Sister Jamila, Like most people on list, I too have been silently observing the interchanges on FGM. Like most people I vehemently hate the practice. This has been and issue that have taunted me for years. I think it is wrong and deprives women the opportunity to be all woman. It also causes complications for women during child bearing. Although the practices is culturally motivated, some proponents will want you to believe that it is religious. The genesis of this practice would be an interesting chain to trace, but it is not only an African practice. It spread as far as Eastern Europe. As you put it, the fight to eradicate this rotten tumor from our society should be approached with key emphasis on education. The fight on FGM cannot be won with condemnation. The practice has a deeply rooted cultural significance that governments cannot just legislate and expect the proponents of FGM to accept that the practice is illegal. It is deeper than that. There are organizations in the Gambia whose sole purpose is education for the eradication of FGM. These organizations have not only identifying the cultural implications of FGM but also unveiling the economic factors that comes with the practice and how these factors can be addressed individually to fight the practice. A new approach to prevention of FGM is to continue the practice without the mutilation. This approach involves educating the proponents of FGM that they can have their ceremony without inflicting harm. They can perform all the rituals that allows a woman to transcend into womanhood without causing them pain and possible death. This approach helps the proponents of the practice to continue their tradition of teaching their young women their cultural virtues and values. It also helps maintain each ethnic tradition to preservation of their tradition. The economic factors of FGM has been mostly ignored by people who condemn the practice. What some of these aggressive organizations that are actively finding solutions to the practice is that; if you displace a worker you must find them employment or they will continue their business. So they women who administer the practice are being offered low to no interest loans to start businesses to support themselves and their families. Although these short term solutions are working, the practice is still widespread in some cultures. More education and support should be given to organizations who are working had to put and end to the misery that young girls who go through with this endure. It is a painful and hypersensitive subject that should be the topic of discussion among every family. Victims must come forth and become ambassadors for the fight against the practice. Finally, I want to thank those of you who have posted your concerns about the practice. Let us not confuse FGM with MGM. It is very easy to argue that both practices are the same morally, but fact remains that the medical implications of FGM is more than anything you can imagine. Thank you all. Collectively we a powerful Divided we fall. Matarr Sajaw. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------