By Kemo Cham
One of the silver linings of the Ebola epidemic is its exposure of the dangers of some aspects of our so cherished culture. Evidence abound that the epidemic has gone this long mainly due to transmissions through some of these cultural practices.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), an operation on the female genitalia and one of the most contentious issues of our time, has for long been at the center of this cultural debate. Its proponents defend it with the passion of religious devotion, even if women and girls suffer
silent agony and in some cases death, as a consequence.
But the reported reduction in the practice in the last year of the Ebola epidemic indicates that the urge to save life is after all stronger than that to satisfy desires of tradition.
According to reports, there has been a marked reduction in the number of FGM incidences in the country, partly due to a government ban but also out of fear among Soweis, the women who carry out the cutting.
In November, there were reports that government had imposed a Le 500, 000 fines for anyone found wanting for performing the practice. That was part of bye-laws invoked across the country as part of a massive social mobilization drive against Ebola. But even before that there were reports that many Soweis had voluntarily laid down their knives
in fear of contracting the virus which according to experts is transmitted via bodily fluids.
Some campaigners are urging the government to take advantage of the situation and make it a permanent ban.
Commercial considerations FGM is practiced mainly in 29 countries in Africa and Asia, according to the UN children`s organization, UNICEF. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 140 million women and girls worldwide have been subjected to the armful practice, mostly in WestAfrica.
Proponents of FGM argue mainly around cultural beliefs, but opponents say the negative implications associated with the practice far outweigh whatever benefit there is. Those against it go further to highlight its negative health implications as including potential loss
of life through bleeding, urinary problems, infections, and complications at child birth.
The UN has been seeking for the elimination of the practice and in this respect the General Assembly in 2012 banned it.
Of the 29 countries UNICEF says are practicing FGM, 24 are said to have passed laws protecting girls against it, and Sierra Leone is not one of them. Yet the country has one of the highest prevalence of the practice. According to estimates by the children agency, over 80
percent of the women in the country have undergone FGM. Although the 2007 child rights Act protects children from harmful practices, it fall short of specifically banning FGM.
"Government can stop anything. We have seen it worked with Okadas, we have seen it worked with businesses...," says Ann-Marie Caulker, director of the National Movement for Emancipation and Progress (NAMEP).
NAMEP has been campaigning against FGM since 2007. As founder, Caulker`s activism is rooted in her experience as a victim of FGM. At a very young age and as an orphan, she says, she was subjected to FGM without her consent. She has been in activism since 1996. She says much emphasis has been laid on cultural gratification of FGM but that in actual fact it`s more about money. Her organization runs a tuition-free school which enrolls about 400 pupils.
The school was set up because some parents often claim to not having money to take care of their kid`s tuition, she says. But the school is also in response to some other parents who use education as a form of punishment for their kids` refusal to undergo FGM. Caulker cites the
case of a 19 year old girl whose mother declined to pay her school fees because she refused to be cut. The activist personally housed the girl for six months. The incident which happened sometime last year ended with the parents of the girl signing an agreement allowing her to return home without her being forced into FGM. Caulker says the
police were involved to ensure the parents abided by the agreement.
Both boys and girls are enrolled at the NAMEP tuition-free school situated along Regent Road in Lumley, west end of Freetown. Caulker says that`s to ensure boys are educated on the dangers of FGM.
Her work at NAMEP provides further proof to the view that this whole argument for culture is in fact a farce. The organization strives to provide incentives for Soweis and families against engaging in FGM.
Former Soweis are provided with skills training so that they get jobs that provide alternative livelihoods.
"Years gone by it was cultural but nowadays it`s purely commercial,"says Ambros Kobi, also of NAMEP.
Here is what the President of the national council of Soweis in Sierra Leone, Mammy Koloneh, told Aljazeera in an article published in December. She says the loss of businesses (because of Ebola) had affected approximately 2000 Soweis across the country.
"[Yet] nobody is considering us, to help us, to give us rice or anything, since this Ebola started," she laments.
In the view of these activists, it is this monetary inclination that politicians are bent on exploiting at the expense of lives. They claim that politicians pay Soweis so they can initiate their girls in return for political support. But then these people go with the "wrong" idea that they (politicians) are helping their culture.
Impunity
Amidst this tacit political support, there have been many reports that indicate total impunity within the traditional Bondo society. There is the unresolved case in December 2013 of a 14 year old girl who died of bleeding after she was forced into circumcision at Gberey Junction in Port Loko. According to reports, she was circumcised twice because the first attempt at cutting her did not work well.
In May last year, there was the case in a village called Bongama in the Nimikoro Chiefdom in Kono where a 9-year old girl bled to death after been forcefully cut as a punishment for trespassing into a Bondon bush.
NAMEP`s Caulker says in Port Loko, some girls claimed recently that their parents even threatened to harm them if they do not undergo FGM.
In October last year, some UK lawmakers were outraged by revelations that the British government had left out Sierra Leone in a 35 million Pounds global funding aimed at ending FGM. This happens even though Sierra Leone is said to be UK`s largest per capita bilateral recipient of aide.
But DFID, the UK`s international development arm, cites lack of political will on the part of the Sierra Leone government. "And we have seen that anytime government (officials) attend
international conferences they give promises to end FGM but do not do anything," says Caulker.
The anti-FGM campaigners have documented how they believe FGM has helped prolonged the Ebola fight, although Soweis groups and even government, they say, have denied it.
Caulker believes persistent practice of FGM, despite the reported ban, is responsible for the continued spike in new Ebola cases in Port Loko.
In Kissy Town in Waterloo, she adds, when a Sowei died recently her 'Calabash' had to be handed over to her successor, a young woman, in line with tradition. It turned out the Sowei had died from Ebola and all those involved in the minor ceremony got infected and died.
© Politico 12/02/15
