The Cut...even for Old Women

September 15, 2008 started off as a normal day for Consolata Kathambi. But it was never to end pleasantly. The claws of a nightmare were just lurking somewhere in the shadows.

This 35 year-old mother of three was at her home in Meru District (in Kenya) when she was informed of an impromptu visit from some female members of her village. She was shaken a bit for this was a strange visit. There had to be something the matter.

When she got to the door to let them in, she nearly fainted when she beheld the numbers. They were more than she had “bargained” for.

They cut to the chase and informed her that they had come to “transform” her to a “real” woman. Before she could digest the gist of that statement, they continued to say that she, Consolata, was not a real woman for she was not “circumcised”.

This hit her like a thunderbolt. She tried to piece this information together in her mind, but it did not add up. Her husband had accepted her as she was, so what were these women here to do? This whole thing just did not make sense.

Even then, female circumcision, in her community, is not for old women but for girls (up to a certain age group).

Things went so fast for her comprehension. Before she could shout Jack Robinson, she was being dragged across the compound. She could not see where they were taking her for she was blindfolded. Her shouting and kicking did not help matters.

Her hands and legs were held firmly. When they got to the “opportune” place, they stopped and tied her hands securely. Next, her legs were spread wide apart. They were not bluffing, they meant serious business.

She was circumcised by this mob of ‘fire and brimstone breathers’. She experienced something that she had all along hoped and believed that she had escaped. But then, tribal edicts had caught up with her and she was stripped to the last piece of clothing.

My Two Cents: Female circumcision is cruel to women and we should do everything in our power to do away with it. More and more people should join in this war (of terror!)

Related Links:

• Female Genital Cutting (FGC) and the Woman
• An Inglorious Cut for Sure
• The Female Genital Cut and its many Faces

Nigerian Man to kick “82 of his women” out in the Cold

I was amused the other day when I heard the story of an 84 year old Nigerian man who has 86 women for wives. This is just a staggering number! Wait, that’s not all. The story went on to say that he has at least 170 children!!

Phew!

It occurred to me that for an 84-year-old man to keep such a vast number of women together and close to him then he must have loads of “strength”. Loads of that very vital energy that most men would give their eye teeth to have half of! (Kwani ni uongo!)

When asked to comment about his “strength”, the man, Mohamed Bello Abubakar, said: “A man with ten wives would collapse and die but my own power comes from Allah. That is why I have been able to control 86 of them.”

Fathering 170 plus children is no mean feat. The energy and expenses involved are overly enormous, to say the least. It is said that they take 36 kilos of rice in a single meal. This, quite apparently, costs a lot of money (and quite a fortune to this man who has no job to rely on).

But Mohamed faces death as per Sharia Law for having wives that are more than four. {According to the Muslim faith, men are allowed to have up to four wives and not more than that.}

Despite imminent death due to his “offence”, Mohamed feels it up to him to challenge the Sharia Law. He says that Prophet Muhammad made the retribution for sins such as adultery and fornication clear but he did not say what punishment a man who has more than four wives should go through. So, this 84-year-old man does not see anything wrong with having as many wives as he has (though he discourages other men not to go his way and have as many wives as he has).

The good thing is that he has a choice. He can divorce a whopping 82 “wives” and remain with only 4.

My heart goes out to this man who is faced with a very tough decision. This is a perfect example of a dilemma (one that literature teachers can cite in their explanation of this stylistic device!)

I wonder what criteria he’ll use to drive 82 women out of his life (that’s if he still wants to live and not be on Sharia “Death Row”). Will the children go with the women too? I reckon there are so many questions going through his mind. His 84-year-old brain is having its fair share of trouble!

So many people have reacted to this story in different kinds of ways. I like the comment of one man on BBC yesterday. He said: “Where was the Sharia Law when this man was accumulating his women? Why didn’t the custodians of Sharia not move swiftly when he (Mohamed) crossed the 4 wives mark?”

Food for thought, this.