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IT IS HIGH TIME THE MADNESS STOPPED!

Each year, around 4 million girls worldwide are at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM), with most girls cut before the age of 15. (www.unicef.org)

I held my breath as I read through the article, imagining the estimate. I was so engrossed that I failed to notice grandma’s entrance into my room— she visited a week ago.

“What’s eating you up?” she asked, startling me back to reality. I read the article aloud to her.

“Mama,” I began, “does FGM has any benefit?” She gave me a discordant nod. My inquisitive face prodded her into delving deep into the discussion. “FGM is an unhygienic act that exposes girls to a high risk of contracting deadly diseases like HIV,” she said, recounting how she was cut years ago, with the same razor blade used on other victims. She narrated how the circumcisers subdued them on the floor and held their legs apart to give them the painful cut. “I lost my younger sister to FGM,” she stated morosely. I recalled instantly the many times she would call me Ifeka, as if I was her sister reincarnated. She said I resembled the girl, but had failed to mention losing her to this barbaric practice.

“Hers was infibulation that left her bleeding for days till she succumbed to death afterward,” her face puckered at this revelation. “I lived with the trauma for years,” she asserted.

“But mama, what are the reasons behind FGM?”

“They believe that mutilating a girl helps to control her libido. It is seen as a girl’s rite of passage into adulthood, which tends to increase her chance of fetching good dowry for her family,” silence ensued. “They married me off six years after being mutilated,” I instantly ran a quick calculation offhand and arrived at the fact that grandma was a victim of child marriage.

I’ve heard countless stories about child marriage and each made me shudder. In such stories, girls are married off at a younger age to older men. They were not given access to formal education, because the traditional society considered educating its girl child as a waste of time.

“FGM is a barbaric act that infringes on girls’ rights and deserves complete eradication. Thanks to UNICEF and some NGOs that are fighting against it,” she ended. I hugged her with a heart ladened with gratitude, for her many revelations.

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155 Responses

  5. Thank you Chisom for this story.

    A portrayal of unlawful practices like fgm and child marriage in our society. It’s great, reminds me of my granny😥

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