THINKING ABOUT HARMFUL TRADITION

Tradition! Tradition! A Story of Mother Earth, by

Efua Dorkenoo, published by FORWARD Ltd.,

London, 1992.

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom in a faraway country known as the Land of Myrrh. There lived a proud people of great cultural heritage, enriched by deep-rooted and much-treasured traditions. It was tradition, for instance, that the women of Myrrh were one-legged. But one-legged as they might be, a more elegant and self-possessed species of womankind can hardly be imagined.

They had charming flirtatious ways, and an extraordinary gift for beautiful poetry. At the same time they were not without ambitions, and they possessed just the right measure of astuteness necessary to achieve them. And when the occasion demanded it, they could be very aggressive.

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One day, the Great Creator sent Mother Earth to the Land of Myrrh to see how the people were getting along. You see, there had been a very bad drought, people were hungry, and naturally the Great Creator was concerned. And so Mother Earth, disguised as an old woman, visited the Land of Myrrh. She was surprised to notice, upon her arrival, that the women considered it not only normal, but fashionable, to walk on one leg!

So Mother Earth set about trying to discover the reasons for the strange phenomenon of the one-legged women. This, however, was no easy task. The people she asked gave somewhat confusing answers as to why women were unable to keep their two legs.

Some people told her that if one of the legs of a little girl was not cut off, it would grow and grow, and before you knew where you were, it would become as big as a tree! Others told her that a woman with both legs was unable to bear a child. Yet others explained that a woman needed protection from herself; and somehow having one leg cut off helped to ensure this. Mother Earth asked: “In what way?” But she did not receive a satisfactory answer.
However, when she persisted with her question, Mother Earth was told that with two legs a woman would run away and become a prostitute, but with one she would have difficulty!

Some people turned to the religious texts for an answer to Mother Earth’s question, and they convinced themselves that it was the Great Creator who had decreed that women would behave better with just one leg But there was one very old woman in the Land of Myrrh who could remember how this habit of cutting one leg off every little girl had started. And she told Mother Earth the following story:

“A long time ago”, said the old woman, “in fact three thousand years ago, in the reign of Moussa, the Land of Myrrh was enjoying a period of plenty and there were great festivities. “Each year, colourful, exotic dance festivals were held to select the person who would be Ruler of the Land. In those days men and women competed equally and the best dancer would be crowned the Ruler of Myrrh.

“For five successive years, Moussa won all the competitions hands down. But in the sixth year, it seemed that the throne was going to be snatched from him. A beautiful woman had appeared on the scene, and it was clear she could dance far better than Moussa. “Moussa got very worried,” the old woman continued. “He decided something had to be done! In desperation he passed a decree that all women should have one leg cut off. This seemed to solve his problem, for dancing on one leg unsuccessfully put women out of the competition. So Moussa was able to continue his reign for another 20 years.”

This, then, was the old woman’s recollection of how the phenomenon of the one-legged women began. But to generations of the people of Myrrh it was simply tradition, handed down by their ancestors. What is more, it had become the responsibility of women themselves to see to it that all girl children adhered to this tradition!

Mother Earth was fascinated by the story. But she wanted to know whether the old woman thought it was a good practice.

The old woman stood pondering for a while, and then she replied: “I have known of many traditions, some good, some bad – as for this one, I am not sure”. Then Mother Earth remarked: “But just from looking at you I thought you felt comfortable.”

“Oh no,” said the old woman. “We have so many difficulties carrying out our daily chores with one leg! But everybody was frightened, and dared not discuss this issue.

They all put on a brave face and professed it to be a wonderful tradition! “Some said you could only be beautiful with one leg! Others claimed you could only be clean with one leg! Many claimed a woman could only be pure with one leg!!!

“And after a while, some women would say: ‘Why should we let the young women off the hook? We have suffered so much being one-legged. Now it is time for young girls to play their part in keeping the tradition going.”

By this time, Mother Earth was curious to know what the men had to say about all this. Was it possible that fathers would be blindly following such a tradition? Surely not!

But the truth, she discovered, was that men could not afford to disapprove of tradition – even bad tradition. They believed it would destroy family honour and dignity, and affect their status in the community. “And after all”, they argued, “who would pay a good bride price for a daughter with two legs?”

Then Mother Earth asked: “But what about the children?” She could imagine them screaming with fear and pain. Yes, she was told, childrn would always be children. There were those who screamed and shouted and had to be forced to have the operation for their own good. Most of them, though, wanted to be like their friends and part of the crowd.

Then Mother Earth thought that perhaps the rulers of the land might take a lead in stopping this bad tradition. But alas even they were not prepared to do so! They were afraid of challenging such a deep-rooted tradition.

Meanwhile, the food situation in this droughtstricken land was getting worse and worse. Walking on crutches, the women found it difficult to work the land and to travel far and wide to find richer pastures and foliage for the animals.

But as the situation became more dire, Mother Earth noticed that the people of Myrrh were beginning to question. A few men and women were coming together to discuss what they could do to stop this bad tradition. They had realised the time had come to challenge it, if future generations were to survive these hard times.

As they talked among themselves, they discovered a multitude of myths surrounding the tradition. And as time went on, they gathered strength to challenge the myths and began to plan.
But alas …. all this time there had been a spy amongst them. Unknown to them, she had betrayed their plans to the rulers. In return, the rulers had promised that her family would never go hungry. And so the guards came and took away the ringleaders. And that was the end of the effort of the people of Myrrh to come together to stop this evil tradition.

And so, children, little girls continue to be mutilated to this day. In fact, it has been going on for so long now that people just take it for granted. They have stopped questioning their tradition!

But come along, children. We have a game of survival to play, and for this we need both our leg. So come along!

SUMMARY INTERPRETATION OF THE STORY
● Cutting off the leg is comparable with FGM.
● Mother Earth represents all of us with our individual and collective responsibility for the actions of society.
● Mother Earth’s exploration of the tradition depended on her ability to relate effectively to the community
– she asked questions
– she was non-judgmental
– she listened empathetically
– she reflected carefully
– she used a positive approach.
● Mother Earth motivated people in the community to think again about the tradition.
● At the end, where Mother Earth invites children hearing the story to play a game of survival, indicates that the new generation needs to be educated and motivated to change harmful traditions.

SOME CONSTRUCTIVE APPROACHES TO CHANGING A HARMFUL TRADITION

● Awareness-raising in communities of problems associated with the tradition.
● Community involvement to eliminate the practice.
● Education of health care workers to provide knowledge and understanding of the practice.
● Mobilization of youth, women, elders and leaders to work to eliminate the practice.
● Introduction of by-laws against FGM practice at community level.

REFERENCE

Female Genital Mutilation InThinking about harmful tradition “Tradition! Tradition! A Story of Mother Earth,” by Efua Dorkenoo, published by FORWARD Ltd., London, 1992.