Since I was coming back to the States to pop out kid #2, the Sissies were so kind as to let me weasel in a book club choice. I knew I wanted to pick a book that was relevant to my life in Ethiopia, and I had just read a book called "Born in the Big Rains." It's a memoir of a Somali girl. I've read a few other books that were similar but this one was fresh on my mind and more easily accessible (I think) than some of the other ones. I actually would have rather chosen one of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's books, "Infidel" or "Nomad" but they are both really long and "Nomad" isn't in paperback yet, so I'd be breaking the rules. Rules are rules. They are, in fact, NOT made to be broken. That's a stupid outlook on life. Am I supposed to start an entry by talking about the books I didn't choose? That's probably against the rules...
SO - "Born in the Big Rains" is about a Somali girl named Fadumo who grows up on the Steppe as a nomad (like, legit nomad) camel and goat-herder. She ends up going from the middle of nowhere, to a town, to a city, and eventually to Europe. The book is really just her story, but her path is directed by an event that happened (as it does to 98% of Somali girls) when she was around eight years old. Fadumo went out with her mother into the desert where they met up with an old woman with nasty, rusty tools, who performs female circumcisions. It's also called Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) or female genital cutting, and third degree circumcision, which most Somali women undergo, is essentially where this nasty old woman removes everything having to do with the genitalia, and sewing it all up, leaving a hole the size of a match head for urine and menstrual blood to pass. As you can imagine most women end up with an incredible array of health problems related to this procedure, and many die from shock, infections, or later on in life during childbirth.
Fadumo ends up with severe health problems, even in the joints of her fingers because of her circumcision. She ends up in Europe passed around under the care of different distant clan relatives.
The book gives a little insight into the incredibly rich and complex Somali culture, but mainly sheds light on the issue of FGM, and helps us see this - if I may be so blunt - evil practice from a first-hand account.
Honestly, FGM is something I think about a lot in Ethiopia - the effects of it, the beautiful women I know who have been circumcised, the health issues that these women carry around their whole lives, and of course the emotional and relational problems that are attached.
Why would an entire people group of around 15 million people practice such a thing? What it mainly stems from is the belief that women are to blame for the lustful thoughts of a man, and that a woman's God-given sexuality is evil. Even if a woman is fully covered and a man looks at her and lusts, it's her fault. Not his. Women's genitals are removed and sewn back together with the idea that it will keep her pure (keep her from sexual enjoyment) and make it easy to tell if she stays a virgin or not.
Thankfully, we have the Word of God to teach us that women were created in the image of God - and she is very good. We know that men and women are equally loved by God, one is not elevated above the other (different, but equal), and that both are responsible for their own sins before a holy God. A woman's sexuality, just like a man's, was made GOOD, by GOD, to be enjoyed like crazy within marriage.
Anyway, I could really go on all day about this and think out loud about how to chip away slowly at this issue, but I'm done for now. I'm not even going to proof-read this! How 'bout it!
And the ratings go as follows:
Stacey - 7.75
Erin - 7.25
K$ - 9
ARoss - 7.9
Camille - 8
Sarah - 8.362 (to make a point...)
Over and Out.
By the way, the author is Fadumo Korn.
And if you want to read other books like it you can read Aman, Nomad, Infidel... and you can watch "Desert Flower," a movie about the Somali supermodel Waris Dirie.
