The Female Circumcision

The female circumcision better known as female genital mutilation.

This is a practice that I was not too familiar with until I came to Sierra Leone. I have heard of it being done in lesser and lesser amounts around the world, but I never would have thought that it would have been done in literally my own backyard!  While sitting in our ghetto poor house in Goderich, music began to loudly be played. We could hear what I can best describe was a parade getting closer and closer to the house. You could hear people talking and singing. It sounded like a party! 

Speaking with the local that lived on the property with us, I learned that it was a female circumcision party. A WHAT?!?!? I couldn't believe how easily that rolled off of his tongue. It slid off his tongue like ice cream sliding from a spoon warmed by the summer's heat. My mouth dropped open and I began to think about the young girl that was the subject of this inhumane torturous treatment. My heartbroken for her but I began to accept that this country was full of savages that had no idea the risk that she was being placed under or the parents (especially the mother) that had not heart or soul. Someone who could bare to watch their child, probably no older than 12, suffering an unnecessary pain.

My thoughts then went to when that child, if she survived the procedure, ran a risk of have severe complications. My heart broke for her. The people she had looked up to to guide, support and protect her were now the ones who she could not count on to keep her free from pain. Very sad.

After speaking with a local that I am close to about how upsetting that was for me, she told me that it is not as common as I think. I learned that the Krio tribe is against that and hasn't participated in the practice for a long time. Her tribe, Mende, however, still occasionally performed the ritual on young girls. She confided in me that her mother had allowed the procedure to be done on her and she horrifically explained what happened to her and the pain that followed. I had tears in my eyes. She continued by telling me that her mother has since apologized for allowing that to be done to her and continuously asks her for forgiveness. I completely believe her when she told me that she understood that her mother did not know any better and she doesn't hold her responsible for her actions.  She admitted that today still in her small village the practice is still going on and she refuses to be apart of her village for that very reason. 

How difficult it must be for her to know that she doesn't fully fit into Freetown because it is not her true home, yet she no longer feels the connection with her home village because of a traditional practice in which she wants no part of. By the way, she is mother to two daughters and neither have had the procedure done. This caused huge strife between herself, her mother, and her village. She is such a strong woman and stood by what she felt was right and safe for her child. I admire her tremendously for breaking the cycle.

Sierra Leone is the small maroon 

country located on the Atlantic Ocean side of Africa    (95-100%)