In a message dated 10/8/00 12:51:07 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << 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 >> Michael: Your above statements speak for me! Yes, we grew up in a culture where FGM is happening and considered a Gambian tradition, but echoing what Haruna Drammeh and Isatou Kaira said, we as Africans cannot change the past, but we MUST unite and work towards the eradication of this shameful and hurtful practice by REFUSING to hurt our daughters. FGM is an issue a lot of folks shy away from because some have been brain washed into believing that the white man or civilization is here to sabotage our tradition by corrupting today's generation and leading them astray; and losing ourselves, etc., etc….. To those people, I say, please, wake up and smell the coffee. The person who can be brain washed into forgetting who they are or where they came from, is a person who deserves everyone's mercy and needs help. FGM has no place in our society and it must stop and IT WILL stop when our generation embarks on a campaign to stop this practice. And believe me, we are heading towards that direction because this time, our men (as we can see right here on Gambia-L) are behind us and we will win! It is bothersome to hear that some religious leaders in Norway are using counseling sessions by letting little girls believe that FGM is OK; that they will be disobeying their parents if they don't listen to them on this issue, etc. If they are using Islam as a platform, I would like them to tell me where in the Holy Quran is it mentioned that FGM is legal and unless a woman is circumcised, she is not a Muslim? What a shame! And God save us and our children from people like that! Our mothers and grandmothers may not agree with us because they've lived their lives believing that it is part of our culture and tradition we must not change, but you'll be surprised what a little bit of education and dialogue can do. During my visit to Gambia last year, I had a conversation with a mother who feels that if I give birth to a daughter, I must take her to Gambia for circumcision. As liberated as I thought I am, you can imagine the look on my face as this question was dropped on my lap so unexpectedly; and I had to compose myself and prepare a response that would show this lovely mother what my decision was NEVER to do that. At the end of our debate, she did not agree with me, but respected my decision without any hard feelings. I think we can make a lot of progress that way: take a stance and maintain your principles, but have respect for your co-debater on this issue -- in the final analysis, statistics will show who the winner is. Regards, Awa Sey ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------