“FAUZI”

The cold in the early morning was so piercing that it could quench the heat from the fire at the center of the household. The compound was quiet, and the sound of cock crows was the only sound ears could pick up. The murmurs from Maa Kudi’s room were faint under two tongues of faith and fear.

“Fauzi, this is what makes you a woman. I went through it. Your grandmother did. Every female in this family went through it,” Maa Kudi narrated.

“It’s still barbaric…” Fauzi retorted.

“I am your mother, and you are listening to books? How old are you and your books? Are you wiser than the women who went through this simple act?” Maa Kudi rebuked Fauzi. Fauzi stared at the ground, muddled in her mind, and wore an unpleasant frown.

“Who says it is not good? Eh?” Maa Kudi ended by urging Fauzi to undergo the procedure. Fauzi went mute for a few seconds with her head bowed.

“I can bleed to death, have complications during childbirth, have infections… I can also…” Fauzi gazed at the faint sunlight through the window and muttered. Maa Kudi shrugged at Fauzi as she spoke of the dangers of female genital mutilation.

“It is only the tip! The tip is all it takes to make you a woman. You won’t die!” Maa Kudi retorted.

“Morning morning,” a voice on the compound announced itself with a loud spit of saliva. “Baba Na,” Maa Kudi peeped, and it was the wanzam. She hurriedly asked Fauzi to wrap her waist with the white cloth. Fauzi quivered amid the obedience. Maa Kudi rushed to wrap the white cloth around Fauzi’s waist.

“M’aba” the wanzam indicated his readiness to Maa Kudi while she exited the room. She humbly responded and ordered Fauzi to exit the room. Fauzi walked out, holding her steady breath in fear. She gazed at the sharp knife the wanzam held and messed herself. A stream of urine ran down her feverish thighs, and drops of feces soiled the white cloth.

“Woyooo!!” The wanzam exclaimed. He scheduled the activity for the next morning because it was unclean after Fauzi’s mess.

Maa Kudi sighed in disappointment.

Morning came, and the wanzam was ready with a sharper knife than the day before. He greeted as usual, but couldn’t perform the duty. Fauzi, the brilliant teenager, was nowhere to be found.