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	Female Genital Mutilation: A Mothering Exclusive Report

Activist Profile:
Fatma Towfiq, coordinator of WOWAP (Women Wake Up) of Tanzania

My name is Fatma Towfiq and I am the coordinator of WOWAP (Women Wake Up) in Dodoma, Tanzania. When I was 32, I learned about FGM, when a girl named Mwajuma died due to consequences related to FGM (in 1992). I decided to work to end FGM at that moment.

At first, I felt it was an uphill battle, because it was taboo for me to know or talk about FGM as I had not undergone the practice. And, there are many women who still value the culture of mutilating girls.

In 1998, I began to see that the culture was ripe for change. FGM began to be spoken of openly, and those who have undergone FGM started to talk about their bitter psychological and physical experiences. In Tanzania, 18% of women have undergone FGM, and here in Dodoma, where I live, more than 68% of women have undergone FGM.

As an anti-FGM activist, I am a typical Tanzanian woman who wants women’s human rights to be observed in my own community. I communicate the following messages to the girls and women around me:

• I encourage them not to fear offending their families by rejecting FGM.
• I educate them that FGM is a violation of human rights, and that even international agencies are against the practice.
• I encourage them to pursue education, in order to be agents of change within their society and nation as a whole.

Because FGM is against the law in Tanzania, girls can turn to authorities to protect them. When a girl fears FGM, she can report to village and ward officials, who, after being informed, make follow-up visits to the girl’s family, in order to stop the families from mutilating them.

In my work as an anti-FGM activist, I encounter both challenges and evidence of success.

Challenges include resistance from some people who still value the culture; lack of cooperation from some government officials; and hatred from some people within the community when FGM cases are reported to the police. Another discouraging situation is when some FGM practitioners pretend to lay down their tools in public, but continue to practice underground.

On the positive side, there has been a rise in the reporting of cases related to FGM. There is much more openness around talking about FGM. A local baseline survey shows that within the group of women delivering their first babies, less of these women are mutilated. Also, the number of primary school girls who have undergone FGM is decreasing.

Our organization launched a media campaign that is playing a crucial role in the eradication of FGM—on the radio, via the showing of videos, songs, dances, and public meetings conducted in schools. WOWAP also holds public forums where communities discuss alternative coming of age ceremony options that do not include FGM. We show graphic videos of girls being mutilated, girls from nearby villages suffering, and sometimes even dying, as a result of FGM. These videos have touched a lot of people and changed their minds about FGM. I have been invited to make presentations an increasing amount of these forums, which shows increasing interest by the community.

We also saw powerful change when two ex-circumcisers initiated a grand ceremony of “Initiation without Cutting,” where six girls who were at the age of undergoing FGM passed through the Gogo Rituals without being cut. Girls are now going through alternative rites of passage that do not involve cutting. They can learn all of the lessons on how to be a woman, but without the FGM component.

Cooperation from more people within the community encourages me. I am also encouraged every time FGM practitioners hand over their cutting tools to me. Support from my family members, and encouragement from friends also keeps me going. My family is very proud of me, and they do encourage me to keep on campaigning against FGM, especially my husband. This means a lot to me because his origin is of a tribe where FGM is prevalent. I am determined to see a society free from all forms of discrimination against women.