Birthing New Societal Perspectives

"If you refuse to prepare your daughters for their future and equip them with sound education ; your refusal would be akin to you sending your daughters to the battle front ,with their hands tied behind their backs .

 Their cries for help would haunt you for the rest of your lives!"

 Yes ,I know some people say "educated or uneducated ,eventually,all woman will marry and end up in their husbands' kitchens ".

However, remember that there are women and there are women, there are kitchens and there are kitchens". 

- Words of Wisdom by Daddy David Ovbiagele Edgal JP. (1911- 1994.)

The Girl Summit, hosted by the UK government and UNICEF on 22 July 2014, was aimed at mobilising domestic and international efforts to end female genital mutilation (FGM) and child and forced marriage (CFM) within a generation.

 It brought  together domestic and international work to accelerate the work of campaigners, governments and charities around the world to bring an end to these practices.

Many speakers graced the occasion , including the UK Prime Minister David Cameron .

 He unveiled measures to tackle FGM in England and Wales.

Why , one may wonder , have these evil practices against girl-children persisted without the peoples of other parts of the world intervening to alleviate and stop the suffering  of these helpless victims of FGM and Forced Child marriages, before now ?

The main reasons are :

In those communities where these evil practices have been thriving, there has been stiff resistance to the wind of change. In such places , these two evils have been upheld and practised for thousands of years as their "honourable", cultural and religious beliefs .

The world is never short of victims of evil practices to support.

People from other parts of the world who could have intervened to stop these practices before now, have not done so maybe because they believed that there were more worthwhile and more urgent Causes to fight against and other victims to support in other areas of the world.

 People who should have intervened did not do so because they reasoned that :

 " If these people have resisted change and they have chosen to live their lives like this for many centuries now ; they chosen to treat their own children and women in such a cruel manner ; that is their own problem and their own business!"

Also, for the fear of their good intentions being mis-understood , for the fear of being accused of "judging others" and for the fear of being accused of being "racists"; people have not bothered to intervene by speaking and working against these evil practices in the affected areas of the world.

In the UK, FGM and child marriages are illegal , but their illegality does not deter the practices from flourishing amongst  some  immigrant communities in the UK.

The perpetrators who have imported their harmful culture of FGM and CFM into the UK are able  to practice their crimes undetected because they are protected by a code of silence which is upheld strictly amongst the immigrant communities who practice these crimes against children in the UK.

Girls in these communities who rebel and resort to reporting  to the authorities when they are faced with the threats of their impending FGM and Forced Marriages are promptly disowned and ostracised by their families and their race.

Even in the UK, many of such "rebellious" girls have murdered by members of their own families, killed as victims of "honour killings".

Before the Girl Summit 2014 during which I had the privilege of seeing the videos and hearing witness - accounts about the horrors and the emotional  trauma which girls and women in some countries in this world have to put up with on a daily basis, I thought I had "seen it all and heard it all ".

 During the Girl Summit  2014 I heard and saw more of the horrors which females in some parts of the world have to put up with in order for them to conform with ideals which their societies and religions declare are " the only acceptable and best codes of behaviour for all females ".

FGM and Child Forced Marriages are only two of such burdens which females are expected to bear.

 The enormity of the cruelty and the harm done by FGM and Forced Early Marriages became clearer after listening to the impassioned speeches of  the community workers , medical personnel and the campaigners who are in close contact with these victims and survivors .

The devastating impacts of FGM
The damage that FGM inflicts can be life threatening as well as psychologically traumatic.

• Risk of infection or death. Deaths from FGM do happen, usually as a result of haemorrhaging during or immediately after the procedure or due to tetanus and other infections in the weeks following. The majority of procedures are carried out by untrained women, in non-sterile settings using implements such as scissors, razor blades and even broken glass. This means that girls will typically suffer from painful infections.

• Elevated chance of complications during childbirth. The damage wreaked on the female reproductive system means that women who have undergone FGM are twice as likely to die in childbirth and are also more likely to give birth to a stillborn baby.

• Lifetime susceptibility to infection. Victims of female circumcision are more likely to suffer with recurrent uterine, vaginal and pelvic infections throughout their life.

• Sexual dysfunction. Due to the trauma inflicted on their genitals, women who have been subjected to FGM typically experience pain during sex and suffer psycho-sexual effects.

• Psychological damage. Women who have undergone FGM can be affected by a wide range of psychological problems. One study revealed that 46% of those cut develop an anxiety disorder, while in another 78% reported feelings of intense fear and horror that plagued them long after the event.

Why does FGM happen?
The reasons for FGM are varied and complicated but the main drivers are established cultural customs and ingrained attitudes. Sometimes it is mistakenly held to be a religious requirement, but the practice predates all major religions and is not specified in any religious text.
For most cultures that carry out female circumcision, the primary reason for cutting is due to a belief that it is required to achieve a successful marriage match. In some communities girls who do not undergo the procedure are believed to be promiscuous and dirty and therefore not good marriage material. The strong cultural belief that FGM equates to purity, cleanliness and strong morals is a major factor in the continuation of the practice.
- See more at: http://www.plan-uk.org/because-i-am-a-girl/about-because-i-am-a-girl/violence-against-girls/female-genital-mutilation-fgm/#sthash.mszKgIDc.dpuf

The devastating impacts of FGM
The damage that FGM inflicts can be life threatening as well as psychologically traumatic.

• Risk of infection or death. Deaths from FGM do happen, usually as a result of haemorrhaging during or immediately after the procedure or due to tetanus and other infections in the weeks following. The majority of procedures are carried out by untrained women, in non-sterile settings using implements such as scissors, razor blades and even broken glass. This means that girls will typically suffer from painful infections.

• Elevated chance of complications during childbirth. The damage wreaked on the female reproductive system means that women who have undergone FGM are twice as likely to die in childbirth and are also more likely to give birth to a stillborn baby.

• Lifetime susceptibility to infection. Victims of female circumcision are more likely to suffer with recurrent uterine, vaginal and pelvic infections throughout their life.

• Sexual dysfunction. Due to the trauma inflicted on their genitals, women who have been subjected to FGM typically experience pain during sex and suffer psycho-sexual effects.

• Psychological damage. Women who have undergone FGM can be affected by a wide range of psychological problems. One study revealed that 46% of those cut develop an anxiety disorder, while in another 78% reported feelings of intense fear and horror that plagued them long after the event.

- See more at: http://www.plan-uk.org/because-i-am-a-girl/about-because-i-am-a-girl/violence-against-girls/female-genital-mutilation-fgm/#sthash.6YTa1xnR.dpuf

The speakers emphasised the need for urgent global action to reduce and eradicate these dual evils against girls and women

The world cannot dismiss these two evil practices and the plight of victims with a wave of hand .

The girl-children and women who are the victims of these evil practices are helpless and powerless to reject the societal burdens placed on them .

 

A summary of what the victims are contending with is as follows : 

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

Traditionally, FGM is  considered essential for marriage and inclusion in the community. It is an extreme and violent way in which girls are controlled and dis-empowered from becoming active and useful members of their societies.

FGM removes a girl's right to have control over her own body as it  can result in a lifetime of pain and difficulty in childbirth.

 A summary of  the depth of falsehood ,fears and injustice which have perpetuated these dual evil practices against  young girls are as follows:

 FGM has been enforced on the girl-child because there are people who believe that FGM ensures that women are " Virtuous and Sexually Obedient and not Promiscuous ".

 This belief about "women's virtue by FGM "is as ridiculous and baseless as it is false.

Different reasons are given in different cultures for carrying out FGM - including preserving a girl's virginity and keeping her "clean".

It is a kind of child abuse that has been both "normalised" and mythologised in some cultures, says the NSPCC's John Cameron.

Some of the cultural beliefs around FGM state that "women are better cooks if they have been cut "- for example - may seem unbelievable but still persist today.

These are absurd fallacies which have perpetuated the practice of FGM which is about gender discrimination and it is about controlling women and their roles in society. 

Trends suggest at least 30 million girls will be at risk over the next decade - with more than 20,000 at risk in the UK every year.

 Child, early and forced marriage has been imposed on the girl-child because some people believe this is "the best way for Eradicating Prostitution in the society !" 

Sadly,this utterly absurd cultural / religious belief about early or forced marriages for girls as a panacea for prostitution, is practised and enforced in many societies on earth.

Child ,early and forced marriage are practices which are derailing the destiny of millions of girls every where .

Forced and Early Marriages victims can suffer physical, psychological, emotional, financial and sexual abuse.

One in three girls in developing countries is married by the age of 18. Some girls are as young as eight .

These girl-children are more likely to be from rural communities , from poor families and they are likely to stay poor for the rest of their lives .

The evil practice of forced child marriage has been firmly entrenched in male-dominated societies to satisfy the demands of the men for child-brides.

 The men who "marry " little girls are usually much  older men ,( some of them as old as 70, 80 years ) who demand for child-brides as young as 8 -12 years old .

 These men enjoy the freedom of adding these little girls to their harems or discarding the girls and replacing them with new child - brides ("fresh meat") whenever the men choose to do so.

 In these male-dominated communities , FGM is encouraged and the education of young girls is discouraged .

In order to have "full control " over their child-brides, the men prefer to "marry" inexperienced and illiterate little girls whom these older men insist must be very young virgins who have been "adorned with the respectability of FGM "! 

These men prefer stark illiterate girls ,because according to them ;" girls who have even an elementary ability to read and write become too arrogant to be under the control of any man!"

  The disturbing facts about Forced Early marriages are :

* Girls who marry young have babies while still children. 

 * Undergoing the trauma of pregnancy and labour pains put them at the risk of death during child birth or at the risk of life-long damage to their wombs and bladders .

 * These physical damages would result in the painful and shameful effects of being sufferers of Vestico Vaginal Fistula.

V.V.F. is the occurrence of abnormal holes between the rectum or bladder and the vagina caused by the strain of pregnancy and child-birth on the weak wombs of little girls. 
These abnormal holes cause the uncontrollable leakage of urine and feaces from the bodies of the victims of V.V.F.

Victims of VVF are unpleasant to be with because they emit strong and very unpleasant odours of stale urine and feaces.

 * The injustice of imposing the burden of early marriage  and early child -rearing on little girls is further compounded if and when these little girls become victims of VVF and other ailments resulting from FGM and early child-birth.
Then these little children have to endure the additional emotional trauma of being rejected and discarded as "damaged goods" by their "husbands".  
Divorce and "re-stocking "of their harems with child-brides are easily available options for men in male-dominated societies . 

The ‘cutting season’, as it is called, will see many girls taken from Britain to countries across Africa and the Middle East, to undergo what is seen by some in those diaspora communities as an essential rite of passage - See more at: http://www.plan-uk.org/news/blogs/plan-uk/Cutting-season-heightens-threat-for-girls-at-risk-of-FGM/#sthash.XJVURlYb.dpuf

The Girl Summit has shed light on the horrors of FGM and Child Forced Marriages .

There must be sustained efforts to birth new perspectives in the affected societies.
People living in these affected communities must be enlightened to be aware of the facts which expose the deception of these two false beliefs as follows:

 1.) Cutting off a little girl's clitoris and vulva cannot  guarantee her virtue , her obedience and marital faithfulness.

2.)The practice of Child Forced Marriage is based on the false belief that married girls and women cannot decide to engage in promiscuity.This is a deceptive doctrine.
 The truth of the matter is that a woman's choice to be or not to be promiscuous is not determined by whether she was or was not circumcised before marriage or whether she got married when she was an ignorant 8 year-old virgin or an old maid of 40 plus !

There is therefore no justification whatsoever for  imposing the injustice and cruelty of FGM and Forced Child marriage on girls who are too young to even know the meaning of those two evil words called Forced Marriage  and Female Circumcision.

3. It is the power of God only that can transform girls and all human beings from possessing evil , lustful and promiscuous minds to become decent and righteous human beings.

4. Female Promiscuity and Prostitution are Spiritual Problems; they are not just physical or moral diseases of the mind. They are demonic afflictions which CANNOT be eradicated or "cured" by imposing upon young girls the destruction of the FGM and Early Forced Marriages.
Spiritual problems , demonic oppressions and all forms of perversions are overcome by the Power of God for Deliverance only . Psalm 107:19, 20.

Therefore , rounding up all single girls and women and conducting enforced mass weddings for them cannot eradicate prostitution in any human society.

Just as providing lucrative jobs for every unemployed person cannot guarantee the eradication of stealing ,fraud , embezzlement and prostitution in any society.  

There are males and females who are gainfully employed with well-paying jobs and lucrative businesses , yet they are thieves ,fraudsters, prostitutes and embezzlers .

 4.) Traditional and cultural beliefs and man-made religious doctrines which are perpetuated by instilling terror and ignorance in the female population would continue to produce a population of hypocritical girls and women who are pretending to be virtuous and obedient women by appearing outwardly to conform to the demands of the societal and religious requirements of the communities they are born into.

 In conclusion , the affected peoples need to be educated to imbibe new perspectives .

There must be a two -pronged approach,  both spiritual and physical , for mapping out enduring solutions to these two evils of FGM and Child and Forced Early Marriages.

There are problems in human lives which are either physical or spiritual problems ; or both in their origins.

  When viewed from the Christian perspective ,it is obvious that  these two evil cultural practices have their foundations on lies and on the doctrines of devils.

Therefore, a Divinely ordained programme of spiritual purging and awakening is imperative to effect long-lastimg changes in the lives of the Oppressors and the Oppressed.

The unfortunate victims and the perpetrators of these  evil practices are , all of them, VICTIMS .

 They need not only "brain transplants but also "heart transplants" in the form of new spiritual hearts
Short of which all the Global summits and laws would not work.

Without a spiritual awakening, if penalties were imposed against those who practice FGM and Child Forced early marriages, these would do little to change  the traditional and religious beliefs which have entrapped and dehumanised millions of girls and women.

In the countries and communities where these practices thrive ,therein abound men, women and children who need urgent re-orientation spiritual re-birth and mental re-orientation because they have been brain-washed to accept these dual evil practices as the proper way of life for all "decent " girls and women.

 The perpetrators and the victims of FGM and Forced Early Marriages should be taught that it is evil , it is absurd and unjust to uphold the practising of these harmful beliefs .

The awareness campaigns must teach common sense and spiritual solutions coupled with determined efforts to educate the culprits and the victims in the following ways :

1.The irrational male fears must be addressed and discarded.The male fear of the emergence of educated girls who would grow to become successful and independent  women has resulted in the entrenchment of discriminatory cultural and traditional laws against females .

2. Due to the strong influence of religion in these societies, false religious doctrines must be exposed and rejected as such. 
There are discriminatory religious doctrines ,about "what God said about ensuring that girls and women are put in their proper places and confined to their God-given female roles only!"

 3.The purging of the mentality of fear ,falsehood hypocrisy and ignorance which has entrenched these dual evils against young girls and women must begin inside the religious organisations which are dominant in the areas affected.

The rejection of false and harmful religious doctrines is imperative because these doctrines , knowingly or inadvertently ,have played misleading roles in teaching and entrenching the dual evils of FGM and Forced Child Early  Marriages.

Vulnerable girls and women have had no choice but to comply with the harmful traditional beliefs of their communities which are supported and upheld as "Divine Truths" by their communities' religious doctrines.

4. Sadly,in some supposedly Christian communities,"the tail " which is the society is wagging " the head" which is the Church ; instead of the other way round.

Traditional doctrines have crept into Church doctrines.

There are churches where their leaders either knowingly or ignorantly preach the traditional beliefs of the communities as if these were Biblical doctrines. by backing such traditional beliefs with selected Bible passages.

There are wrong doctrines preached in some churches about what "God said " women's place in the society and in the Church and about how wives should be treated by their husbands.

In some cases, the Church has been guilty of upholding traditional doctrines which are unjust to women , instead of preaching and upholding sound Biblical doctrines concerning divorced and widowed women; and single girls and single.

These wrong doctrines are nothing but traditions of the communities and they are doctrines which are perversions of the Gospel of Jesus Christ ; yet they are upheld through preaching by the Church's leaders and Bible teachers .

Therefore , sometimes the Church is as guilty as the other sections of the society in perpetuating the traditional laws and myths which support the harmful FGM and CFM.

We pray that all traditional doctrines will cease to creep into the Church environment.

God will purge His Church to become bold enough to preach the pure and undiluted message of Love and Compassion which is the true Gospel of Christ , even in those cultural settings where the Gospel is incompatible with the traditions of FGM , CFM and female illiteracy.

As for the other religious groups whose religious doctrines  uphold and impose these dual evils upon the helpless female members of their religious bodies , we pray for such people that the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will shine into the Darkness which has kept them in bondage. 

Pray for all the governments and the peoples of these nations infected with these evilsare prectised.

Pray for the victims who are being oppressed world-wide and pray also for their oppressors.

May the glorious light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ shine into every area of these countries and set free the captives who are under the yoke and darkness of Satanic oppressions.

May the peoples of nations afflicted with the darkness of these two plagues of FGM and Child Forced Marriage Receive your freedom and peace in Jesus 'name.

 Receive the Light of the Son who is the expression of God's Righteousness and Love . Amen.