(I
split this blog into 2 parts cause I realized it was too long. Here is part 1)
Sasa?!
Or rather, wazzup? J Time for an update and some information
of FGM…
Update on Sarah here and future happenings:
Sipili is grand and things are going well. The
school term is finishing up and we have one more full week before exams. I cant
believe term 2 is so close to finishing up! Sarah and I hung out in Sipili this
weekend and got a lot of relaxing in. We went for a long walk around town,
visited the market, did some laundry and watched some chick flicks while eating
fudge. I must admit, it was very nice and I’m ready for class now!
Next,
a strike update: The strike ended at the end of last week however, it was not
without confusion. The strike ended an hour after the government said all
public primary schools were closed indefinitely. So, on Thursday and Friday
some teachers went to school and the students stayed home and in other places,
it was in reverse with students in school but no teachers. Friday they
officially reopened the schools and on Monday everything was supposed to return
back to normal. The government also decided to extend this term by one week and
term three by one week to make up for 2 of the 3.5 weeks missed. The other 1.5
weeks teachers are supposed to just make-up by teaching more efficiently. So
we’ll see if that happens. The poor Class 8 kids who have to take their big
national exam which will say if they get to go to secondary school and if they
score high enough-which school they can attend-that’s a lot of missed class
time for them! Now at Sipili School for the Deaf, since our kiddos were here
during the whole strike we’re only extending until Friday, the 9th (since we
normally end on Wednesdays). We’ll start up again in 3-4 weeks after close. We
only have 2 more full weeks left-so strange!
The
topic I wanted to mainly discuss was about was an article I read in the paper a
few days ago on an awful practice still done in many places in Africa and the
Middle East: Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). I did some more research after
reading the short article and I want to share what I learned. It’s a serious
issue still going on in many countries and I feel that people need to be aware
of what’s going on. This is some information I found on it…
A
brief background/understanding of FGM that I gathered from Wikipedia, the Daily
Nation newspaper, a National Geographic article, a BBC article and information
I found on the UNICEF website.
FGM
is practiced mainly in 28 countries across Africa, particularly Egypt and
Ethiopia, and in parts of Asia and the Middle East. The WHO estimates that 140
million women and girls around the world have experienced it, including 101 million
in Africa. FGM is typically carried out between four years old and puberty,
although it may be conducted on younger infants and adults. It may take place
in a hospital, but is usually performed without anesthesia by a traditional
circumciser using a knife, razor or scissors. In communities that practice it,
both women and men typically support it.
Miriam
Martinelli and Jaume Enric Ollé-Goig write that reasons for the practice can be
divided into five categories:
- Hygienic
and aesthetic.
The external female genitalia are considered dirty and
"unsightly" and should be flat, rigid and dry
- Sociological. Identification
with the cultural traditions, as a rite of passage of girls into
womanhood, and for the maintenance of social cohesion
- Psychological. Reduction of
sensitive tissue and thus to curb sexual pleasure in order to maintain
chastity and virginity, to guarantee women's fidelity, and even to
increase male sexual pleasure
- Myths and false
beliefs.
To enhance fertility and promote child survival
- Religious. FGM/C has been
practiced in a range of communities with different religions: Christian,
Muslim and animist. Muslim communities often have the false belief that
FGM/C is related to teachings of the Islamic law.
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