African Women Writing Resistance: An Anthology of Contemporary Voices

Part 4. Focusing on Survival: Women’s Health Issues

Part Four Focusing on Survival Women’s Health Issues This section explores some of the most debilitating health issues facing African women today: the health repercussions of female genital cutting, which is prevalent in many cultures throughout Africa; the effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and other serious diseases such as cancer; and the ongoing effects of the trauma visited on women by protracted violence and civil war. Four pieces in this section focus on the highly contested topic of female genital cutting (FGC), referred to by opponents of the practice as female genital mutilation. Descriptions of the practice and its aftereffects are described in harrowing detail in two poems by Ann Kithaka of Kenya; a hard-hitting 167 denunciation of the practice for both boys and girls by one of the most outspoken human rights activists on this issue in North Africa, Dr. Nawal El Saadawi of Egypt; and “Surviving Me,” a theater script by South African performance artist Janine Lewis. The performance artist and playwright Janine Lewis presents a vivid allegorical enactment, created collaboratively with a theater group of young South Africans, of the long-term effects of female genital cutting on girls and young women. The character of the Girl in the play feels lost and unloved by her culture , unsure of which traditions to follow or when to follow her own heart. Eventually she learns that the only way past the trauma that haunts her is to go right through it, and she emerges on the other side of her trials stronger, wiser, and ready to take her first steps toward freedom and autonomy. The medical doctor and internationally respected human rights advocate Nawal El Saadawi was one of the first in her home country of Egypt to sound the alarm on the health damages that can be caused by the practice of circumcision , both of girls and boys. Forty years after her groundbreaking volume The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World, she is still one of the most ardent and effective advocates for human rights, as the essay included here demonstrates. Dr. Saadawi takes a hard line against the practice of female genital mutilation (which she herself underwent as a child), calling it a human rights violation and a health threat of the gravest nature that should be totally banned—but she equally condemns the widely accepted practice of male circumcision, which she calls male genital mutilation (MGM). Other pieces in this section discuss the tremendous health effects on women of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. In her short story “Slow Poison,” Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi of Cameroon describes a young man’s death from AIDS from the point of view of his mother, who laments that while she uses up her entire savings futilely seeking a cure for him, she is also treated as a pariah by her relatives and culture. Her only support comes from the Presbyterian nuns who run an AIDS community outreach program in her village. The grim march of HIV infection to full-blown AIDS and death is recounted in poems by Ann Kithaka and Cheshe Dow, who write of the struggle to maintain dignity and community in the face of widespread sickness and death. Pauline Dongala of Congo-Brazzaville, in her essay “Prayers and Meditation Heal Despair,” describes the impact of the violent civil war in her country , which forced her and most of her family to leave their homes and seek shelter in the forest, becoming prey to hunger, disease, and uncertainty. Though Dongala and her immediate family were able to escape to the United States, she lost many friends and relatives to the conflict, and, like so many other women who live through such traumatic experiences, she became depressed and ill. Dongala offers her own experience of the power of prayer and meditation to heal individual despair (which might in psychiatric terms be referred to as 168 Part Four. Focusing on Survival post-traumatic stress disorder) as well as to effect social healing on a societywide level. Taken together, these pieces show the remarkable resilience of African women in the face of tremendous pain and suffering. The authors offer multiple lifelines of resistance to other women coming behind them on the journey to personal and societal recovery and strength. Part Four. Focusing on Survival 169 ...