Content warning: Please be advised, this story continues descriptions of female genital mutilation (FGM), which some readers may find upsetting.
Selam*, 11, arrived at home from school one day and found her mother and an older woman waiting for her. Her mother said they wanted “a tiny part” of her body cut off. Selam knew what that meant.
She would be held down and her clitoris would be cut. She would bleed. A lot. Some girls fainted from the act, while others died. Visitors to her school had talked about it.
Selam dropped her books and asked to be excused to go to the toilet.
“I stood outside there for a while and then ran to report them,” says Selam.
“I was afraid my mother and the circumciser would grab me and circumcise me by force.”
Selam, a grade three student, lives in a sleepy village on the outskirts of Harar town, Eastern Ethiopia – notorious for female genital mutilation (FGM).
All the women in this village have gone through ‘the cut’ – as they refer to it – and want it for their girls. Selam, the first born of eight children – four girls and four boys – has refused it and insists she wants to go to school.
This act of defiance was unimaginable in this village just two years ago.
Eradicate the cut
Selam ran to the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs office in her community and confided in Halima, a women’s representative who is very vocal about FGM.
Halima has taught children in Selam’s school about the dangers of FGM and encouraged them to report any incident.
This deeply engrained cultural practice can lead to many severe life-long health problems, including: childbirth complications, psychological trauma, difficulty passing urine, and painful menstruation and intercourse.
For two years, the Ministry has been working closely with SOS Children’s Villages Ethiopia to educate the community about traditional practices that violate children’s rights.
This is a Joint Forces for Africa (JOFA) project that hopes to reach more than 50,000 children.
JOFA is an alliance of the six largest child-focused INGOs (International Non-Governmental Organisation) working to end all forms of violence against children. SOS Children’s Villages is the implementing partner in two rural districts.
“Halima has told us not to agree to such things,” says Selam. “It’s dangerous and we should go straight to her if [parents] try to circumcise us.”
Female genital mutilation has been prohibited under Ethiopia’s criminal code since 2004.
Two in three women aged 15- 49 years in the country has undergone FGM, according to 2016 official figures.
In Africa, 28 countries subject women to the cut – this includes Somalia, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda in eastern and Southern Africa. Somalia has the highest rate of FGM in the world with about 98 percent of women having undergone the procedure.
Engrained culture
Conservative forces in Salem’s village say it’s an important part of culture that should be preserved.
“We call people for meetings and discuss it,” says Halima. “We are undoing generations of misconceptions that the clitoris is dirty and impure, that it turns girls into prostitutes, and that it prevents them from having babies.
“When I went to Selam’s house I asked them [mother and circumciser] if they would abide by the law or not,” Halima says. “I asked whether they had information on FGM. They said yes and admitted that their attempt to cut Selam was a mistake. I immediately took them to the [police].”
Selam’s mother, Sieda, says she arranged for her first-born daughter to be circumcised, “because it is our custom. We believe that the part we remove is impure.”
“Our fathers did it to us and that’s why we want to do it to our children. But the Women’s Affairs officials have told us that it’s illegal. I have sworn not to do it again.”
Sieda and the circumciser were each fined 3,000 Ethiopian birr (42 GBP) and were kept in a police cell for two days.
“We warned the professional circumciser that she would be penalised severely if she were ever to be found doing this again.” says Halima.
“And we told the mother that she was responsible for taking this generation into the future, unharmed, and would be held responsible culturally and legally if she participated again.”
Selam says, “My mother asked me why I reported them and I told her that a girl had already died while undergoing circumcision and I didn’t want it because the bleeding might not stop. And that I do not want to get married because I’m still in school.”
Halima says since SOS Children’s Villages began working with the Ministry two years ago, 26 girls have been rescued from the cut and eight others saved from early marriage.
Resistance
But changing a culture practiced for millennia is not easy.
The village elders, who are mostly men, are not so receptive to the change. They argue womanhood is defined by ‘the cut’, meaning men do not take them as wives without it.
Halima’s office is working with religious leaders hoping they’ll use their influence to convince the elders and other men.
Seida says Selam’s father has agreed the practice should stop.
“My husband has said, ‘why get in trouble? Do not circumcise my girls. Do not expose them to the problems you have gone through.’ By saying this he has made it clear that he is against it.
“I was circumcised as a little girl and I know the pain I have suffered,” adds Seida. “I do not want them to go through it.”
Young ambassador
Selam is now well known in her community for advocating against FGM.
She speaks confidently at community gatherings and in school about her own story of avoiding ‘the cut’ and how her parents have changed their minds about the practice.
“When I go to school in the morning, I tell my friends marriage is not needed at their young age and that circumcision is forbidden,” she says.
“The girls must continue their education. And if their parents try to force them, they will be brought before the law. Parents have stopped pushing for circumcision on hearing this message.
“My friends and I have healthy bodies and are at peace with ourselves. All we want is our education.”
*Name changed to protect the child’s privacy
