A woman describes female genital cutting in her African community, where it's believed necessary for a girl to be clean and marriageable, though not required by the Quran. Her sister Sophia bled to death after the procedure; her sister Amina died in childbirth. She now calls for ending the practice and redefining womanhood.
I love my mother. I love my family. And I love Africa. For over 3,000 years, the family truly believes that a daughter who is not circumcised is not clean because what exists between our legs is unclean. So it must be removed and sealed up as proof of virginity and virtue. And in the wedding night, the husband takes a blade or a knife and cuts it open before he forces himself into his bride. An uncircumcised girl cannot marry. Consequently, she's expelled from her village and put on the same level as a whore. This practice continues even though it is not written in the Quran. It is accepted that as a result of this mutilation, women are sick mentally and physically for the rest of their lives. The same women who are the backbone of Africa. I survived, but my two sisters didn't. Sophia bled to death after being mutilated, and Amina died in childbirth with the baby in her belly. How much stronger would our continent be if this senseless ritual were abolished? There is a proverb in my country: The last camel in line walks as quickly as the first. Whatever happens to the least of us, has an effect on all of us. When I was a child, I said, "I do not want to be a woman. Why, when it is so painful and so unhappy?" But now that I am grown, I am proud to be who I am. But for the sake of all of us, let us try and change what that means to be a woman. Eh?
