War against FGM yet to be won

Dar es Salaam. Female genital mutilation (FGM) persists despite efforts to end it.

Sophia John, 23, not her real name, was married by a Kuria man; living happily not knowing that her in-laws were busy plotting to perform the cut on her.

Sophia is from Kilimanjaro Region, but lived in Dar es Salaam after she got married. While pregnant, her mother-in-law called her to go to the village to stay there until she delivered.

She happily complied, expecting love and care, not knowing what was awaiting her.

“One day as I was resting counting the days to when I would deliver, a 14-year-old daughter of one of my sisters-in-law told me that the family was waiting for the day I would go for labour so as to cut me immediately after birth, with the help of hospital officials they had talked to,” she said.

She recalls that it was the worst news she had heard of.

She had been hearing of such sad tales in the media and never expected it would one day knock at her doorstep.

“In fear, I ran away and called for help from my relatives, only after I had booked myself safely into a hotel. My brother and sister came and took me back to Dar es Salaam where I delivered my baby safely,” she said.

Later, her in-laws were contacted they admitted that was indeed their plan as all women in their village underwent FGM.

They wondered why her case should be different.

Sophia still harbours fears that when she goes to visit her in-laws they might force her to undergo FGM.

The 1977 Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania does not directly refer to harmful practices or FGM, but Article 9 imposes an obligation on the State to respect and preserve human dignity and rights, to accord men and women equal rights and to eradicate all forms of discrimination.

The main law criminalising FGM in Tanzania is the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act (SOSPA) 1998, which amended Section 169 of the Penal Code and prohibits FGM on girls under the age of 18.

However, Section 169A (2) in the Penal Code as stated in Article 21 of SOSPA, sets out the following penalties for anyone performing and procuring FGM in Tanzania which include imprisonment of not less than five years and not exceeding 15 years; a fine not exceeding Sh300,000 equivalent to $135 or both the fine and imprisonment.

Meanwhile, the prevalence of FGM appears to be low in Tanzania, with 1–2 per cent of women and girl thought to be cut by health professionals.

It is estimated that 7.9 million women and girls in Tanzania have undergone FGM (Unicef 2015).

According to the Demographic Health Survey (DHS), the estimated prevalence of FGM in girls and women (15-49 years) is 14.6 per cent (DHS 2016).

Following such a scenario, a “professional cutter”, Raheli Msagala narrates how she stopped being a circumciser in 2004 after nine years of doing so.

She had been using steel-like equipment, known as ‘Egundu’.

According to her, what prompted her to stop doing it after one of the girls bled to death after having been ‘cut’.

“It was a terrible moment, we were helpless, we didn’t know what to do, and by the time we rushed her to hospital it was already too late.”

Raheli comes from Sagala in Dodoma and inherited the malpractice from her mother, who was also a ‘cutter’.

She says girls and women who underwent FGM are respected in her village, and are easily married, unlike those who shunned the practice.

When one of the girls died, Raheli was shocked. She approached Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Network (Afnet) – a non-governmental organisation – that educated her on the hazards of FGM. She stopped performing the malpractice.

Now she campaigns against FGM.

Meanwhile, three years of educating parents about dangers of FGM have saved 1,500 girls from being ‘cut’ in Kilindi, Tanga.

Amref Health Tanzania’s project manager for mother, youth and child, Dr Sarafina Mkuwa, said cases of FGM in the district had fallen after traditional leaders accepted that the practice was unsafe for girls and women.

Amref has been educating traditional leaders, ‘cutters’, parents as well as the whole community on the effects of FGM.

“Today, 300 girls have been saved from undergoing the practice.”

According to Handeni Hospital nurse Rehema Kamando, it is difficult for women who underwent FGM to deliver because scars from the practice hinder the birth canal from opening.

Women who have undergone FGM either die or their infants die during labour.

Bodies of women who underwent FGM can no longer give birth naturally.

According to a DHS report, FGM is done at an earlier age. The percentage of girls being cut before they are one year rose from 28.4 per cent in 2004/5 to 31.2 per cent in 2010.

According to the UN, 130 million girls and women alive today have been cut in some 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East.