Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year both from the Muslim Calendar and Gregorian Calendar! Thank you for all the love, and polar bear card, Mrs. Stevens! It made my Christmas!
It was a warm Christmas spent at the beach with fellow PCVs with a more than an indulgent breakfast of sticky buns, quiche, muffins, and fruit put on by the volunteer support committee (VSN) for a price of about seven US bucks. Not too bad when you're far from home for the holidays.
I came in partly for the holiday and good cheer but mostly for the gender and development (GAD) in service training that occurred on the 28th and 29th of December.
The GAD committee was encouraged by PC admin to put on a GAD in service training for both volunteers and counterparts. The two day training covered topics regarding:
I invited a female teacher from my school to attend. She is very active in the school heading the Peer Health Club and always assisting me in anything I need. I got to know her mostly from her profound assistance with regard to teaching a lesson on HIV/AIDS to our grade nine students at the school. Our plan of action is to continue to spread sensitization messages of HIV/AIDS throughout the community in the form of dramas by the Peer Health students. We also want to try to encourage more girls to play sports at the school.
*--**-Caution, the following is super sensitive and perhaps difficult read regarding FGM/C-**--*
I was nervous as to how this discussion was going to go. A volunteer brought in a guest speaker who works for a research organization out of Spain, http://www.mgf.uab.es/?lang=english. The website is mostly in Spanish but maybe it can be translated if you are interested. He is a Gambian working for this Spanish researcher and was extremely sensitive and professional in his presentation on the issue. He came about it from a research and medical concern angle in a means to take the personalization out of it. In The Gambia, 78% of FGM/C is observed amongst the different tribes. Our neighboring Senegal observes 28% where it is illegal to perform FGM/C there. One reason it is so high in Gambia is because here is home to a number of different tribes that recognize this practice as being important to their culture.
From what I can understand there is Islamic law, Farla, and prophetic teaching, Suna. Praying five times a day towards the East is an example of Islamic law, meaning if you are to be a good Muslim, you have to honor Islamic law. Male circumcision also falls under Islamic law but female circumcision does not. According to our guest speaker, FGM/C is not practiced in Saudi Arabia. The image below shows where it is known to be practiced in the Africa and some Middle Eastern countries:
Picture image from: http://www.mgf.uab.es/?url=geography_mgf_0x33&m=ml_03
Where type I is a small cutting of the clitoris to full clitoral removal. Type II is full clitoral removal and scraping of the minor labia, and Type III is the removal of the clitoris, small and large labia, sometimes followed by a closure of the vaginal hole to be opened again upon marriage. There is a story from the prophet that mentions a cutting of the clitoris but no command that this needs to happen. Every culture has their own beliefs wrapped up around the issue. As you can imagine this is a very personal and sensitive issue where it is important to remember as volunteers we are not here to change culture accuse or judge. We are here to promote peace and encourage best practices in each of our sectors including health.
Several tribes believe that a woman is not clean if she is not circumcised, several males won't marry an uncircumcised woman, and it is difficult to be one uncircumcised in many as insults will find their way to you as "smelly man," etc. This practice is primarily through the women only where men are not invited to be a part of the ceremony or decision. The pressure comes mostly from the grandparents as well as the society at large. The Wolof tribe historically was known for not practicing female circumcision. Recently with all the intermarriages, this practice has started to infiltrate into the Wolof tribe. There was a story of a Wolof bride uncircumcised and thus looked down upon from the women in the tribe of her husband. She pleaded to her husband to be circumcised in order to be accepted by the women in the village and was before giving birth to her first child so that the women could see during the birth that she was circumcised.
In the Gambia specifically 66.2% practice type I FGM/C, 26.3% type II, and 7.5% type III. Some complications include hemorrhage, death, keloids, tetanus, STI's, UTI's, scarring (which can prevent vaginal fluid being secreted causing extra friction tearing etc during intercourse and labour), etc. Health clinics and health working professionals are not encouraged or permitted to safely perform FGM/C as it is perceived as a health risk that is not safe. Any modification to the female genitalia is disturbing an organ where in male circumcision it is removal of foreskin, not damaging or effecting that organ (yes I'm aware that skin is an organ too...). A small improvement is that people seem to be using clean new razor blades more, and a blunt rusty knife passed down from generation to generation holding the spirits of the circumcision ceremony, less.
People also seem to be aware of the "this is maybe not such a good thing" attitude surrounded around FGM/C and are keeping quieter about it, perhaps even becoming embarrassed about it and so forth, but still practicing it. Change occurs slow slow and needs the support of many, men and women for behavior change to occur.
Our guest speaker from this Wassu Kaffo organization trains health professionals as well as Imams (prayer leaders) on the health risks associated with FGM/C so that those professionals and well respected individuals can share the message with the communities in which they serve either at the local health clinic or in the local mosque.
For us volunteers, we can try to even just have that difficult conversation inquiring about the practice to learn more about the culture we are immersed in. If our host sister or best friend in village knows that we know about FGM/C, they know they have someone else to confide in. As volunteers too we can inform about health risks and inform that women from America at least are both healthy and can be wed, with a full clitoris in tact and all.
So, we survived the GAD days where it was followed by a modification of the "Anything you can do I can do better" song having men and women taking turns to announce the above verse followed by the opposite sex chiming in with "no you can't" and so on to the modified verse of men and women then holding hands and singing "anything we can do we can do better, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can!!"
We left the training with concrete action plans, inspired, and more aware of what the sexes feel and go through. I saw in the faces of the men the pain they felt in hearing about FGM/C in particular.
It might take some time but I think the more we can do trainings like this and expose each other to... each other, the sooner we will start seeing men fetching water and supporting women with their chores, and women supporting men with finance and business. We realized after the training how it's important for a nation to utilize the skills and talents of both men and women for development and that when you are capitalizing on all your people, you can develop that much faster than if you are only utilizing half of what you've got.
I think young men and women would benefit from similar GAD talks and activities stateside because as much as we like to think we're perfect, we're not. Pay is still not equal and men and women are influenced by "socially constructed differences behaviours and expectations that change across cultures over time" aka gender.
It was a warm Christmas spent at the beach with fellow PCVs with a more than an indulgent breakfast of sticky buns, quiche, muffins, and fruit put on by the volunteer support committee (VSN) for a price of about seven US bucks. Not too bad when you're far from home for the holidays.
I came in partly for the holiday and good cheer but mostly for the gender and development (GAD) in service training that occurred on the 28th and 29th of December.
The GAD committee was encouraged by PC admin to put on a GAD in service training for both volunteers and counterparts. The two day training covered topics regarding:
- Gender in The Gambia (the difference between sex and gender)
- Gender Development in our Sectors (environment, health, and education)
- Men as Partners (how men and women can work together)
- Family Planning (birth spacing, number of children, etc)
- Cultural Mysteries (demystifying Gambian and American culture where some questions included for Americans, do people practice polygamy, does America have tribes and do we know them, and what superstitions are we having there, and from PCV's, why do Gambians steam the rice before boiling it, and clarified how the term toubab is a promotion for Gambians but derogatory for us, PCV's)
- Business Strategies
- Micro finance
- Girls and Sports
- Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) and gender based violence
- Making Changes in Your Life and Community
- Action Plan for change in our Communities
- and Evaluations
I invited a female teacher from my school to attend. She is very active in the school heading the Peer Health Club and always assisting me in anything I need. I got to know her mostly from her profound assistance with regard to teaching a lesson on HIV/AIDS to our grade nine students at the school. Our plan of action is to continue to spread sensitization messages of HIV/AIDS throughout the community in the form of dramas by the Peer Health students. We also want to try to encourage more girls to play sports at the school.
*--**-Caution, the following is super sensitive and perhaps difficult read regarding FGM/C-**--*
I was nervous as to how this discussion was going to go. A volunteer brought in a guest speaker who works for a research organization out of Spain, http://www.mgf.uab.es/?lang=english. The website is mostly in Spanish but maybe it can be translated if you are interested. He is a Gambian working for this Spanish researcher and was extremely sensitive and professional in his presentation on the issue. He came about it from a research and medical concern angle in a means to take the personalization out of it. In The Gambia, 78% of FGM/C is observed amongst the different tribes. Our neighboring Senegal observes 28% where it is illegal to perform FGM/C there. One reason it is so high in Gambia is because here is home to a number of different tribes that recognize this practice as being important to their culture.
From what I can understand there is Islamic law, Farla, and prophetic teaching, Suna. Praying five times a day towards the East is an example of Islamic law, meaning if you are to be a good Muslim, you have to honor Islamic law. Male circumcision also falls under Islamic law but female circumcision does not. According to our guest speaker, FGM/C is not practiced in Saudi Arabia. The image below shows where it is known to be practiced in the Africa and some Middle Eastern countries:
Where type I is a small cutting of the clitoris to full clitoral removal. Type II is full clitoral removal and scraping of the minor labia, and Type III is the removal of the clitoris, small and large labia, sometimes followed by a closure of the vaginal hole to be opened again upon marriage. There is a story from the prophet that mentions a cutting of the clitoris but no command that this needs to happen. Every culture has their own beliefs wrapped up around the issue. As you can imagine this is a very personal and sensitive issue where it is important to remember as volunteers we are not here to change culture accuse or judge. We are here to promote peace and encourage best practices in each of our sectors including health.
Several tribes believe that a woman is not clean if she is not circumcised, several males won't marry an uncircumcised woman, and it is difficult to be one uncircumcised in many as insults will find their way to you as "smelly man," etc. This practice is primarily through the women only where men are not invited to be a part of the ceremony or decision. The pressure comes mostly from the grandparents as well as the society at large. The Wolof tribe historically was known for not practicing female circumcision. Recently with all the intermarriages, this practice has started to infiltrate into the Wolof tribe. There was a story of a Wolof bride uncircumcised and thus looked down upon from the women in the tribe of her husband. She pleaded to her husband to be circumcised in order to be accepted by the women in the village and was before giving birth to her first child so that the women could see during the birth that she was circumcised.
In the Gambia specifically 66.2% practice type I FGM/C, 26.3% type II, and 7.5% type III. Some complications include hemorrhage, death, keloids, tetanus, STI's, UTI's, scarring (which can prevent vaginal fluid being secreted causing extra friction tearing etc during intercourse and labour), etc. Health clinics and health working professionals are not encouraged or permitted to safely perform FGM/C as it is perceived as a health risk that is not safe. Any modification to the female genitalia is disturbing an organ where in male circumcision it is removal of foreskin, not damaging or effecting that organ (yes I'm aware that skin is an organ too...). A small improvement is that people seem to be using clean new razor blades more, and a blunt rusty knife passed down from generation to generation holding the spirits of the circumcision ceremony, less.
People also seem to be aware of the "this is maybe not such a good thing" attitude surrounded around FGM/C and are keeping quieter about it, perhaps even becoming embarrassed about it and so forth, but still practicing it. Change occurs slow slow and needs the support of many, men and women for behavior change to occur.
Our guest speaker from this Wassu Kaffo organization trains health professionals as well as Imams (prayer leaders) on the health risks associated with FGM/C so that those professionals and well respected individuals can share the message with the communities in which they serve either at the local health clinic or in the local mosque.
For us volunteers, we can try to even just have that difficult conversation inquiring about the practice to learn more about the culture we are immersed in. If our host sister or best friend in village knows that we know about FGM/C, they know they have someone else to confide in. As volunteers too we can inform about health risks and inform that women from America at least are both healthy and can be wed, with a full clitoris in tact and all.
--**--**-end super sensitive topic-**--**--
So, we survived the GAD days where it was followed by a modification of the "Anything you can do I can do better" song having men and women taking turns to announce the above verse followed by the opposite sex chiming in with "no you can't" and so on to the modified verse of men and women then holding hands and singing "anything we can do we can do better, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can!!"
We left the training with concrete action plans, inspired, and more aware of what the sexes feel and go through. I saw in the faces of the men the pain they felt in hearing about FGM/C in particular.
It might take some time but I think the more we can do trainings like this and expose each other to... each other, the sooner we will start seeing men fetching water and supporting women with their chores, and women supporting men with finance and business. We realized after the training how it's important for a nation to utilize the skills and talents of both men and women for development and that when you are capitalizing on all your people, you can develop that much faster than if you are only utilizing half of what you've got.
I think young men and women would benefit from similar GAD talks and activities stateside because as much as we like to think we're perfect, we're not. Pay is still not equal and men and women are influenced by "socially constructed differences behaviours and expectations that change across cultures over time" aka gender.
Anything we can do we can do better
We can do anything we want to do.
We can do anything we want to do.
Yes we can
Yes we can
Yes we can!!!
