Cultural Hot Button

Culture and tradition are a vital part of our Africanness. There are those who strongly feel our culture and tradition should not be touched or modified in any way or form. There are some, however, who strongly feel that some aspects of what we live with and admire as Africans, Liberians in particular, need some discontinuation or dismantling. One of such practices is Female Genital Mutilation (FMG).

This practice which is carried out on little girls and some grown-up women, to many, is despicable and inhumane. Those who are staunch advocates of the practice compare it to kids attending preschool in the Western culture. This is far from the truth and so terribly a misinformation. A stunning revelation I got from a personal friend made me to understanding that if she had to do it all over again, she would definitely do it and even take her American-born daughter to experience this cultural phenomenon. I am not convinced. Before our discussion, I had written my disapproval of the practice of FGM:

I knew it. I knew it. As soon as the topic came up this morning, the first thing I thought was, wherever Ngee is hiding, he would be out immediately. FGM is a topic he loves to promote even after all the horror stories that are being told by African women on the Tyra Banks and other shows.

I definitely won't mind sending my daughter to "bush school" to learn how to cook and how to respect her peers and elders. Children are the same all over the world. To compare sending your kids to western preschools with what happens to children in Liberia whose parents find it entertaining to send their kids to "Grebo Bush", the comparison here is beyond insane.

I love our culture. I love the various tribal traditions of Liberia. We will still be human beings if this particular cultural practice is discouraged and discontinued. With the inquisitive children we have these day, I would be caught in a jam trying to explain the whys to some of the things that go on in the "bush school."

I can't wait for the day when the advocates of FGM announce via these listservs the return of their daughters from "bush schools" in Liberia. Until then, we have the right to make all the noise we can make, knowing fully well that none of us is prepared to take the first step to sending our daughters to Liberia to undergo this most educationally cultural experience.

Happy New Year, Nathaniel Gbessagee!