Gender 
One woman's crusade against female mutilation on Internet 

afrol.com, 8 December - Looking for information about female genital mutilation (FGM), a cruelty affecting 138 million women and girls in Africa, one is sure to come across the website Rising Daughters Aware. What looks like the site of a large organisation, is really the product of the dedicated information work of one sole woman, "Jai". 

- I fear that many people see the web site and are left with an impression that there is a big organization here with many people and lots of money, Jai tells afrol. "The reality is that it is all so simple and plain here." 

"Jai" (here name is known to the afrol redaction) prefers us not to mention her full name. She is an activist. She is tired of the focus on one person - forgetting the cause. Downplaying her work, she says there are so "many, many others, who deserve the spotlight and credit, not me. I merely came up with a practical idea to deal with what I perceived was a gap in the process." She is not being polite, she means it.

Based in Oakland, California, Rising Daughters Aware has a mission to provide free online information for FGM affected women, their physicians, other health care providers, social workers, counsellors and attorneys, mostly in the United States. FGM affecting such a great number of female emigrants to the US, astonishingly little effort is done to curb it until very recently. Even health centres and hospitals are often unprepared to assist FGM-victims. One of the few exceptions are RAINBO in New York, which worked with the Department of Women's Health to produce a booklet on care for FGM affected women, released last year, and the American College of Ob/Gyn's, which now has a training kit.

- Many nurses have written to say that their hospitals or clinics have seen immigrant women with FGM, but that their department heads do not wish to take the trouble to order training materials, says Jai. "The nurses are frustrated because they wish to give the best, most informed care possible.  By providing information for free, such as the FGM Crash Course for Health Professional they do not need to wait for their bosses to have an moral epiphany on this issue." 

Rising Daughters Aware is an ad hoc project, dedicated to the existence of support and culturally sensitive, qualified medical and advocacy assistance for women who are seeking to avoid, or have already been subjected to Female Genital Mutilation. The site exclusively deals with FGM - as a women's health issue, not as an "anthropological phenomenon," as the project clearly emphasizes. "People do visit the site - about 600-1000 per week usually - and it helps them to know what is going on in their own region, as well as other places," says Jai. 

Asking Jai how the comprehensive Rising Daughters Aware (RDA) project got started, she assures herself bringing us down to earth. "Actually, the story of how RDA began is very simple and not too spectacular," she starts. 

- I have a very dear friend, an artist like me, who is Somali and who finally began to deal with this issue several years ago, Jai explains. "It was very, very hard for her and she was in turmoil. She asked if I would try to help find her support. What I found were people who either wanted money, wanted to talk about male circumcision, or who never returned calls or emails. I made a promise to my friend to change this situation. I found out how few doctors and nurses here were educated on the subject, even though we have a very large African immigrant population in many cities." 

- It also occurred to me that there were health providers around the world who did know about this issue, and yet no one was making this information available easily to health providers who needed it, often very on short notice, she goes on. 

Concluding, she says: "So, you see, the story is quite ordinary," giving the impression that everybody could have done the same. "I spent some months writing all over the world explaining my plan and requesting donations of articles and composed the web site. The fact that economics, political representation and educational opportunities play a huge part in FGM was clear to me, so information on this is included, too. FGM and other forms of violence and oppression against women and girls cannot be eradicated without strongly addressing this reality." 

Jai has no doubt that the fact that FGM affects mostly African immigrant women, a social underclass in the US, plays a very big role in the little attention this widespread human rights abuse obtains. "Americans are usually quite ignorant about the African continent, and other cultures in general, so it was necessary to include easy cultural links and information that would explain and celebrate the positive aspects of African cultures to give a more balanced overview," she says, adding that her African friends, "are very helpful and supportive." 

Rising Daughters Aware in mainly dedicated to the spread of practical, useful information. It provides online information packets free of charge to health professionals, containing a collection of documents of 150 pages, plus other documents available to download. Despite of the costs of the project, "RDA has never asked anyone for money or grants," Jai informs. "All information is donated free of charge, and so all information is given away free of charge. All time spent answering email, phone and other inquiries, or giving talks to health providers, is on a volunteer basis." 

- I do not believe in holding hostage vital information important to women's health, says Jai. "I do not believe in making a business ("non profit" or otherwise) out of other's suffering or difficulties. I do not pretend to be an expert, but do my best to get the voice of those who are out where they can be heard and/or read," she states.  

Organisations are not what they used to be, when even the the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) proudly announced that it had "registered a patent on coconut water" just a few months ago. Jay, however remains with the concept of an organisation that people recognise as "good, old fashion" idealism. "Perhaps we should rethink how money and resources are currently being spent to address these global issues," she says. "The money and resources currently allotted to offices, fancy brochures, conferences, etc., might be better spent on direct aide to affected women, particularly since economics seems to be the largest hurdle to overcome in empowering women and giving them choices. Microloans to poor women, as well as access to education works, and manifests positive change and self determination. At the current exchange rate, the American and European dollar go far in Africa, as well as poor communities in the West. Addressing human rights issues cannot be allowed to become a career or business for organizations. We cannot allow ourselves to become mere mills for tiny informational brochures and annual surveys designed to appease or comfort those who donate the funds. All activist work must be results oriented." 

The United States are in the forefront in the worldwide fight for human rights, always quick to criticize any African country of its human rights record. Interestingly, in the well-known Human Rights Country Reports by the US Department of State (covering all countries except the US), women's rights have been given weight. The practice of FGM is described as a human right violation in the countries where it is found, and criticized. Within the US, however, the issue is neglected. "As far as the US, things with FGM move so much more slowly in our health care system," Jai says, referring to the situation in Europe, which neither is rosy. 

- Countries with socialized care are far ahead of us, she says. "We have only one clinic in the U.S. similar to Comfort Momoh's "African Well Woman Clinic" (London) and that is Dr. Nawal Nour's clinic at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. I hope for a day to see many more across the country in immigrant areas. In the US, if you are fat, bald or impotent, we have money to invent a pill for you, but if you have been brutalized by a practice not of your invention (and you are a woman), there are few funds, and what is available, people will politically fight over to their own selfish ends," she describes the preferences of the US health system.

 

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