9.2 African Initiatives
9.2.6. Tostan Abandonment Programme in Senegal
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Furthermore, discussion on the issue of female circumcision within the family is also equally important. Cottingham and Kismodi (2009:120) point out that since parents fear that their daughters will remain unmarried, collectivity in the abandonment strategy for female circumcision is therefore vital. After all, they point out that experience had shown that only if the decision against the practice was widespread within the practicing community then only would it be possible to bring about a new social norm that does not harm girls or violate their rights. In other words, therefore, community-led action is therefore crucial in the fight against female circumcision.
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Tostan Project, but they asked him to first consult with his own female relatives about their experiences and feelings, and then they would discuss the matter with him. The Imām complied with this request and spoke to his female relatives.
Subsequently, he learnt much about the pain and suffering those women in his family experienced when they were circumcised.
He returned to the Tostan representatives and offered his assistance and support towards the abandonment of the practice of female circumcision. However, he pointed out that the choice of language and methods of approach were of paramount importance. Since these topics were taboo topics, they should be approached and discussed with sensitivity and consideration. In the past, organizations attempting abandonment strategies did so in mixed audiences, and used terms and images that shocked the villagers. They approached the practice as if it was a disease. The Imam emphasized that “that is no way to change a culture.” He also suggested that all the neighbouring villagers should participate in the pledge since marriages occurred across all the outlying villages, and parents thought that, if they did not circumcise their daughters, then their daughters would lose their “honour” and remain unmarried. Therefore all villages should participate in the programme collectively.
Consequently, Imām Diawara and the women of Malicounda-Bambara planned a strategy that consisted of the following:
Go to all the villages in the inter-marrying community and start by reaffirming personal relationships.
Do not tell the villagers what to do, but rather what Malicounda-Bambara and Nguerigne-Bambara had done, and why. Then let them tell their own stories and make their own decisions.
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Avoid using graphic terms or demonstrations for taboo activities. Refer to female circumcision simply as “the custom”, as everyone knows what is meant. (In Senegalese, Bambara „customs,‟ in the plural refer to a whole set of cultural traditions; „the custom‟ in the singular refers to female circumcision only.)
Avoid condemning practitioners either implicitly or explicitly for practices they have been performing in good faith.
Having outlined the above strategy, Imam Diawara, his nephew and the female circumciser from Kër Simbara, went from door to door to inform villagers within the marriage community. “It was a ground-shaking experience, analogous – in its own way – to the „speak bitterness‟ campaigns of revolutionary China or the truth commissions of post-apartheid South Africa” (Easton et al, 2003:449).
Women opened up and told stories of daughters who had died from haemorrhages, contracted infections or experienced long-term psychological distress from the circumcision trauma. Circumcisers and men also discussed issues. No systematic inducements were offered to traditional circumcisers to abandon their practice and nothing was said to condemn them. The approach focused more on drying up demand than on forbidding supply.
9.2.6.1. The Pledge Ceremony
Easton et al (2003:449) mentions that subsequently, all ten villages joined the original three villages, Malicounda-Bambara, Nguerigne-Bambara and Kër Simbara in opposing the practice of female circumcision. In February 1998, 8000 rural people
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assembled at Diabougou, one of the villages that had joined the project and made an official declaration. They declared „never again‟. After this event many other villages have also decided to abandon the practice of female circumcision.
According to the Citizen (May 2003:15) since 1998, 708 villages – just over 10 percent of those practicing female circumcision in Senegal, had also issued declarations with about 400 more villages in 2003.
The Tostan Project has been remarkably successful since the first pledge ceremony that was held in 1998. Senegal appears to be at the forefront in the abandonment of the practice of female circumcision. The following is a description of a pledge ceremony that was held in Matam, Senegal, where communities from 70 villages assembled to declare their abandonment of the practice. Crowe (2005:36) describes the ceremony as follows:
At colourful declaration ceremonies, such as the one held in Sedo Abass, in Matam district, last Sunday, men, women and girls from 70 villages in Matam lined up to call for an end to female genital mutilation. Dressed in their brightest boubous – lilacs and oranges, limes and shocking pinks – made-up and bedecked with jewellery, the women floated elegantly around the village square saying it was like freedom day.4
9.2.6.2. Role of the Religious Leaders (Imāms)
The Citizen (May 2003:15) affirms that the key to the women‟s success in the abandonment programme of female circumcision has been the willingness of
4 See Appendix 4 of this thesis.
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traditional and religious leaders to support their decision, and even help promote it.
Easton et al (2003:449) give due credit to Imām Demba Diawara‟s participation in the initial strategy for the abandonment of the practice and heralds it as a “turning point” in the project. Like Imām Diawara, many other religious leaders and traditional leaders joined in the project to abandon the practice. For example, Imām Alassane Bah travelled on foot and by bicycle through all kinds of roads to reach isolated villages. Both Muslim and Christian clergy worked together to stop this practice.
According to Ben Ari (2003:9), the practicing communities erroneously believed that the practice of female circumcision is a requirement of Islam, which is the religion of most Senegalese. They had been led to believe that it is an “honour” or “gift” for women. The Imāms assured them that the practice was not a requirement of Islam.
Imām Diawara emphasized that abandoning the practice, “would not risk the prestige of their daughters.”
The Citizen (May 2003:15) records the following is the argument that Imam Allasane Bah used to convince the people in Senegal to demonstrate that the practice of female circumcision is not a requirement of Islam. “Islam neither forbids this practice, nor requires it,” he explained. “It is an honour that is done to women, but it is an honour that hurts them, and the religion says don‟t hurt women.”