"I love that you've brought this to attention. An extensive database of uncommon but resistant and hardy plants/foods could be developed and organized by climate. Ease of growth and processing should also be taken in to account. I will try to…"
A crash course in changing the world.
An Ethiopian success story.
Abandoning Female Genital Cutting/Mutilation in the Afar Region of Ethiopia - 08
April 2010A smile formed on Dohra Al
i’s face when she recalled what her eldest
daughter asked her a couple of years ago. “Mother, is there a place in
this world where FGM is not practised where I could go to?” At the time,
the question came as an affront to Dohra, who was herself one of the
women in the community who did the cutting. Thinking back, Dohra says
the words of her daughter were prophetic. A campaign to abandon female
genital mutilation/cutting was begun in the region right about that time
– in the year 2000. The campaign was mainly spearheaded by religious
leaders, who worked tirelessly to inculcate an understanding among their
more conservative counterparts, clan leaders and the community at large
that the practice is not supported by Islam. This came as news to many,
who had grown up with the idea that it was a religious requirement.
This story was at the top of the womenwatch news feed. It is amazing that Dora Ali was able to turn around and go from being an active proponent of FGM to working in her community to irradicate it as a cultural practice. Such a change takes real courage.
Because the religious leaders in the region are spearheading the campaign there is real hope the practice can be wiped out.
I read Waris Diries books years ago.
After reading her books I spoke with people to try to understand why it happened and the answer was that women saw it as a way of being clean and good and marriageable.
The religious leaders are now untying these associations with FGM and insisting that it is unislamic.
A news item on the The Waris Dirie foundation site it says that religious leaders in Mauritania are also banning the practice.
The film about Waris Diries 'Desert Flower' is again highlighting the issue in Europe and as a result of it Germany is tightening its laws against the practice.
If I could find out anything I would like to know whar the chain of events were that led to the religious leaders spearheading these campaigns. I'd like to know how such things begin, what the paths are that lead to change.
Waris Dirie certainly made one.
Views: 56
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Comment by A.V.Koshy on April 10, 2010 at 5:03pm
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that took courage :) pje looks like youre on to something
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Comment by Sarah Shaw Tatoun on April 10, 2010 at 5:21pm
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PJE-- You're sure right about identifying one's own beliefs. As Benjamin Franklin said, "There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one's self."
About FGM-- from what I understand, in some cultures the women themselves demand to be 'sewn up' after childbirth because that's the only way it's acceptable for them to go out alone, to work, to go to the market, etc. They prefer to undergo the pain and health dangers rather than remain at home. Also, families who don't want to have their daughters 'cut' often face not only condemnation from the community, but from the girls themselves, because they are afraid no man will be willing to marry them.
This suggests to me that the practice is integrated into the culture in a complex way and changing it probably requires an equally 'complex' approach-- by which I mean confronting attitudes on multiple fronts.
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Comment by Samiran Roy on April 10, 2010 at 7:59pm
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@PJE i know an good way to change these belief systems
You need to be around children a lot, and listen to them, they ask many penetrating questions, which helps you notice things from a different paradigm.
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Comment by Ternura Rojas on April 13, 2010 at 1:07pm
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Hi all, me again. PJE pointed out "After the region (Egipt?) converted to Islam, this practice (FGM) was no longer possible because Islam prohibits Muslims from enslaving others of their own religious beliefs". Well, now I am REALLY confused 'cause I just found out that a system exists now by which Arab Muslims -- the bidanes—own black slaves, the haratines. An estimated 90,000 black Mauritanians remain essentially enslaved to Arab/Berber owners!! source: Wikipedia.
I am just fed up with catholic chastity and other religious frauds |o[. T
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Comment by L on April 20, 2010 at 12:27am
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It's inspiring.
Comment
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