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The discarded women of Mali live behind these walls. Photo from Family Care International.
I have mixed feeling towards Mali. I loved my time there and would go back in a heart beat… but. and it’s a big BUT. It’s one of the few countries in the world where female genital mutilation is still widely practiced and is legal. Many countries at least pay lip service and outlaw the practice on the books (it is performed anyway). But at least if it is technically illegal – it can be prosecuted AND when a government publicly proclaims something to be illegal, it is the first step in the permanent eradication against FGM. If FGM is still legal, there is not even a toe hold for the battle to begin.
- On my three and a half week journey up the Niger River, we stopped at a small village, miles from any road and days from a major city. A woman who looked to be about 50 [she was 31] came up to me crying, begging and pleading. My interpreter said, “She wants to know if you have medicine. She is sick.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“All women out here have the female cut when they are young. When they get married and have children, there are problems. She is in a lot of pain. If something doesn’t happen she will be turned out.”
TURNED OUT. As in – you are no good to your husband anymore so get the hell out. The “lucky” ones end up at the Fistule hospital in Mopti, where the women and some of their children have a roof over their head and access to food. The unlucky ones just disappear.
This shop next to the Fistule home is how the women make money to eat. Photo from the Catholic Relief Services.
The hospital – which is really more of a “retirement home” for women past their prime (read: anyone who has had complications due to an unsanitary and brutal cut) is a few blocks from the port of Mopti and the courtyard is full of discarded women and their children. Next to the mud walled courtyard is a small metal shop which sells jewelry and trinkets made by the women in an attempt to get money to eat and pay their rent at the home (because yeah – it ain’t free).
“They live here for the rest of their lives unless they get better,” my interpreter said. “They don’t usually get better.”
For those who do not know, FGM (from wikipedia):
involves one or more of several procedures, which vary according to the ethnic group. They include removal of all or part of the clitoris and clitoral hood; all or part of the clitoris and inner labia; and in its most severe form (infibulation) all or part of the inner and outer labia and the fusion of the wound. In this last procedure, which the WHO calls Type III FGM, a small hole is left for the passage of urine and menstrual blood, and the wound is opened up for intercourse and childbirth.[10]The health effects depend on the procedure but can include recurrent infections, chronic pain, cysts, infertility, complications during childbirth and fatal bleeding.[11]
In Mali, Type III is most common.
For more information and to help in the fight against FGM visit:
Family Care International – see 1st pic.
Catholic Relief Services – see second pic.
Below is a video of a former “Cutter” – the woman who would perform the barbarism – watch it and remember – but for the grace of God, these little girls trying to run could have been you.
Hi, my friends have an NGO called healing Hands of Joy that helps women who’ve experienced these issues…might be good to connect them to the people you met in Mali. Leah Pedersen runs it, happy to introduce. Tx for the post.
Catherine, thank you for this – and for anyone who is interested in helping or getting involved, here is the site for the Fistula Hospital in Mali http://www.fistulacare.org/pages/sites/mali.php
and the site for Healing Hands of Joy: http://www.healinghandsofjoy.com/
To all the women in Western Countries, just think: What if this were you? It very easily could have been.
Thank you Paula. This is a powerful post.
Just gross and ugly, explain how inhumanely people misuse their powers, no matter what excuses they utter!
if they keep “treating” their women this way, i suppose they will be left with none at all and so, hopefully, extinct themselves. Thank you Paula for giving information on how to help.
Paula, With all due respect, I find your ethnocentricity entirely offending. How dare you suggest that all ladies should be thankful they weren’t born Malian. How much time did you spend in the country? Where did you get that the most common type of FGM performed in Mali is Type III? The fact that you suggest their behavior is barbaric tells me you spent very little time trying to understand the culture. This is a very delicate issue and you will not get anywhere by criticizing the citizens of Mali. Westerners will take your word for how you interpret a culture during your travels and I suggest that you be more cautious in how you handle that privilege.
i love a culture apologist for FGM.