Hello Harona,
Thank you so much for your contribution. You have offered some good ideas as
well as some that are contrary to my research regarding female circumcision.
I question and I challenge your statement that "As an African and having
hailed from a community whose very survival depends on the practice of FGM, I
at times shy away from the reality of the pain and suffering women/girls
endour from circumcision camps,hoping that will subside my fears and
worries."
    My ten years battle and research with this issue has revealed that female
circumcision is practiced World-Wide, in Jewish, Arabic nations, Australian
Aboriginal, Indonesian and Malaysian cultures, as well as among Sub-Saharan
Africans. At this time, female circumcision is practiced in 40 countries,
mostly in west and east Africa, but also on the Arabian Peninsula. It was
practiced in the United States from 1890-1930 by doctors. According to my
research, there is no indication that the culture or community that practice
female circumcision depend on it for survival. I have visited every district
and division in The Gambia and I did not come across a community that said
they depend on female circumcision. I challenge you to name any community or
village in The Gambia that depend on female circumcision. I was born and
raised at Bakalarr village, in the North Bank Division. My ethnic group do
not practice female circumcision but I lived among ethnic groups that
practice it. Whilst I was growing up as a child, I know of two girls from my
age group who went through this process and died but their death was
associated to some traditional belief. I am a professor today but I am sure
this two innocent girls could have been professor, doctors or president in
The Gambia but their life has been taking away from them. How can one have
prestige from a practice that forces and kills innocent young angel girls who
are the future leaders of Africa? I am not the first Gambian or African to
know that young girls died from this practice and I am sure (God for bid) I
will not be the last one to know it too. I am urging all Africans to join
hands and eradicate this evil practice in our societies. My challenge to
Africans and Gambians World-Wide is for us to start putting female
circumcision as a priority agenda in our conferences instead of ignoring it.
I am prepared at any time to speak about this issue in any conference if I am
invited and I have the chance to attend. I remember, when I was in Boston
having a heated debate with a brother from Mali and South Africa about female
circumcision. I also had the same debate with some Gambians and they end up
turning their face away from me because they did not want to deal with it.
Does that sound familiar to you or to some of us from The Gambia or Africa?
The reason why I am saying this is because I belief that this is not only a
youth issue, female issue or men issue but all human beings who care about
the well being of their societies and nations for national development. Both
men and women have to be empowered so that we can have a healthy dialogue
about female circumcision. We have to first educate ourselves before we even
think about educating other people about it. Some of us have not accepted the
eradication of female circumcision in our minds and heart and yet proclaim to
educate other people about it. How possible can that be? According to my
research, change comes within and not outside. We must first change ourselves
before wanting to change other people. Which way fellow Africans? Which way
fellow Gambians? Are we going to continue hurting our lovely innocent young
girls? For me, I say no. Where do you stand as a human being and what are you
going to do about it? As far as I know, God will never tell anyone to go and
hurt human beings. I love and cherish African culture but I also hate
destructive practices in African culture. This being the case, we must
separate evil practices from the good ones in our culture. May God bless us
all.
Michael

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