The stuff that goes on in our continent. Uh! Uh! Uh! Chi Jaama Joe Sambou >From: Malamin Johnson <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list ><[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Mauritania's 'wife-fattening' farm >Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 16:19:06 +0000 > >Mauritania's 'wife-fattening' farm >By Pascale Harter >BBC, Mauritania > > >Obesity is so revered among Mauritania's white Moor Arab population that >the >young girls are sometimes force-fed to obtain a weight the government has >described as "life-threatening". >A generation ago, over a third of women in the country were force-fed as >children - Mauritania is one of the few African countries where, on >average, >girls receive more food than boys. >Now only around one in 10 girls are treated this way. The treatment has its >roots in fat being seen as a sign of wealth - if a girl was thin she was >considered poor, and would not be respected. >But in rural Mauritania you still see the rotund women that the country is >famous for. They walk slowly, dainty hands on the end of dimpled arms, >pinching multicoloured swathes of fabric together to keep the biting sand >from their faces. >"I make them eat lots of dates, lots and lots of couscous and other >fattening food," Fatematou, a voluminous woman in her sixties who runs a >kind of "fat farm" in the northern desert town of Atar, told BBC World >Service's The World Today programme. >had no clients when I met her, she said she was soon expecting to take >charge of some seven-year-olds. >"I make them eat and eat and eat. And then drink lots and lots of water," >she explained. >"I make them do this all morning. Then they have a rest. In the afternoon >we >start again. We do this three times a day - the morning, the afternoon and >the evening." >Punishment >She said the girls could end up weighing between 60 to 100 kilograms, "with >lots of layers of fat." >Fatematou said that it was rare for a girl to refuse to eat, and that if >they did, she was helped by the child's parents. >"They punish the girls and in the end the girls eat," she said. >"If a girl refuses we start nicely, saying 'come on, come on' sweetly, >until >she agrees to eat." >Fatematou admitted that sometimes the girls cried at the treatment. >"Of course they cry - they scream," she said. >"We grab them and we force them to eat. If they cry a lot we leave them >sometimes for a day or two and then we come back to start again. >"They get used to it in the end." >She argued that in the end the girls were grateful. >"When they are small they don't understand, but when they grow up they are >fat and beautiful," she said. >"They are proud and show off their good size to make men dribble. Don't you >think that's good?" >Change >However, the view that a fat girl is more desirable is now becoming seen as >old-fashioned. >A study by the Mauritanian ministry of health has found that force-feeding >is dying out. Now only 11% of young girls are force fed. >"That's not how people think now," Leila - a woman in the ancient desert >town of Chinguetti, who herself was fattened as a child - told The World >Today. >"Traditionally a fat wife was a symbol of wealth. Now we've got another >vision, another criteria for beauty. >"Young people in Mauritania today, we're not interested in being fat as a >symbol of beauty. Today to be beautiful is to be natural, just to eat >normally." >Some men are also much less keen on having a fat wife - a reflection of >changes in Mauritanian society. >"We're fed up of fat women here," said 19-year-old shop owner Yusuf. >"Always fat women! Now we want thin women. >"In Mauritania if a woman really wants to get married I think she should >stay thin. If she gets fat it's not good. >"Some girls have asked me whether they should get fat or stay thin. I tell >them if you want to find a man, a European or a Mauritanian, stay thin, >it's >better for you. But some blokes still like them fat." >And while there still men who like their women big, Fatematou is on hand to >fatten them up with her years of experience. >I asked her if she ever felt cruel, beating and force feeding children? >"No! It's not cruel to make girls fat!" she said. >"Me, I've seen 10-year old girls give birth. I tell you, 10 years old! >"Once they are fat and beautiful they can serve their men well, once they >are fat they can be married." > >_________________________________________________________________ >There are now three new levels of MSN Hotmail Extra Storage! 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