(sorry, no photographs yet – having problems uploading)
It all started one night when Pastor Abraham came in to talk to us about our ministry and the things we would be doing in the month. We then got on to the topic of FGM. I was confused when he mentioned it, I didn’t have a clue what FGM was. Then he realized by our faces that we didn’t fully know what he was talking about and he said "FGM – female genital mutilation (A.K.A female circumcision)."
Instantly my mind flashed back to this documentary I used to love called TRIBE – it’s about this guy that travels to different tribes around the world and takes part in everything that the tribe believes in. I remembered this one episode where he went into a tribe in Africa that believed in FGM – he had to walk out because he couldn’t bear to be there seeing a young girl go through this procedure. I always remember when I watched it, it disturbed me so much. Even just the thought of it makes me sick to the stomach!
It’s crazy to think that I watched this just a couple of years ago and now I am living in a town that has one of the highest rates of female circumcision.
Pastor Abraham went on to tell us that his church have an organization together to try and stop FGM – their goal is to try and tell young girls to say NO to FGM. He told us that just across the road from his house there is a woman who does the procedure to the girls.
That night our team could not stop thinking / talking about it. We started to do our own research about FGM and knew that God had brought us to Isibania for this. It was laid heavily on all of our hearts that we wanted to do something.
We spoke to pastor Abraham that we wanted to make this issue part of our ministry this month. He said he would hook us up with Madam Bonnie. Madam Bonnie is a member of Pastor Abrahams church and is also a head master of the school and secretary to the organization – Isabania Christian centre.
He said he could organize us to go into the school to talk to the girls about sex education and about saying no to FGM.
We had a meeting with Madam Bonnie and were informed of a few facts with FGM. When she started to reveal some of the facts I was horrified and felt like I was being told of something out of a horror film.
Here is some of the brutal facts:-
* 96% of the girls in Isabania have been circumcised
* Circumcision starts at the age of 12
* Girls are sometimes circumcised against their own will
* Girls have been told the lie that if they are not circumcised then they are not a real woman and that no one will ever want to marry them!
* A lot of girls bleed to death on the way home after having this done
* After girls have this done they are most likely to then drop out of school get married and have kids- at the age of 12!!
* FGM takes place in the month of December
* Families celebrate this like a big party while the girls will suffer and bleed in pain.
* The mutilators use the same tools on every girl and don’t believe in washing their tools as part of the "tradition". This is spreading HIV and STDs like wild fire to young girls that were clean!
We have now been to the school twice and spoke to young girls about health, hygiene, sex and FGM. Being in front of these girls and seeing their faces brought the harsh reality that’s this is real life for them. The thing that I once watched on TV and things you can only imagine in a horror movie is actual real life.
It broke my heart.
One of the amazing things that Madam Bonnie has done is create a safe home for these girls in the month of December. The safe home is at the school – she showed us where the room was for the girls and then explained that 70 girls will cram into this room to sleep and another 70 will be in the room next door.
I looked at my team mate Ashley and began to feel overwhelmed with emotion and I knew she was looking back at me in the same state. This room was not big enough – this was not a home but it is all they have. It is this or go through the horrors of being circumcised. I thought about the month of December and how I will be going home for the fast paced holidays of joy, excitement, amazing food and feeling safe at home with the comforts of family and friends, when over in Kenya will be girls aged 12-16 living in a tight space for the full month of the Christmas holidays, not able to leave school because of the fear of being taken and forced to be circumcised by their families. It truly broke my heart and put a lot of things from 2 different worlds into perspective.
Madam Bonnie dreams of having a real home for these girls . These girls deserve this! The home would be open to the girls during the December month and also open for the whole year for girls that have been kicked out their home for not going through with the circumcision. A lot of these girls will be disowned from their families for not going through with FGM.
I don’t know what we can do from stopping this tradition that has been going on through-out the generations. All I know is that prayer is powerful and that’s where we can start. Please be praying alongside me and my team for these girls. This is their life and their dignity that lies on the line. Be praying that these girls are able to say No to FGM that they will not go through with it because they fear their parents or fear that they will not have a future if they don’t have this done. Also be in prayer that this safe house will be built, that funds will come in and there will be enough manpower to run it.
If you would like to know more information about this or if you feel led to help Madam Bonnie with funds for this cause then please email her at:- [email protected]
We may not be able to put an end to this awful “tradition” but helping one girl at a time to say No makes it completely worth it!
