'The pain was convulsing me'
2006-06-30 11:33
Yaounde - Cameroon's female legislators gathered under a tree in the garden of the country's parliament recently to listen to Hannah Kwenti, 17, a mother of a five-month-old baby girl, and a victim of female genital mutilation (FGM).
She was in Yaounde to take part in a campaign to raise awareness amongst female legislators about the dangers of female circumcision.
She said: "I come from Mamfe in south-western Cameroon, where I was circumcised in January after the birth of Ruth.
"My parents-in-law insisted on it, believing that if it was not done, I could one day be unfaithful to Peter (her husband)."
Removal of female genitalia
The procedure took place just three days after Kwenti had given birth.
"During the excision I lost a lot of blood, and while the pain was convulsing me the woman there (the circumcisor) said, 'Stop crying, your case is still tolerable. There are some for whom we remove all the stuff there'."
FGM, also referred to as female circumcision, involved the partial or complete removal of female genitalia; the resultant wound was stitched up to allow a small hole for the passage of urine and menstrual blood.
Excisions were performed for a variety of reasons, including the belief that FGM reduced a woman's sexual appetite, and could lower the risk of infidelity on the part of women.
'I wished to die'
Kwenti said the woman who circumcised her said she would "not desire men other than Peter", while sexually transmitted diseases would "never be (her) concern".
She said: "I wished to die, but God didn't want this. I advise against FGM for your daughter."
The initiative to raise awareness about the practice is being organised by the Cameroon Young Jurists Legal Resource Centre, a non-governmental organisation based in west of the capital, Yaounde.
According to rights watchdog, Amnesty International, FGM was common in certain communities of the West African country, and was also practiced in about 30 other nations on the continent.
600 women mutilated
The Cameroon Young Jurists Legal Resource Centre believed that during the past three years alone, about 600 women had been mutilated in south-western Cameroon, one of the regions most affected by FGM.
In addition, a report by the immigration and refugee board of Canada noted that in certain parts of the country all Muslim girls were affected by the practice, and almost two thirds of Christian girls.
Rite of passage
The practice of FGM had been linked to religious beliefs. It was also seen as a rite of passage into adulthood, while others viewed it as essential for hygiene and improving the appearance of the genital area.
Nationally, the United Nations estimated that about 20% of women in Cameroon were victims of circumcision, which could be carried out at any stage: at birth, during early childhood, in the course of adolescence, just before marriage or after the birth of the first child. - Sapa-IPS