FGM Scars More Than Just the Body, It Scars Lives!!

A few days ago I took a bajaji to an interview I had to conduct away from the office. It was a mighty distance away and with the afternoon traffics in Dar, it took us about an hour to get there. On our way we decided to strike up a conversation, with him doing most of the talking and i doing the listening.

He started speaking of his past relationships and how he messed up a relationship with a good girl and lost her. Promising himself not to ever let that happen again he decided to be true to the next girl who comes into his life. As true to life he finds a young girl (in her early 20's) and dates her for a few months before noticing strange behaviors from her when they were together. For instance, she never agreed to have the lights on when they were "doing it" and never allowed him to look at her womanhood. She did not agree to do it often and agreed only when she was very happy.

At first he let it be, pinning it on shyness or inexperience. However, when she persisted curiosity got the better of him. On a night when she was deep in her sleep he grabbed a torch and decided to see for himself. At this point, even with a disapproving frown I was very curious  to hear what happened. Never in my life could I have guessed what he told me. He was shocked to see her features so different and it took him a moment to realise that she had been severely mutilated. More over, he could also see that she had engaged in anal sex. He was distraught.

 The following day, without facing her with the truth he consulted his friends at work. Some of them advised him to leave her and some told him to talk to her first and hear her side of the story. Following the latter's advice he ultimately faced her with the truth. At first she denied undergoing FGM or engaging in anal sex. However, when he insisted she opens up, she finally broke down and told him what happened.

Apparently, when she was still very young her parents passed away and she went to live with some distant relatives in the village. Claiming it was a "tribal" custom of the Sandawe women they mutilated her. When she grew up, she came to Dar es Salaam and sooner or later realised that men found her strange and "unattractive." They demanded anal sex and she found that even more tolerant than the regular one. He was even more confused when he found that she was pregnant with their child. He cared for her deeply and since she was expecting his child, he made it official with her.

As it was with any couple, they had their fair share of problems. But when he came to find out that she was cheating on him, that was his limit. He came to learn that earlier on before they met, her relatives had married her off to an older man as a third wife and they had a child together. And even after the man left her and she got married to the bajaji driver, he was one of the men she still saw.

 I was curious to learn about what happened to his daughter during all that fiasco.So he told me that he had taken his daughter to live with his mother in the village when she was two. Suzy (the daughter's name) was four when her mother came to take her, which was after the divorce. So she went back to the village with Suzy. When I asked him if he still saw his daughter, I got the shock of my life.

When Suzy went back to the village with her mother, a few months later he got a call that his daughter was seriously sick. He told them to bring her to Dar and he'd take her to the hospital. Since he was employed at a security company then he sent his mother to go to the village and see her as he processed a leave of absence. When the mother got there she found out that Suzy had passed away and they were burying her. What was worse, he came to find out too late that she had died of over bleeding. Suzy, a four year old had undergone FGM and never made it alive. I never knew or met her but I couldn't help the tears.

 NO GIRL has to undergo that hell. Even when they survive the mutilation, the torture doesn't stop there. A woman's dignity is stripped off, the scars cause both physical and mental traumas for most of their lives. I kept asking him, "what did you do after that? Did you report them?" And he said he couldn't do anything since he hadn't any evidence.He lost a daughter to FGM and he still felt powerless to do anything about it. How many more are out there undergoing this same inhuman autrocity and still feel powerless? How many more lives should be lost, in death and trauma before we realise how dangerous FGM is?

That Awwww..moment

I came across this video and I was just amazed. It's never too early to teach our children something. These kids are simply adorable! 

From an Official Visit to a Leisure Safari!

Isn't it interesting how Obama's purpose in coming to Tanzania took quite a turn before and on cancellation?

Retrieved photo from africanculturedirect.blogspot.com

Let's take a look at what different media wrote on his visit from before and on cancellation; may be you'll catch my thoughtful drift.

On Obama's coming, much was said with regard to the purpose of the visit and how it would affect political and economical affairs; national and International.

"The president will reinforce the importance that the United States places on our deep and growing ties with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including through expanding economic growth, investment, and trade; strengthening democratic institutions; and investing in the next generation of African leaders," press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.
"The president will meet with a wide array of leaders from government, business, and civil society, including youth, to discuss our strategic partnerships on bilateral and global issues," Carney said, adding that "the trip will underscore the President’s commitment to broadening and deepening cooperation between the United States and the people of sub-Saharan Africa to advance regional and global peace and prosperity." (Yahoo!News|The Ticket; Monday May 20, 2013)


US president will be on diplomatic mission to make up for lost time, and some say the strategic neglect will cost America. And the winners are:  Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. Each will be rewarded for its democratic virtues next month when Barack Obama embarks on his first major presidential tour of Africa. (The Guardian, Johannesburg; Tuesday May 21, 2013)

Tanzania’s strategic position in the continent, its abundant natural resources and countering China’s advances to Africa have been cited as some of the reasons why President Barack Obama chose to visit Tanzania in his tour of Africa next month.

Mr Obama, who is the first African American US President, comes just about three months after new Chinese President Mr Xi Jinping visited the east African country. (The Citizen, Kenya: Wednesday May 22, 2013; retrieved from Africa Review, Friday June 14, 2013)


When President Obama goes to Africa at month’s end, the first African American president will have a rare opportunity to spread U.S. values to that continent. It would be a shame if his trip instead validated slavery.
By selecting Tanzania as one of the three countries that will receive a presidential visit on that trip, the Obama administration is honoring a government that has been in a multiyear diplomatic dispute with the United States over human trafficking. Now Obama is rewarding Tanzania with a presidential trip. “An official visit from the U.S. president is a gift that is utterly inappropriate after a Tanzanian government official committed horrifying human rights violations just a few miles from the White House,” said Martina Vandenberg, a human rights lawyer who represented the victim, Zipora Mazengo, pro bono.(The Washington Post, June 09, 2013)

Now comes the cancellation part and we hear...

 The WhiteHouse has cancelled a safari that US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle were due to take in Tanzania over budgetary concerns, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
The safari "would have required the president's special counterassault team to carry sniper rifles with high-calibre rounds that could neutralise cheetahs, lions or other animals if they became a threat," the paper reported. The Obamas had been expected to spend more than two hours at Tanzania's Mikumi National Park. (The Daily Nation; Friday June 14,2013)

Here we go again, every time President Obama and his family take a vacation, the right wing freaks out. President Obama cancels safari trip in Tanzania because of the cost of security, during his trip to Africa later this month. Of course, he won’t be applauded for it, instead,  someone chose to leak that snipers will be on hand to shoot any lions or other wild animals that come near the First Couple.(TheModerate Voice; Friday June 14, 2013)

Believe me, that was just a tip of the iceberg on how wrong it all sounded!

Every Insy Bitsy Counts!

Every word or number starts with a dot,
Every ocean is but a drop in billions of drops,
A journey of a thousand miles began with a step,
Two thousand years began with a second,
A million began with one,
Every lot started at little but just didn't stop.

Storms blew and drought ensued,
Life never stopped breathing,
No matter how far the dessert stretches,
Every ounce of hope, life still fetches.
Every heart beat, every breath inhaled,
It's a fight won and life prevails.

The Skies Don't Limit!

Explore your potential,

Chase your horizons,

Reach beyond the clouds

Defy gravity!

June to Junior (Behind every face there's a story)

 The month of June is dedicated to children. The 3rd of June has been dedicated to the underprivileged child, while the 16th of June marks the African Child's day. I consider childhood as the best gift life could give anyone. I bet most of us would walk down that memory lane and laugh at the carefree times we had.

It's really sad when I see a child robbed of their childhood. Some are forced to be parents at such an early age, some are forced to be the bread-earners of their families; while some are deprived of their right live in a safe society by the wars and crimes of society. We forget that the rights of children are the foundation for a healthy and prosperous society.

For these 3, all they've got is themselves. Their father is deceased and their mother abandoned them. The community tries to help them every once in a while but with abject poverty in that area, there isn't much they can do for them financially. 

 

 According to a report by Save The Children this year (2013) states that about 1 million children die per year during birth. Tanzania, being the 3rd country in Africa with the highest rate of children dying at birth, has more than 48,000 children dying every year.

Despite the changes in policies and aids from development partners around the world, the state of children especially in the peripheries leaves a lot to be desired. Children feel the pinch of poverty the hardest. They have to rely on grown ups to take care of most of their needs; and when they are not met they resort to "any means" to get them.

Somewhere in Kamsamba, Mbeya. The fourth world is very much visible in these parts. Poverty hit women and children the hardest.

Behind every face, there's a child with a story. We should keep that in mind before we extend judgement. I remember a quote from one of my favorite films "Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb we are bound to others, past and present. And by each crime and every kindness we birth our future" ~ Cloud Atlas. We cannot disassociate our selfishness, our cruel ambitions, our indifference; with the deaths of the children today. By denying them their rights, we kill their spirits, their intellect, their future; we literary kill them.

A Child soldier ( retrieved from www.issafrica.org)

With the month of June dedicated to children, let's make it a beginning to do every little we can to making our communities safer for children. Give a word of encouragement, praise or even a smile to that child who plays outside your house, or the one that cleans your car at the traffic lights. Take time to visit that nearby local school or orphanage or even a neighbor in need and see how you can help. It doesn't have to be money but even a kind word or advice can go a long way.

Every little act of kindness is hope for a better tomorrow for every child out there. Let's leave humane legacies that will not crumble with time. Kindness, love, honesty, integrity, resourcefulness; should be the pillars of society passed on to our children.

A healthy child is a happy child

Let us give our children today a chance to tell happy stories to their children on the morrow. Let's begin with "jUne"!

Jambo Africa!

So another insomnia hit me last night. There's always this talk of making lemonade from the lemons life hands you; I drew this instead. My very own Jambo Africa! I would have made my art teacher cry!

Jambo Africa