.
18-year-old Krubally said: “I am an FGM and I know the complications I am going through and hearing from people, I believe it has no benefit to anyone.
“As an individual when you know someone is going through something try to put yourself in their shoes. I know that we only have 5 women in the National Assembly and some of them are saying that they have gone through it and they are not facing any complications. To me, it doesn’t mean if you are not suffering from something, others are not affected by it because our bodies are different.”
Calling for more protection of girls who are the future, she appealed for the law to remain.
She further said: “Even though I am not married I know the complications I face. As a young girl who has started menstruating, some think that menstruation is only the passage of blood, but it’s quite different from us who are circumcised.
“Because of the circumcision, some of us (girls) have tight private parts that are usually small, which makes it difficult for all the menstrual blood to flow out, and the blood clots will stays in our private part which can affect our wombs. In the future, this can make it difficult for us to conceive and we all know the kinds of names that we are called by society,” she narrated.
“We know that menstrual cramps are natural, but the practice is making it different because I don’t get off bed when menstruating because of the complications and as a result, I miss some of my classes as a learner,” she explained.
“A woman is so valued by the creator. Looking at the woman’s private part everything in it has a function during childbirth, sexual intercourse, and menstruation. If Allah knows that should not be part of it, why is he then giving it to us?” she asked, acknowledging that the circumcision of boys is sanctioned by the Quran.
She alleged that FGM/C is killing them day by day, saying some of her peers feel too shy to talk about some of the issues that they are experiencing on a daily basis.
