Arab efforts to eliminate female circumcision: a doctor changes his positions and activist who uses the strength of the theater

According to the United Nations Population Fund, this practice leads to problems during pregnancy and childbirth, which increases the risk of death for mothers and children.

In light of the wars, crises and climate disasters that the region suffers from, The box sheds light On stories full of hope and insistence on evolution. In the most fragile societies in the Arab region, young men, women and girls seek to make positive changes, through hard work and open new horizons towards a sustainable and safe future.

Enhancing change: ending the suffering of girls

Fathia Othman Saeed, from Djibouti, chose to be a teacher to help young girls. In her big family, there is no other than her and two other sisters who were not circumcised, while the rest of the family’s girls were subjected to that harmful practice.

She chose to be a teacher to help young girls, because she saw the great pain that her girls sisters suffered when the menstrual cycle came to them compared to what she was going through, and these pains not only stopped at the menstrual cycle, but also caused problems at pregnancy and childbirth.

Fathia followed a training course held by a network “She is” Which works to enhance gender equality and eliminate the distortion of female genital organs, and Fathia realized what problems have suffered from her sisters. That was the first time that many things were understood.

After training, she asked her to go out to the field in order to help raise the level of awareness and fight false ideas. There was a great difficulty in reaching people, as this is a societal prohibition.

The “He and Hahm Network” provided the safe place and confidence, and its goal was to help and listen to the girls.
Fathia says: “The world without circumcision will become a world without suffering, without pain, without fear and without shame for the girl. Every girl will feel joy, tenderness and happiness.”

From shyness to shine

Since entering a “nucleus”, Rabaa Abdel Hamid (from Egypt) has been wondering what is acting and what is its benefit, and being a rural girl who was the custom preventing the girl from acting. But when I started acting, I felt like it “A plane butterfly”.

The nucleus team of the community theater is a team of youth interested in the theater and the arts and integrating it with population issues such as reproductive health, family planning and violence against gender, in the context of supporting and empowering young people and involving them in developing solutions to societal problems by integrating art with societal issues and delivering a purposeful message to society through the theater.

Rabaa did not know many things, such as female circumcision or family planning. She was at first shy, even in talking to the opposite sex. However, she overcame this fear and turned from a very shy girl and has no knowledge of many topics, and she became a coach in the reproductive health of the “direction”, where she educated dozens of individuals, learned the skill of leadership and managed to lead and educate a full team.

Rabaa noted the role of awareness and its great impact on people, in particular using the theater, which can communicate the information in an easy and effective way, and helps to educate the audience.

From a supporter of anti -female circumcision: the journey of change

In Somalia, Dr. Shuaib Abdel Qader, from a female physician for female circumcision, turned into a fierce activist in fighting this serious violation of the rights and health of women and girls, and took it upon him to raise the level of societal awareness about female circumcision with the help of the United Nations Population Fund and the “He for She” campaign. It is for her. “

He believed that if the girl was not circumcised, then she does not belong to Somalia, but after the death of his eight -year -old sister due to the severe bleeding caused by circumcision, he felt great pain. Since then, his goal has been to prevent the suffering of girls and stop this harmful practice.

Dr. Shuaib stressed the need to raise awareness of everyone by visiting local communities. Based on being a doctor and father at the same time, he said that men bear the costs of these practices. He stressed the possibility of protecting others from exposure to this suffering and experience, and he became asking men to work to stop the circumcision of women. Its main goal is to eliminate all forms of female genital mutilation.

The United Nations revives “The International Day of Lack of Tolerance at all for the distortion of the female members of females” On February 6. The United Nations Population Fund works with young people to enable them to develop the skills, knowledge and support necessary to make enlightened decisions on their bodies, lives, families, societies, countries and the world.

Many international and local organizations, such as the United Nations Population Fund and the World Health Organization, are working to combat this practice through awareness campaigns and training programs aimed at changing their related social and cultural concepts. These organizations also seek to empower women and girls through education, provide health care and psychological support, with the aim of eliminating female circumcision by 2030.