According to the United Nations and Uganda government Joint Programme (2008-2012) on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), 95 per cent of the girls and women among the Pokot and approximately 50 per cent among the Sabiny are subjected to FGM as a fulfillment of an outdated, outlawed and harmful traditional norm.
But several studies have revealed that FGM has both immediate and long-term consequences on the victims. All women who have undergone FGM suffer severe pain and bleeding, shock, difficulty in passing urine, infections, injury to genital tissue and sometimes death.
In addition to the severe pain during and in the weeks following the cutting, girls and women who have undergone FGM suffer from various long-term physical, sexual and psychological effects.
Therefore, the action taken by the local communities and the government of Uganda with support from agencies such as UNDP, UNFPA, Unicef and the UK government to end FGM within a generation is highly justifiable and I am impressed by the achievements registered so far.
During a recent Post-Girl Summit event organised in Kampala, I heard from some of the women of courage who are at the centre of the campaign to end FGM in Uganda. The Kampala event was a follow-up of the Girl Summit co-organised by the UK government and Unicef on July 22, 2014 in London. The summit was aimed at mobilising domestic and international efforts to end FGM and child, early and forced marriage within a generation
At the Kampala event, speakers who included the UN resident coordinator and UNDP resident representative, Ms Ahunna Eziakonwa-Onochie, the Unicef country representative, Ms Aida Girma, the UNFPA country representative, Ms Esperance Fundira, the Minister for Gender and Social Development Ms Mary Karooro Okurut, the director general of DFID country programmes ms Joy Hutcheon and Miss Uganda Leah Kalanguka, shared very compelling experiences about the need to end FGM.
Ms Hutcheon, who had just met former FGM cutters in Moroto said she was encouraged by some of these women who voluntarily gave her the knife that they were using to carry out FGM as a symbol of commitment to end the practice.
My highlight of the Post-Girl Summit event, however, came from a young participant who referred to herself as an FGM survivor.
She said unlike many of her counterparts whose lives were shattered by the practice and some who died in the process, she is picking up her life.
“Having gone through severe pain, I resolved to stand up and fight to save other girls from FGM. If I had known the dangers of FGM before undergoing it, I could not have accepted it. That’s why I want other girls to be aware so that they can stand up for their rights and the rights of others. I want them to say no and be heard,” she said.
One of the reasons why FGM has persisted in our society is because to many women who do the cutting, it has been a source of income; to parents, it has been a cultural duty to surrender their daughters to this degrading practice and to the girls and women, it has been due to lack of choice.
But now that FGM survivors are speaking out against the practice, former cutters surrendering their knifes and parents realising the dangers of the practice, development partners now know where to put their money.
The next step, therefore, is for us to ask ourselves; what more can we do to give girls freedom of choice and the chance to write their own future?
We all need to keep up the momentum and to push for long-term behavioural and social change. We need to raise our voices – all of us, from those affected to leaders across society – to break the silence and speak out.
Mr Weswala is a media practitioner. uweswala@gmail.com
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