By J. Daaud
An
Obstructed Labor
“Fatima’s
only ten.” The nurse answers Ann-Marie’s question before it exits her lips. “A
villager told me she was raped by a Janjaweed Militia. Her parents disowned her
as soon as they found out she was pregnant.”
“Why?
It wasn’t her fault.” Ann-Marie smooths back the hair of the girl-child,
swallowing hard.
“It doesn’t matter. A child out of wedlock is a disgrace. It’s a good thing I found her in time…her labors progressed. She wouldn’t have survived.”
“It doesn’t matter. A child out of wedlock is a disgrace. It’s a good thing I found her in time…her labors progressed. She wouldn’t have survived.”
“Why?”
Ann-Marie’s question is silenced by another earsplitting scream. A flurry
of IV, gloves, sheets, hands, and wails
ensue.
The
doctor’s words split the stifling air. “We’ve got to act fast, ladies. Fatima’s
had type III FGM. Looks like someone stitched her up again after the rape.” The
doctor’s prognosis hangs like smoke from a fire. “If we don’t open her up
quickly, this girl and her baby are doing to die.”
###
Birth Pangs—The
Beginning of a Calling
Ann-Marie's encounter with Fatima at the charity clinic in 2005 was the catalyst for a new purpose and calling. In witnessing the birth complications of this young girl subjected to female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM or FGC), Ann-Marie saw just one of the ramifications of this cultural cutting practice--obstructed labor. She soon came to learn about the other affects of FGM on girls like Fatima; implications such as increased susceptibility to infections, depression, anxiety and even death from shock. Fatima was just one girl. How many had or were suffering like her? This question burned in Ann-Marie's heart. With Fatima's face imprinted in her mind, she returned home knowing she had a part to play in anti-FGM work. But what?
On
Christmas Eve, Ann-Marie had a vivid vision of standing in a laboratory
surrounded by veiled girls. On her desk, a tattered linen textbook laid open.
Next, she opened the courtyard door to see a man delivering a parcel with her
name and the words ‘urgent and important’ etched in bold letters. The parcel
contained a shiny colored textbook. Ann-Marie awoke knowing God was calling her
to study and stand up against FGM.
Following
the vision, Ann-Marie pursued FGM education and specialized in Islamics,
gender, anthropology and development. In her study of FGM, she discovered a
staggering statistic—one hundred and forty million girls are subjected to FGM
each year. From as early as eight days old to the day before a wedding ceremony,
these girls and young women are cut by grandmothers, mothers, or midwives with an unsterilized razor in order to uphold a tradition that dates back to ancient
Egypt. Circumcised slave girls came with a higher price tag.
Perhaps
the most disturbing statistic for Ann-Marie--FGM is still prevalent and legal
in at least 28 countries today. It’s practiced amongst ethnic communities in
Africa, some parts of the Middle East and Asia with the belief that circumcised
females preserve chastity, virginity, family honor, and improve marriage prospects.
For many, FGM is not an option. Parents who opt out of cutting their girls bear
the risk of being ostracized or persecuted.
Ann-Marie’s studies, along with a college placement to the gender based violence unit in an African refugee camp, confirmed her calling to help quell the unjust practice of FGM. But how?
The birth of a
dream—28 Too Many
Since
her first encounter with FGM in 2005, God has continued to shape Ann-Marie’s
specific vision of anti-FGM work. The vision is simple—to see anti-FGM
charities unite and share ideas through a web enabled learning community in
order to influence governments, UN agencies, community elders and families toward
ending this practice.
The vision contains five parts: locate all anti-FGM work and band together, develop education strategies, engage in lobbying and advocacy, provide psychological and social resources for healing and restoration for FGM victims, and obtain point people for each of the 28 countries. If charities form one collective voice, they can shout out together against injustice—governments will have to listen.
In
December, 2010, Ann-Marie launched the website 28 Too Many. It’s a place where charities can collaborate; a place
where people can become involved in anti-FGM work through going, giving, and
praying. It’s the beginning to the end of a beautiful dream –that one day
Fatima’s great-granddaughters will only hear of this unjust practice in stories
of old, never themselves experiencing an obstructed labor due to razor and
thread. But when?
For
even this moment, FGM is practiced in 28 countries too many.
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