MALE GENITAL MUTILATION

I was born in Kisii District, 300 Kilometres west of Nairobi, Kenya’s Capital City, some 80 Kilometres south east of Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest Lake. The Kisii tribespeople keep their culture intact and sometimes in secret; changing only when they want to. To become adults Kisii boys are initiated. This means they must be circumcised at age 10. The ritual marked my entry into adult life. Therefore, before circumcision I was still a child; there is no respect for the uncircumcised. Among the Kisii, initiation takes place towards the end of the year. Thousands of boys of my age are circumcised. The kids don’t refuse once their parents decide that they must undergo the rite of passage. Circumcisors do booming business; circumcising up to one hundred kids per session - charging close to three Dollars a kid. There are mobile circumcisors who charge even less. Fortunately, the Kisii people don’t practice traditional circumcision where circumcisors used one knife for any number of boys. Nowadays, hospital support staff, who use hospital operation materials, are the ones in this business. What I experienced during my circumcision last year is far more than a cut of the flesh - removal of the foreskin. It was a ritual preceded by 3 weeks of education and training on a whole variety of societal rules. This kind of training and education was being reinforced by a lot of torture and seclucion. -I suffered a lot of aggression. As soon as schools closed last November, I had to basically do a lot of preparations for my ceremony. I had to look for firewood from the forest and fetch enough water for cooking. On the eve of circumcision day, a lot of people gathered at our home for the night ceremony. For me there was nothing to celebrate. I was isolated in a small hut full of men and boys older than me. This is where the ritual hazing to prove my manhood took place. For close to five hours I was being taught to be muscline and stronger to face physical challenges. This training was done with a lot of drama, physical and psychological impact, without challenging anything. These men carried out a mock circumcision operation on men. They forced me to remove all my clothes. One of them got hold of the foreskin and tried to cut it using a blunt sword. I suffered a little bruising. Then they dug a small hole on the floor of the house and forced me to demonstrate to them how my parents made love. I did not know what to do and this annoyed them and they beat thoroughly. They forced me to name all my girlfriends and when I refused to they poured very cold water on me and forced me to lie down on the cold muddy floor for one hour as they abused and called me names. They even laughed at my body structure, the size of my manhood and even forced me into erection! I was in a very difficult and unfriendly situation as this was a very vigorous stage of hazing. I was not supposed to show fear or pain but brave the sexual stimulation and humiliation. To show fear or pain is to humiliate myself forever in the community. During the ordeal, I could hear my parents and other merrymakers in the compound sing ululate in dance. At midnight I was permitted to sleep. I staggered to bed and fell into the deepest sleep ever, only to be forced out of bed at four in the morning. Cold water was poured on me (still naked) and young boys led me to the circumcisor. I walked for about two kilometers and at the site I was forced to lie (face down) on tall dewy grass while queuing for the operation. I was restrained from raising my head up to see whatever was going on and I saw nothing for 1 hour until when I was led and laid on the circumcisor’s table. My eyes were blocked from seeing how the foreskin was cut. Fortunately my operation was not done with quick strokes of a sharp knife. It was done with surgical scissors and bleeding vessels were tied with a gauze bandage after application of antiseptic powder. I was hidden away from the joyous crowd while walking home into my seclusion hut to recover from the ordeal. In my hut, my parents, my aunts and uncles were forbidden to see me. Food and drinks were brought outside my room for my attendant (only 2 years older that me) to pick into the room. I was not expected to bathe during my seclusion period of 3 weeks. I was smeared with ash, never combed my hair and never brushed my teeth and remained half-naked (with my shirt only). It is during this time that older boys taught me practical values like men don’t cry like women,, being brave, aggressive and demanding towards women (ever wondered why husbands beat their wives?). To test my physical endurance and bravery, I was forced to rub my hands and underparts of my body against stinging leaves to show that I can stand the pain. I even picked sticks from the burning fire using my mouth. To check whether I had healed, young beautiful girls were brought into the hut and played with my manhood into erection. My attendant checked for any cracks and bleeding and found none and therefore qualified to end my seclusion. Early in the morning on the day I ended my seclusion, my attendant took me to the river and where I took a bath and back at home for shaving and dressing up. Then I was presented to the whole family as adult man. Now as an adult man, I wonder why circumcision is the only way of eloquently learning to be a man. Is the cut of the foreskin any necessary? If it is, why was I not consulted in decision making involving the removal of part of my body? Why is everybody against female genital mutilation and not male genital mutilation and its related rituals? Circumcision is wrong when undertaken on a child who can’t make a choice. Principals of mental and physical health together with the integrity of the body and privacy are fundamental in the human rights charter.