By DEOGRATIAS MUSHI
“Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is an outdated tradition that the society at large should denounce, simply because it involves removal of an essential part of a woman body”.
These are words uttered by Maria Deogratias (28), a resident of Kitunda Relini in Ilala district, Dar es salaam region during the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation campaign held in Kitunda and Kivule Wards in Ilala district, Dar es Salaam region on February 10, this year.
Maria says she was born in Tarime district, Mara region, and she refused to undergo the FGM practice, though her parents did all they could to cut her, this brave girl continued to escape all the times that her parents were trying to ‘hook’ her to undergo that bad traditional culture.
Mary and her husband moved to Dar es Salaam five years ago, and they now have two children (Clement and Augustina) who study in standard one and three respectively.
“Though my husband and I hail from Kuria tribe in Mara region which encourages FGM, we have started speaking against the benefits of not letting our girls be cut because the practice poses health dangers to them,” she says.
The objectives of the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) were arranged by TGNP, to capture voices and opinions on FGM from different people, including young people living in Kitunda and Kivule areas.
The dispatched team which visited the two mentioned localities (Mainly inhabited by Kuria tribe from Mara region) focused on capacity strengthening of girls to raise voices against FGM in their communities, and also raise awareness on FGM practices and their effects on women and girls among people living in the two wards.
The team tried its best to communicate places to report FGM cases, including the known Call Centers like police gender desks, ward leaders, religious leaders, and other authorities present in those areas.
The campaign at Kitunda and Kivule used Proposed Approach (PA), and, accompanied by a coaster bus which carried facilitators, FGM Practitioners, Traditional Leaders, Religious Leaders, Social Worker, FGM Survivals, they discussed among themselves the harms of FGM, while delivering the message at the same time.
The campaign attracted more people at the five places that the team visited in Kitunda and Kivule, and people felt free to be interviewed, as they expressed views about how they viewed FGM.
Among the 48 people who were interviewed, it is only one man in his thirties who said he supported FGM, and there was no way he could stop the practice to his children and other family members.
To end FGM, interviewed people said grandparents, mothers, fathers, and mothers-in-law have their role to play, as well as traditional leaders who can help dispel the myth that FGM was a good practice.
Among the discriminatory reasons FGM is practiced among the Wakuria living in Kitunda and Kivule is a perceived need to control female sexuality, views which were opposed by Singita Marwa, a bodaboda driver at Relini area.
“The purpose of female genital cutting is to ensure that a girl behaves properly, saves her virginity until she gets married, and then stays faithful to her husband.” Maria Bhoke (28) says, calling the community to abandon this wrong concept.
Sometimes, when her husband is not home, she sits with her neighbors and they discuss all kinds of things beneficial to their kids, especially problems associated with FGM” she explains.
“Even if nobody listens to me and just carries on, I have to stand firm and maintain the dialogue,” she says.
Interviewed women at Kitunda and Kivule want FGM tradition to stop, and the community to educate girls on their right to decide what happens to their bodies.
Hellen Urio who is the TGNP Programme officer said in one of the meetings that to end FGM, the community at large should speak about the risks and realities of the practice, and also spread the understanding that religion should not be associated with FGM.
The community should pull efforts to tackle the secrecy that allows cutting to continue, and also keep on pushing for FGM to be banned once and forever, she insisted.
Even though Tanzania has banned FGM, the practice is still very much alive in some communities living in Kitunda and Kivule areas, and this practice is an evil that the Kuria tribe clings onto, despite intensified efforts by various stakeholders to flush it out.
Kuria tribe has kept on hanging to these outdated traditional norms, values, and beliefs that expose girls and women to the agony of undergoing the cut.
“With the laws of the country slowly gaining teeth, the Kuria in Kitunda and Kivule conduct this evil practice in secrecy and have developed new ways of carrying out the cut without leaving any trace or room for being discovered. We need strategies to end this” says Hellen.
Society needs to know that the Provision Act of 1998 prohibits anyone from committing FGM on a person less than 18 years of age, who is under their custody, charge, or care and if they defy will be subjected to punishment.
The Law of the Child Act (2009) also protects persons under 18 and makes it a criminal offense to subject a child to torture or other cruel, inhuman punishment including any cultural practice which dehumanizes or is injurious to the mental or physical well-being of a child.
Despite such challenges, there is a story to tell about Mary Matiku(58), a survivor of FGM, which is an ancient ritual that involves the total, or partial removal of the external genitalia among the Kuria living in Kitunda and other parts of the country.
She confesses that she does not feel any happiness during sexual intercourse with her husband, and she would not wish her three daughters Anna, Maria Stella, and Teresia to undergo that torture.
The 45-year-old has taken her fight in Kitunda and Kivule area, since 1991 when she moved to Dar es Salaam from Tarime district in Mara region.
“The best way women can stand up for themselves and their rights is to speak against the outdated cultures and traditions which affect them physically,” she says.
In Kitunda area, some people view FGM as a cultural or health issue, but one of the root causes is old traditional customs.
PA system was used in Kitunda and Kivule FGM campaigns under the firm leadership of Hellen, and Suleiman Bishagazi, a gender activist based in Dar es Salaam.
The Zero tolerance campaign against FGM was conducted at Kitunda Relini, Nyantira ya Zamani, Kitunda Njia Panda ya Kivule Msikitini, Matembele, and Frem Kumi Kivule.
Generally, the approach used was somehow excluding groups of people who traditionally and with social norms and practices, information reaches them lastly, especially groups of women and girls who are out of school.
The use of the roving Zero FGM tolerance campaign approach enabled the team to reach people, be it at their homes, market centers, Bodaboda parking areas, or at Daladala bus stop centers.
The power of the campaign helped to reach even girls and boys students who were waiting for their transport home at Kivule Frem ten.
Students and workers who rarely get time to attend traditional public dialogues or meetings had the opportunity to listen to the campaigns.
When interviewed, people reached Kitunda and Kivule areas admitted they were educated and encouraged to say no to FGM from an individual level and to help others at the community level.
They also said they were now capable of communicating the steps to end FGM and report willingly such bad events, to reduce the prevalence and number of FGM victims in the long run.
The commemoration of the FGM campaign also involved awareness-raising and even called for collective action to fight against FGM in Kitunda and Kivule areas.
Generally, the event captured voices and opinions on FGM as most of the people interviewed volunteered to speak about how they viewed FGM at Kitunda and Kivule, and the majority of men said they were not willing to marry women who have undergone FGM practice.
One of the least interesting things during the campaign was the capacity strengthening of girls which raised voices against FGM.
Secondary school students from Abuu Juma and Kivule secondary schools promised to take all means to avoid FGM.
They were ready to join gender clubs run by TGNP and they are ready to campaign against FGM while at home.
They are also ready to raise awareness of FGM practices and their bad effects on women and girls.
What is also very interesting is that women who have undergone FGM have joined the campaigns to end the practice.
Adult women who have not undergone FGM were ready to share their experiences of how they enjoy sex with their husbands.
Under the leadership of Bishagazi, Hellen, religious leaders, Ward police, teachers, and Ward Executives in Kitunda and Kivule, people who attended the campaigns learned how to report FGM cases to relevant authorities and end the practice altogether.
ENDS.