Female Genital Mutilation by Okolo Eleojo Isaac

Female Genital Mutilation by Okolo Eleojo Isaac

Animals avoid being wounded, injured or cut.   There's virtually no wound without pains, scars, or marks.  An injury goes a long way to incapacitate, reduce pro-activeness, confidence and competence. Knowing this, why deliberately injure someone for no just reason?  Hmm! It's saddening to have men in this generation still living in the stone age. How disgusting is it to see someone using a touch light in broad daylight.  I mean, why would you keep being in darkness when light is here? A singer will say in Yoruba native, “Imole de okuku parada” meaning light has come, darkness has to disappear.
You this boy what are you talking about? Dear, it's something disturbing my mind; it has become a concern to me.  Come and hear o.   How unimaginable is it to know that females still undergo circumcision in this age.  This act is called female genital mutilation where part or all the female external genitalia is removed by cutting intentionally for no medical reasons.  This dark act is done as a culture, family trend, sacrifice, and  other fetish reasons.
This cutting also known as female circumcision, or female genital mutilation (FGM),  is mostly a ritual cutting or removal of some part or all of the external female genitalia usually carried out by traditional circumcisers, who play vital roles in childbirths. Funny enough, this practice is found in Africa (majorly), Asia, and the Middle East.
Why not fight against this, seeing there is no genuine reason for its practice.  As some will say that the act is rooted in gender inequality and an attempt to control women's sexuality. It is usually initiated and carried out by women who see it as a source of honour and fear that failing to have their daughters and granddaughters cut will expose the girls to social exclusion.
Frankly speaking, this act is internationally recognized as an abuse or violation of human rights of girls and women.  It is usually carried out on the tender ones; days after birth to puberty (the children).  Female genital mutilation FGM has no single health benefit, rather it causes harms and complications such as; sever pain, shock, injury to surrounding genital tissue, urinary problem, infections (Tetanus fever), genital  tissue swelling, wound healing problem, vaginal problems (itching, infection, discharge, bacterial vaginosis etc), painful and/or difficulty in menstruations, scar tissue and keloid also childbirth complications include; (difficulty in delivery, caesarean section, need to resuscitate the baby, and excessive bleeding).  It also causes psychological problems such as; anxiety, low self-esteem and depression.
In 1997, World Health Organization (WHO) together with United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) made a joint declaration against the practice and subsequent years along the line same bodies and other united bodies have been making moves, sensitizing and fighting tooth and nail to coin this very practice common in western Africa and other countries.
Research done by UNICEF estimated in 2016 that more than 200 million women living today have been mutilated in 30 countries—27 African countries, Indonesia, Iraqi Kurdistan and Yemen.
Lets go through a little research work done by UNICEF around 2016:
Age Days after birth to puberty.
Ages 15–49
Somalia (98%),  Guinea (97%),  Djibouti (93%),  Sierra Leone (90%),  Mali (89%),  Egypt (87%),  Sudan (87%),  Eritrea (83%),  Burkina Faso (76%),  Gambia (75%),  Ethiopia (74%),  Mauritania (69%),  Liberia (50%),  Guinea-Bissau (45%),  Chad (44%),  Côte d'Ivoire (38%),  Nigeria (25%),  Senegal (25%),  Central African Republic (24%),  Kenya (21%),  Yemen (19%),  United Republic of Tanzania (15%),  Benin (9%),  Iraq (8%),  Togo (5%),  Ghana (4%),  Niger (2%),  Uganda (1%),  Cameroon (1%)
Ages 0–14
Gambia (56%),  Mauritania (54%),  Indonesia (49%, 0–11),  Guinea (46%),  Eritrea (33%), Sudan (32%), Guinea-Bissau (30%), Ethiopia (24%), Nigeria (17%), Yemen (15%), Egypt (14%), Burkina Faso (13%), Sierra Leone (13%), Senegal (13%), Côte d'Ivoire (10%), Kenya (3%), Uganda (1%), Central African Republic (1%), Ghana (1%), Togo (0.3%), Benin (0.2%).
The hurt, pain and mark this act leaves on the body and soul of individuals can not be captured in words. However, instead of sitting back doing nothing, exposing and condemning this acts goes a long way in saving a soul. Measures should be taken by not just the Federal Government of countries but state and local governments are to make sure that this act is put to an end completely. People's minds need to be renewed by telling them of the effects and some customs need to be done away with if growth or development is ever going to take place. FGM does nothing but to harm the individual involved.
Okolo Eleojo Isaac