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More Xhosa circumcision deaths

789 views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  calpurnia 
#1 ·
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx...ews__national/

Quote:
A 23-year-old man has died while attending a school offering circumcision rituals illegally, the Eastern Cape health department said on Tuesday.

His was the second death in a week. Another candidate enrolled for a circumcision rite died at Engcobo and nine more were taken to hospital after an initiation school in Magcakini, near Libode, was closed.
Although, 23 is a bit long in the tooth to be undergoing this ritual, I believe.

Quote:
Over 300 initiates have died since 1995 and at least 76 have had their genitals amputated after botched circumcisions. At least 6 000 initiates have been admitted to hospital for treatment.
 
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#2 ·
The Xhosa and other African tribes do not circumcise at birth but usually in the teen years. A few are circumcised in their early 20's. This would lead us to believe that they have some say in the matter. However, the reality is that they have very little say at all. For the teen, he is usually sent off to the circumcision camps whether he wants to go or not. If not, he will get intense pressure from the tribe to do it and if he does not, he will most likely be kidnapped and forcibly circumcised. They will not tolerate what the see as dissenters or renegades.

The African government has passed laws that simply require training and certification of the circumcisers and they have strenously resisted even this move. Since the law was passed, there have been some that have become stealth circumcisers who seek out uncircumcised teens and gang up on them to circumcise them. Some of these gang circumcisers are teens themselves.

With all of the deaths, amputations and hospitalizations in such a small population, you would think they would quickly give this practice up. Yet, this has been going on for hundreds or maybe thousands of years with thousands of boys dead and maybe hundreds of thousands left unable to reproduce or with great difficulty. It is well known that mankind has a great facination with the genitals and this fascination is the only reason I can imagine that allows this carnage to continue. I can see many parallels in our own culture. Even though there are well documented cases of infant deaths from a purely cosmetic procedure, parents continue to deny it could happen to their son. When Ryliegh McWillis died in 2002, his mother insisted that if she were blessed with another son, he would be circumcised as well. What the He** is she thinking to even utter those words?

Frank
 
#3 ·
15 boys in hospital

Quote:
Fifteen boys have been admitted to the Tshilidzini hospital in Limpopo after botched circumcisions, the Limpopo Health Department said on Monday.

Department spokesperson Phuti Seloba said the boys were admitted after they were found in a serious condition at an illegal private clinic at Ha-Ramukhuba in the Vuwani district near Thohoyandou on Sunday afternoon.

"The department got a tip-off about an illegal circumcision school and went to investigate. That's when they found the boys," said Seloba.
another story here

Quote:
A traditional circumcision surgeon was arrested and 28 young boys rescued from his house in Libode in the Eastern Cape on Sunday, a spokesperson for the provincial health department said.

My dad spent his house officer years at a hospital in the eastern Cape, where he performed circumcisions on occasion, on men who chose to come to the hospital to avoid the risks of the traditional methods, & also on men who were coloured but passed as black, so were not part of the ritual through community, and had to find an alternative route for circumcision.
 
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