To become adult, Maasai women pay a bitter price
Pauline was 13 years old, when she had been circumcised as tradition required. The purification ritual allows girls to become women and without it, they can never get married. Pauline like so many other young girls lost her genitals and soon was married off to a much older man with numerous wives. Such are traditions of Maasais – one of the most well known and popular indigenous tribes of Africa. They have sustained their traditions and way of life for thousands of years, so changes take time and are not easy to implement.
The painful practice of female circumcision forever mutilates the young girl and therefore leaves a deep scar on femininity of Maasai women. Internationally known as female genital mutilation, it is a violation of woman‘s rights, but in Maasai culture it is a necessary ritual to achieve womanhood and status in a community. Progressive members of the ethnic minority in Kenya however believe the practice will eventually disappear among the Maasai. Opponents propose, that to put an end to FGM in the long-term will empower Maasai women, who are traditionally subordinate to men. The missing and key link, they say, is education.
„Female circumcision is a painful ritual, but girls can never become women without it,“ at least that‘s what tradition teaches, says Ms. Pauline. A woman in her early fifties has experienced life full of hardship, yet she holds her head high-up proudly wearing traditional red Maasai scarf “shuka”. Covered in endless layers of colorful and extravagant Maasai bead jewelry, Pauline opens memories of her own purification ritual, at times breaking down to tears. Her silent weep is chilling to every woman listening, as one imagines the painful practice of FGM on their own body.“Before circumcision my body was fresh, my skin so soft. After it got so raw and rough, it really left a deep scar on my body. When they cut off your genitals, more often than not they destroy all the tissue down there.”
Although most girls understand and are made to feel it is an important step in their lives and a big day, they’re not going to like it. Older women know this already, so they grab the young girl by hands and legs and hold her tight. If she cries, she’s tied up. They cut her behind the house, where they keep animals. The ritual is carried out by an elder woman from the community, usually for money, animals or other gifts. She washes her hands with cow milk and starts cutting with sharp tools, which are almost never sterilized. The wound bleeds heavily, and pain is severe. Once the cut is done, other women catch flies with their bare hands and put it on the fresh wound for good luck and blessings to the new femininity of circumcised girl. The wound is washed with cow milk and treated with cow fat.“Sometimes they can’t stop the bleeding. Hospitals are miles and miles away. Some girls don’t survive and never make it.” Circumcised women heal drinking cow milk and cattle blood. This diet, the popular saying goes, is what keeps the Maasai tribe healthy and immune to illnesses – blood, milk, meat and natural medicine.
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