Special report: “I was mutilated to eight days” – survivors, clerics, drive of UNICEF for the end of the MGF in Nigeria

Daud Olatunji

When his mother Doris Akhere was said by his mother who had been mutilated only eight days after birth, he remained speechless. The revelation arrived years later, but its scars, both physical and emotional, are fresh.

“I was hospitalized for three months because of bleeding,” said Akhere, his voice breaks.

“I didn’t even know I was cut until I was 15 years old, during a biology lesson, when the diagram of the females did not seem mine. It was then that I realized what had been taken away from me.”

Akhere is one of the millions of Nigerian women whose lives have been modeled by the harmful practice of female genital mutilation (MGF).

The platform has gathered that despite being put out of Nigeria, UNICEF estimates that almost 20 million women and girls in the country have undergone MGF, giving Nigeria the third highest prevalence at a global level, after India and Bangladesh.

The Times platform reports that the practice – often conducted in childhood or childhood – leaves more than a simple physical pain. He calls the women of their dignity, complicates marriages and strengthens harmful myths that continue to circulate in the Nigerian communities.

… “I cut my daughter ‘

In a two -day media dialogue in Benin, organized by the Ministry of Information and Orientation of the State of Oyo in collaboration with Unicef, survivors, former practitioners and supporters put their experiences bare.

For some, like Grace Ogar, the story is of regrets.

“I inherited the practice of my grandmother and became a cutter myself,” he admitted.

“I lost account of how many girls I mutilated, even if every time, it was severe bleeding, acute pain and the non -sterilized blades. My past relationships failed because I could not connect emotionally. I fear the wedding now.”

His words echo to those of homogbode bridgets, another former practitioner who confessed to cut his daughter too.

“That decision put our relationship to the test,” he said. “For more than three decades, I have practiced it, but now I use the same energy to make a campaign against it.”

… Mothers captured in cycles of ignorance

For Rachael Odion, 56 years old, ignorance has modeled the reality of his family. “Three of my five daughters were mutilated because I didn’t know the dangers,” he complained.

“They constantly complained of itching and infections. If I knew, then what I know now, I would never have allowed it.”

Another six -year -old mother, who begged anonymity to protect her daughters, has narrated how poverty involuntarily saved her two younger girls.

“I had already circumcised my first three daughters. When I had my fifth, there was no money to pay. Later, I tried again, but the money that my husband gave me was not enough – at 12,000 they were requested. Before I could lift it, a female chemist made me know a defense program of the FGM. It was when my eyes open,” he said.

He admitted that he had planned once he “going back” to complete the circumcisions, believing in the myth that a girl who is not circumcise would never remain with a husband. “Today I am a lawyer. I say to the mothers: don’t do it to your children. Destroy life.”

… Silence in marriages

For many survivors, the most disturbing toll is intimacy.

A survivor, who asked not to be appointed, described the experience as “traumatizing”. “Fgm destroyed my ability to enjoy intimacy. He left me numb. The parents who do it still should be arrested,” he said.

Patience, another survivor, cried while narrating how mutilation ruined his marriage. “I’m sorry I cut three of my five daughters. If not for the financial tension, I would have continued with the remaining two. I lived in ignorance,” he admitted.

… Chierico, Unicef, Govt. Join the call

A RelEven the leader Igous who lent his voice. The Ken Izah shepherd of the Ark of the Refuge Christian Center in Benin declared: “The FGMs do not have bases in the Bible. In Genesis 17:23, God commanded Abraham to circumcide males, not the females. The FGMs have not placed in the Plan of God: it is despicable and must end.”

The head of the Lagos office in the Lagos of UNICEF, Celine Lafoucriere, underlined that MGF is not only a cultural practice but a violation of human rights.

“Almost 20 million women and girls in Nigeria have been cut. This is a huge number that we cannot be blind or deaf,” he warned.

“Despite being put out of the FGM, the FGM persists because of myths and traditions. No culture should compromise the health or future of girls. The good news is that the change is taking place through collaborations with the government, survivors and communities.”

The communication manager of UNICEF, EjioFor’s blessing, added: “No woman should undergo MGF: now she is a criminal crime in Nigeria. The media must guide the defense so that no girl suffers again”.

On the government side, Mr. Rotimi Babalola, permanent secretary of the Ministry of State Information Oyo, reiterated the commitment of the state.

“We have made similar defense programs with safety agencies and the judiciary. Now it is the shift of the media. We have to double our efforts to totally eliminate the MGF,” he said.

… Breaking the cycle

While the statistics remain dark, the voices of the survivors are changing narratives to the basis.

The communities that once defended the practice are starting to question it. The campaigns are slowly moving perceptions from tradition to the protection of girls’ rights.

As Lafoucriere said: “Every girl in Nigeria deserves to grow free from mutilation, free from fear and free to thrive”.

For Akhere, Ogar, Odion, Patience and countless others, the pain will never disappear completely. But their voices, once tested by culture, are now their noisier weapons against a practice they hope will end up with their generation.

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