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change mentalities from the pediatrician

02/06/2023 at 09:34

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98% of the women who arrive in Spain from countries like Mali, Somalia or Guinea have suffered genital mutilation, a violence that many of them assume as part of their culture and tradition

The pediatrician Inma Sau arrived in Banyoles (Girona) in 1992, the time of the family reunification of migrants. They came to her consultation girls of African origin who had undergone genital mutilation. Thirty years later, the awareness work of these professionals has managed to drastically reduce this practice.

He 98% of women who arrive in Spain from countries such as Mali, Somalia or Guinea have suffered genital mutilation, a violence that many of them assume as part of their culture and tradition, with the risk that this implies for their daughters, and that from the pediatrician’s office is addressed with the families to try to eradicate.

It is not easy and it is not achieved from one day to the next. The climate of trust and security is essential for families, especially mothers, to open up and tell their experiences, doubts and fears.

This pediatrician who is currently consulting in Santa Coloma de Farners (Girona) knows it well, and who has been working with the migrant community in different towns in this province for more than 30 years (also in Banyoles and Olot) and also with the NGO Jokkere Endam.

When I arrived in Banyoles in 1992 it was a time of great family reunification. The girls arrived and they were all mutilated and when he checked he looked at the mothers and asked them: why do you do this to them? They explained to me and I learned from them,” this pediatrician told EFE on the occasion of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation that is celebrated this Monday.

After five years, Inma finally met the first girl who traveled to her country of origin and who returned to Spain without mutilating.

“Her mother, an illiterate woman but who had been here long enough to verify that girls were not mutilated, came to my office and told me that she had to take her three daughters back to her country because her mother-in-law wanted it that way. , but she told me that she didn’t want the girls to be mutilated,” she recalls.

This is how this pediatrician made her first certificate – a commitment to prevent female genital mutilation that is issued from the health center and signed by the parents. She “was full of seals” and she warned of the consequences of carrying out this practice on girls.

“The two older sisters stayed with their grandmother for two years and the youngest, nine months. No girl was mutilated, because that paper with many stamps has great value within the community“, emphasizes Inma, who remembers the enormous joy she felt.

Now 95% of girls come back unmutilated

But that job took him five years. Now, as she points out, 95% of the girls who travel to their country of origin return uncut. “In the beginning, 80% of the mothers and 50% of the fathers did not want their daughters to go through that. They are the ones who have made that change in mentality.

“That mom, like all of them, just wanted to protect her daughters,” says this pediatrician.

And this is corroborated by Sulekha, who arrived from Somalia 20 years ago and is a survivor of female genital mutilation.

“Any mother wants the best for her daughters”, but “we need support, affection and to be able to feel comfortable telling our story and not feel a double punishment, that of mutilation and that of feeling like a weirdo for what has happened to us “, it states.

Added to this is the fact that many of these women are unaware of the violence they have suffered. “They have to know that what has happened to them is not good and that they cannot do it to their daughters,” she adds.

The mutilation is not only physical, it is also mental

“Mutilation is not only physical, it is also mental. With it they are telling women what their role is in society, a minor role, you are telling them that you will not be able to have pleasure, that you will not be able to decide about your sexuality or about the children you want to have”, warns Inma.

In this sense, he assures that many of these women have to ask their husband’s permission even to leave the house and “if the doctor doesn’t ask them why they didn’t come to the office the other day and gives them space to open up and tell you“They won’t do it.

Koumba, a mutilation survivor, redounds in this same idea, who encourages doctors to investigate the reasons why a woman does not attend a scheduled consultation. “There is a lot of violence against women, who live subjected and controlled by their husbands,” she laments.

And he stresses the need to establish links between doctors and women with daughters. “They must quote them many times to establish that connection and explain to them what mutilation means”, to create a safe space for women to feel comfortable and to talk about their problems.

Inma assures that when a family arrives at the pediatrician’s office with their daughters and the issue of mutilation is addressed, “if you give them time to reflect and ask you questions, it helps. It helps so that when the girls travel to their country, they return without maim”.

But he warns that “what you cannot do is use the protocol the day before the trip.” “There is no use for a family to sign a paper if they are not convinced, and a convinced family here is going to convince their family there and they are going to become advocates for girls’ rights.”

“When a family understands that boys and girls are the same, that the opportunities should be the same, the change is profound, but that profound change is slower,” she explains.

All of them gave their testimony this week in Madrid at an event organized by Save a Girl Save a Generation and Mundo Cooperante to promote good practices and support survivors of female genital mutilation.

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