Sixty women in Tane chiefdom, Tonkolili district, between the ages of 20 and above have gone through initiation into the ‘bloodless Bondo’ society without female genital mutilation (FGM), at in Matotoka.
Among the initiates were students who became the second initiate for the alternative rites of passage after Port Loko district.
Director of the Amazonian Initiative Movement Sierra Leone (AIM-SL), Madam Rugiatu Nenneh Turay, an anti-FGM activist, disclosed that the sixty women went through a screening process before they were accepted for initiations.
“All of them went through HIV and other sexually disease transmitted diseases tests before they were accepted for initiations. This is because most of the times the midwives complaint about constraints women go through during delivery due to the thing that should help them to deliver safely are removed,” she said, and adds; “We still have the highest infant mortality rate in the world, yet we are afraid of talking about FGM. If we don’t talk about FGM, it will be difficult for us as a country to address infant mortality because of FGM.”
She spoke the sufferings of rural women and girls saying; that highly educated people hardly involve their children though they sponsor the construction of Bondo shrines.
“Politicians are taking advantage of the high illiteracy rate among rural women to promote what will always put them at the back. We must put a stop to this,” Madam Turay appealed and reiterated that; “The Bondo society is for women, not children.”
“In the bloodless Bondo, we don’t accept underage. We want people to see and admire them as the value we want to restore. So we have decided that in the bush, we will develop language and signs,” she said.
Madam Turay said those who have gone through the practice should be part of the training to understand the signs and language, adding that; “We need to stop degrading ourselves when we meet at the Bondo bush as women”.
As part of its reform drive, AIM-SL is currently implementing the “Replace Bondo Bush With Schools” project aimed at working with children and communities that have already agreed to replace their Bondo bushes with schools, according to Madam Turay will help them monitor the Bondo bushes making sure no cutting take place.
She underscored the need for the protection of children to know that they are being trained into womanhood through culture and think that everything about a woman is pain. AIM-SL Director said Bondo is an institution wherein women meet and interact irrespective of their political alliances, educational background and social and economic status. “When we are in the society bush we are all the same and so we want to ensure that we bring back the good things that have been eroded”, she reassured.
Madam Rugiatu Turay added that the focus for now is to stop the cutting but they want to make sure they bring the good things back and they are ready to do so. “We are calling on everyone to see the need to join the campaign to maintain Bondo without FGM. Bondo is our culture and it is my identity as a Sierra Leonean woman but the trouble in there which is not good hygienically is what we are trying to address,” she maintained.
One of the initiates, Mariatu Kargbo said that no one was tortured in the shrine and that they learned new things they were not aware of before.
“They showed us how to prepare food, how to sweep, we were taught how to greet and respect elders,” she said. 21 year old Mariatu continued that they were asked to collect wood for the chiefs and other elders as tradition demands.
“What I passed through in that bush would make me survive any difficulties in my marriage and other places in the society,” she said.
She encouraged parents not to force their children into FGM and support the Alternative Rite of passage.
Another initiate, Kadiatu Kamara, expressed similar experience and profoundly thanked AIM-SL for the support given to them during their two weeks in the Bondo society bush.
She disclosed that they have learnt a lot, adding that all that were performed are the same traditions they went through except the FGM.
“We performed all the Bondo society ceremonies but we are not cut. This is an awesome tradition. I am appealing to my colleagues to join the Bondo without cutting, it is a perfect tradition,’ Kamara said.
A Sowei, Sampa Soko Kamara, who spoke to FORUM at the climax of the ceremony, said all they did was the removal of the female circumcision part, which many referred to as FGM, “but all other ceremonies the initiates went through them”.
She said in the society bush there was no threat throughout the 14 days. And added that: “The AIM initiative is in place” as Bondo without cutting adds more values to them as Soweis.
She appealed to other Soweis to abandon the FGM practice and join the bloodless Bondo.
Other community stakeholders expressed similar sentiments regarding the colourful outcome of the bloodless Bondo.
