Walter Wilson Nana
Buea, Cameroon.
Dr. Joseph Tabi Tabi has been monitoring the practice of Female Genital Mutilation, FGM, for many years now and concludes that a lot is not going on well in the process. In this exclusive interview, he gives an insight of what the practice is all about, its evolution and the health hazards that go with the act.
Read On!!
What brings you to our newsroom?
I am here to share my views on an issue, the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), which is prevalent in the area I come from in Cameroon despite the much talked about modernisation.
Dr Joseph Tabi
How will you define the FGM?
In the simplest term, Female Genital Mutilation is a situation whereby the clitoris of a female is taken off in the village setting during the process of circumcision. This is the removal of the clitoris in the vagina.
As a medic, is there anything to worry about in the absence of a woman’s clitoris?
There are several complications that come in thereafter. The issue of HIV/AIDS comes in as one blade is used for many persons in the process. The person (s) that carries out the act think that they are doing good to the person, who loses her clitoris. Not knowing that is where the fun of sex comes from. The perpetrators of the act forget that the woman whose clitoris is taken away has a future and a marital life to undertake. In marriage, you’re supposed to enjoy sex with your husband. The perpetrators of FGM look at the problem at the level of promiscuity within the youths and hold that taking away the clitoris will avoid unnecessary sexual activities. They forget the long term effect. If the ladies don’t indulge into sex today, they will tomorrow. The fun of sex comes from the clitoris, a woman ejaculates from the clitoris. A woman without a clitoris doesn’t get excited in the sexual game. The sense of enjoyment is not there. Sex doesn’t mean anything to her.
The FGM has been a practice over the years in Cameroon and some parts of the African continent. Why is this sudden buzz about it by politicians and the medics?
Yesterday is yesterday and today is today. There is civilisation and increasing awareness of things happening around us. The youths of today say no to FGM and it should be abolished. A lot of youths in Manyu Division, Southwest Region of Cameroon are leaving the place. As a medical doctor, I worked with a nurse, Grace Ngwai Agbor, now in Europe. She ran away from Cameroon because every time she gets to her village in Manyu Division, she is told by her family members; she has to undergo the process of FGM. This is a practice she has vowed she will not do it. In this conflict oriented atmosphere, she has decided to leave the country. This is a nurse who did her internship with me. Now, we’re not only losing the human resource in her but an intelligent individual in our community because of a cultural conflict, which to my appreciation is outdated.
Is it an issue where you are forced to do it or a voluntary decision?
You’re forced into it. Your opinion is not sought. You are monitored and at the age that the perpetrators think that you are ripe for sex, they call for you.
Observers of the situation in Cameroon say the FGM practice is insignificant, only a village in Manyu Division is reported to be pursuing the practice and the much noise about it is unnecessary. Do you share that view?
I know that it is also practiced in some places in Nigeria, where I schooled. Whether it is only one village in Manyu Division that practices the FGM, I am saying that it is wrong practice. I am yet to see it in other parts of Cameroon. Some people say it is done in the Northern part of Cameroon. I am yet to see that. How can the fight against HIV/AIDS be won, when we still have acts like the FGM? There are other complications like cervical cancer that goes with the FGM practice.
Have you had cases of women who suffer from HIV/AIDS and cervical cancer because of the FGM practice?
During a voluntary service in Manyu Division, we never found any, during my sojourn there, but there is always talk of women and girls running away from the village and not interested to be associated with the FGM act. Since I have not practiced in Manyu Division for a long time as a medic, there might be some cases.
Those who carry out the FGM say it is a money-making business and for them to stop, an alternative should be offered. What can be alternative for them?
I read in the papers, when a man from the northern part of Cameroon claimed the FGM practice is a source of income for him and the family. There are other better things the man can do, in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Empowerment & the Family. Causing injury to the population cannot be somebody’s source of income. My worry is in the future of the women who are subjected to this act. All the young girls in my village are on an exodus to the city and out of the country. I am not certain my female children will go to my village or identifying with that village. That practice has to be denounced and I will not stop talking about it when I have the opportunity.
Situate your village in Manyu Division, Southwest Region of Cameroon
I come from Tali but I have parents in Ossing, Eyumojock Subdivision, where FGM is practiced. Eyumojock Subdivision share an international boundary with Nigeria, with Ikom the closest town. The same practice is done across in Nigeria, so there is this cultural exchange. The older people think that they have to continue with what they inherited from their parents. It is not all that we got from our grandparents that we have to pursue, with modernisation at our doorsteps.
As a medic, an elite of your people, what have you been doing to highlight the sleazy side of the FGM?
It is difficult to convince the old people. All I have is to talk and continue talking to them. Some do listen and others don’t. Progressively, there is some change of attitude, especially when we present the complications that go with the FGM like HIV/AIDS. They have seen people around them die of HIV/AIDS without knowing the source of it. Some have begun to understand with us. We’ll not succeed on one day. It is a gradual campaign and the denunciation has to continue.
Hon. Rose Abunaw Makia brought to the fore for the first time the FGM issue in the parliament, calling for government and civil society actions against the practice. Do you think government is doing much to fight against the practice?
For now, I am not feeling government action against the practice. They may be doing their best but I am yet to be convinced. That’s why I am joining my voice to the fight. Let the government go beyond what they are doing now. The sensitisation is not comprehensive. The medical officers and the health personnel in Eyumojock should have a programme on how to talk to the people out there.
Have you had complains from the women or girls who have gone through the practice?
A lot of them. Some have been divorced from their marital homes. Some of them are sick; psychologically sick. That is very dangerous because it is difficult to diagnose. It is difficult to tell people that your marital home got broken because you don’t enjoy sex with your husband in the absence of your clitoris, taken away during the act of FGM. Victims of FGM are in a fix, they don’t know where to get help. A lot of them have left the village and subsequently the country. They are suffering from stress.
Is the FGM an issue of male chauvinism?
The idea around it is not just from the male counterpart. Reference to the elderly people isn’t only the men. There are lots of old women who are into the practice, believing that they are protecting the young girls. They are ignorant of the fact that the after effects are worse than the thinking of protecting the girl-child.
From your discourse, there is a conflict of tradition and modernism. Where is the middle ground?
Tradition is tradition and it goes with modernisation. Tradition must not be stagnant. It moves with the times. People can circumcise but they should be aware of the complications. Yesterday, people did not know that using one blade for more than one person is dangerous. Today, we know that. We have to be cautious. We’ve to adjust tradition with modernisation, if not, there will be a clash. We’re not in a fight with the elderly; we wish that reason should prevail. The act is wrong because it comes with complications. Let my people in Manyu Division allow our mothers, sisters grow the way nature made them.
Tell us more about yourself…
I work with Polyclinic Bonanjo, Douala, fondly called Polyclinic Muna as an Emergency Doctor. I specialised in Occupational Medicine in South Africa. I am from Manyu Division, Southwest Region of Cameroon. After my initial education in Yaoundé, I moved to the University of Calabar, Nigeria, where I read Medicine. Now, I practice in Douala.
