Beyond the Dance

Description

Female genital mutilation is the excruciating and damaging experience that Beyond the Dance a lot of women in many cultures across Africa and in many other parts of the world suffer. Even when the women find themselves, for one reason or another, relocate in what should be safe havens, this practice frequently follows them like a vengeance ghost. Beyond the dance is a compilation of testimonies and poems about the humiliation of female genital mutilation, and about the resulting deprivation and loss. It encompasses accounts, factual in some cases and lyrical in others, of the experience of this practice lived or witnessed, and the visceral responses to the practice. The anger is palpable, the bafflement tangible. Beside the pain, though, is the hope borne of the voices raised by governments, organisations, institutions and individuals, urging a stop to the practice and coaxing oft-unwilling communities into abandoning it or transforming it into a meaningful ritual that builds up rather than ruins. Through the pages of this volume we share the pain, thoughts, views and feelings of the victims of female genital cutting and of people concerned about the debilitating practice. We share the hope that they hold out for a firm and final end to the practice.

Sujets

• Gender Studies

Informations

• Publié par: Femrite Publications
• Date de parution: 29 décembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 2
• EAN13: 9789970700271
• Langue: English

Extrait

Beyond the Dance
Edited by
Violet Barungi and Hilda Twongyeirwe
FEMRITE PUBLICATIONS LIMITED
KAMPALA
FEMRITE PUBLICATIONS LIMITED
P.O. Box 705, Kampala
Tel: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]
www.femriteug.org
Copyright FEMRITE Uganda Women Writers Association 2009 First Published 2009
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of FEMRITE.
ISBN 978 9970 700 19 6
Printed by: New Vision
Good News Printing Press Ltd.
Plot 11/13 Nasser Lane Opp. Railways Goodshed
P.O. Box 21228 Kampala, Uganda
Tel: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Contents
Foreward By Dora Kanabahita Byamukama
Introduction By Violet Barungi
Do not Count on Me
By Betty Kituyi
The Woman in Me
By Bananuka Jocelyn Ekochu
Petals for the Wind
Sharon Lamwaka and Hilda Twongyeirwe Rutagonya
Beyond the Music and the Dance
By Lillian Tindyebwa
Chelimo s November
By Waltraud Ndagijimana
Crossroads
By Cathy Anite
My Mbasuben
By Betty Kituyi
The Cut
Maryam Sheikh Abdi
The Intrigue
By Hilda Twongyeirwe Rutagonya
Fly Beyond the Knife
By Bananuka Jocelyn Ekochu
Mocked by Fate
By Lillian Tindyebwa
Saina s Story
By Cathy Anite
Foreword
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), also known as Female Genital Cutting refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female organs for non-medical reasons ( World Health Organization ). Female Genital Mutilation has no known health benefits; it is torturous and traumatises girls and women in many ways. Female Genital Mutilation interferes with the natural functioning of the body and causes several immediate and long term consequences. For example, babies born to women who have undergone FGM suffer a higher rate of neonatal death compared to babies born to women who have not undergone the practice.
Various social and religious reasons are advanced to justify continuation of the practice of Female Genital Mutilation. These social and religious reasons are premised on deep-rooted inequality between sexes and constitute an extreme form of discrimination against girls and women. In essence, Female Genital Mutilation violates human rights. Human rights violated by Female Genital Mutilation include the right to life when the procedure results into death, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the right to health, security and physical integrity of the person.
In Uganda, work on elimination of Female Genital Mutilation spans a period of over twenty years. This work has for most of this time focused on the Sabiny; of recent it has expanded to cover areas of the Busoga region, the Karamoja region, and areas populated by Nubians and Somali. Elimination of FGM can only be effectively achieved by sensitizing communities that practice it to abandon it.
One of the methods deployed to eliminate Female Genital Mutilation is by enactment of a law that prohibits it. Uganda s Constitution implicitly prohibits Female Genital Mutilation; the Penal Code Act criminalizes it because it can be categorized as grievous harm which is punishable by seven years imprisonment. In spite of these legal provisions FGM is still practiced in Uganda. To-date no law enforcement officer has used the Penal Code Act to arrest perpetrators of FGM. Perpetrators have hidden and shrouded their activities under the guise of culture and religion. The right to culture and religion is not absolute. The right to culture and religion cannot be upheld when it breaches other human rights such as the right to freedom from torture, cruel or inhuman and degrading treatment - which rights are absolute.
The law is an effective social engineering instrument, it is even more effective when it is specific and has legitimacy. Legitimacy of the law is attained when the community appreciates the vices of FGM and is willing to abandon the practice. Laws that prohibit FGM, therefore, must be complemented by culturally sensitive education and public awareness raising activities. For example, the introduction of a Culture Day amongst the Sabiny and more recently among the Pokot is one good example that can be emulated elsewhere. The Culture Day is used in these communities to promote positive cultures and to create awareness about negative cultural practices. Where FGM is premised on religion, religious leaders should clearly explain that FGM is not a religious requirement.
National and international organizations have played a key role in advocating against FGM and generating data that confirm its harmful consequences. At the national level, the Uganda Constitution and Penal Code Act are instrumental. At the Africa regional level, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa specifically calls for elimination of FGM.
Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda (LAW-Uganda), in partnership with Reproductive, Educative and Community Health Programme (REACH), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Vital Voices, Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development, United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF), Uganda Women s Parliamentary Association (UWOPA), Food Security, Population FORUMand SEA have used various innovative methods to push for the elimination of FGM. FEMRITE joins the fight with yet another tool of personal testimonies.
I wish to commend FEMRITE - Uganda Women Writers Association for breaking the silence and recording voices of women that have been stifled for ages about the inhuman act. These voices of protest are very vital in the fight against FGM.
This fight to eliminate FGM was given the highest political support when the President of the Republic of Uganda His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni declared the Government s stand against FGM on July 1, 2009 in Amudat in the Karamoja region. This noble and heroic action greatly catalysed action to eliminate FGM in Uganda.
Elimination of FGM in Uganda and elsewhere is possible when the fight is led by leaders and members of communities where it is practiced. There is need therefore for continued sensitization of communities and efforts to establish mechanisms for its prevention and rehabilitation of victims are on-going. The law may be there but if it is not supported by the community, it may not bear much fruit. Currently, the process of enactment of the law that prohibits FGM is in its final stages.
Beyond the Dance -Voices of women on female genital mutilation captures the details, engages you in personal stories, personalizes female genital mutilation and drives home the point, the fact that you must act now. This publication whose voices traverse boundaries is indeed a very vital tool that will be used in sensitisation campaigns against FGM at all levels in and outside Uganda.
Join in the action to Stop Female Genital Mutilation NOW.
Aluta Continua
Hon. Dora C. Kanabahita Byamukama Member, East African Legislative Assembly Director, Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda
Introduction
It is incredible that in Uganda today, indeed in the world there is still a protracted form of violence that is being committed against women in the name of tradition. This criminal act is in the nature of female genital mutilation (FGM), which violates women s human rights to enjoy their God-given gift of womanhood. There is a woman who could not have children as a result of undergoing circumcision; another is permanently confined to a wheelchair after becoming paralysed due to long-term effects of the procedure. She is lucky because her two mates, who were circumcised at the same time, have since died after enduring ill health and excruciating pain for a long time. There are women who cannot enjoy marital bliss because they have dysfunctional sexual relationship with their partners that bring them no enjoyment except untold physical and emotional pain. Some of them have been abandoned by their spouses because they cannot discharge their marital obligation to theirhusbands satisfaction, never mind that being circumcised is prerequisite for a woman to find a husband. Circumcised women suffer more than their uncircumcised counterparts, and more often than not, have to undergo a Caesarean section while birthing their offspring. These women represent millions of other women in the world, especially in Africa where the practice of FGM is more prevalent.
FGM is practised in various parts of the world but is more concentrated in Africa. The practice is gender-based violence against women and violets their rights and the rights of the girl-child. As the testimonies in this collection show, FGM subjects women to many health hazards, including the spread of HIV/AIDS, incapacitation, fistula, and in some instances even death. It denies women and the girlchild freedom from self-determination, good heath, liberty, security, dignity and the right to education and subjects them to torture.
Article 1 of the UN Convention on torture is defined as any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental is intentionally inflicted on a person The Constitution of Uganda implicitly prohibits FGM under Article 24 which states that no person shall be subjected to any form of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment Laws, cultures, customs and traditions which are against the dignity, welfare or interest of women or which undermine their status are prohibited by the Constitution
Despite