Free surgery for victims of FGM
Victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) would have cause to smile. The world’s first ever clitoral repair hospital for victims of FGM, located in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, is set to open on March 7, 2014, according to a US-based, non-profit organisation, Clitoraid.
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Clitoraid has named the new facility “the Kamkaso,” which means “the house for women,” which has been nicknamed “the Pleasure Hospital,” since the surgery “will restore their dignity as women, as well as their ability to experience physical pleasure, which was taken from them against their will.”
According to the organisation, Mrs Chantal Compaore, First Lady of Burkina Faso, will perform the official opening of the hospital, which already has hundreds of women from the West Africa sub-region waiting to have the surgery done.
In a statement, Clitoraid’s Communications Director, Nadine Gary, said: “Having Chantal Compaore's support and presence on March 7 is such a wonderful way to celebrate this opening! She has been a steadfast voice against the horrors of FGM, and we’re honoured that she will be there.”
FGM is a cultural practice in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, believed to control women’s sexuality, make them modest and pure, and normally takes place at age five.
Funding for hospital
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Nadine Gary, disclosed that the facility cost close to $400,000 to build.
Answering a question on how the amount was raised for the hospital, she stated: “The people who donated were individuals around the world from all walks of life who were moved by the cause. Simple workers, university students, professors, people in the medical profession, artists, many, many women and men!
“We were also humbled by the generosity of people who work in the adult industry and who gave readily to Clitoraid's course because they couldn't fathom someone taking away a human being's sexual pleasure.”
On the women waiting for the surgery, Nadine Gary said: “Women are coming mainly from Burkina, from West Africa in general, and women from Ghana have contacted us indeed and may be coming for their surgery.
“Some of the women on our list are professionals, some are house wives, we may even have a woman who was a former circumciser and who has suffered from genital cutting herself. We are coming full circle! All of these women long for one thing: Being whole and feeling sexual pleasure like all normal women.”
She indicated that although volunteer surgeons from the United States of America, Dr Marci Bowers, M.D., and Dr Harold Henning Jr , M.D. were the only surgeons who would perform the surgeries, they would train local surgeons during their two full week humanitarian visit to Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso.
Asked whether there were any plans to build more of such hospitals in the future, she said, “It is our dearest wish that this Kamkaso Hospital becomes one of many clitoral repair hospitals throughout sub-Saharan Africa from the West to the East and other world regions where women have been genitally mutilated. We invite all the doctors who wish to be trained to contact us.
She intimated that “for example, in Kenya, a doctor has contacted us for training and it will be an opportunity to expand the surgery in East Africa as well.”
How idea came about
Explaining how the idea of the hospital came about, Nadine Gary stated:“After spiritual leader Maitreya Rael heard about a clitoral repair procedure developed by Dr Pierre Foldes in France, he launched Clitoraid and the idea of building clinics that offer free surgery for FGM victims.”
She continued that “After the United Nations adopted a resolution banning FGM there’s been universal agreement that it’s a violation of human rights and the integrity of individuals. And eliminating FGM is essential for women’s health, so governments must keep passing laws against it. But Rael realised that it’s also important to repair the damage already caused to living victims. This hospital is the result of his vision.”
Immediate complications after FGM, according to Swiss Medical Weekly, 6 (14), January 2011 (review) are fatal bleeding, acute urinary retention, urinary infection, wound infection, septicemia (blood poisoning) tetanus and transmission of hepatitis or HIV if instruments are non-sterile or reused.
Other health effects of FGM are recurrent infections, chronic pain, cysts (grouping of cells), infertility, and complications during childbirth.
Writer’s email: [email protected]
