On International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), 6 February 2021, Soroptimist International and podcast host of SI Voices, Liz Batten, shine the spotlight on teacher, politician, and anti-FGM campaigner, Rugiatu Neneh Turay.
Rugiatu Neneh Turay was born in Sierra Leone in the semi-rural town of Lunsar, Port Loko district. A trained teacher, she became an anti-FGM activist due to her personal experience in the Bondo bush (secluded forest areas where FGM usually takes place in Sierra Leone). Turay entered into politics after the making of her first documentary ‘Razors Edge: The Controversy of Female Genital Mutilation’, and was appointed as Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs in 2016. The only woman to achieve such status in Sierra Leone at the time.
Turay fights for the elimination of FGM through her organisation, Amazonian Initiative Movement (AIM). She is also part of the Soroptimist Six activist group, supported by the SI Road to Equality President’s Appeal.
Liz: Hello, I’m Liz Batten, a Soroptimist in Salisbury, UK and I have had the privilege of talking to Rugiatu Neneh Turay. This interview was planned as an SI Voices podcast, however technological odds were stacked against us, and we were instead fortunate that she kindly agreed to answer our questions in writing so we can now share them with you. I hope you find her words as enlightening and moving as I did.
Hi Rugiatu, could you please tell us a little more bit about the work you do in Sierra Leone fighting to end FGM?
Rugiatu: After graduating in 1996, I studied religious and moral education and taught for four years, being part of the disciplinary committee in the two schools I taught in.
I was one of the leading anti-FGM campaigners working in both Guinea and Sierra Leone. My organisation, Amazonian Initiative Movement (AIM), was the first to organise a public declaration and still remains the only organisation to have held four public declarations with soweis (cutters) to stop cutting. We built the first safe house for girls running away from FGM, rape and early marriage in Masethleh village, and AIM is the only organisation to have succeeded in removing Bondo bushes to build schools and water wells. We organised the first alternative rite of passage with 75 young women after 45 soweis made a public declaration in 2019. The girls spent two weeks in a bush with proper training, and enjoyed all the good aspects of our Bondo culture (dancing, learning how to respect elders, how to take care of their families etc) without the fear of cutting.
In 2016, I was appointed Deputy Minister of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs. The ministry is responsible for working with people with disabilities, people dealing with homelessness, and those addressing women’s issues such as FGM, women’s right to land, participation, child abuse, teenage pregnancy and more. As a Minister, I was able to hold discussions with colleagues and influenced two ministers to make a public statement about the harmful practice of FGM, bringing the discussion to the then President. As a politician, I have been the only anti-FGM campaigner to have won an election.
Liz: We know that FGM or cutting is an incredibly harmful practice and can be detrimental to a girls’ health and mental wellbeing. Would you tell us what impact it has on girls and women and their communities?
Rugiatu: FGM is the removal of the clitoris for no medical reasons. It has lifetime consequences – psychological, emotional and social. In communities, it increases and promotes child marriage and teenage pregnancy, and results in girls dropping out of school. It also increases infant mortality rate. Ending FGM is important so girls are able to focus on their schooling. Ending FGM means teenage pregnancies are reduced, as is the infant mortality rate and poverty. Through education, girls can build self esteem, and gain courage to speak about issues concerning their communities and country at large. I am passionate to see FGM end for the simple fact that women will live without fear in the bedroom, and in the labour room.
Liz: You mention education. Why is it such an important tool to end FGM?
Rugiatu: Because there are no specific laws against FGM in Sierra Leone (apart from the Child Rights Act which is sometimes invoked), and education is therefore key to changing mindsets. Education helps women build their self-esteem to challenge issues and to question tradition. With education, girls will have the opportunity to make informed decisions.
Liz: Do you think it is important to engage men and boys, religious leaders, lawmakers, governments, law enforcers?
Rugiatu: In Africa, men in most cases make decisions at home and they are in high places where laws are crafted and implemented. Religious people are highly respected by their members and the general community. Above all, the men need to change their perceptions about uncut girls and culture. They need to be engaged so that they can accept their girls, sisters, to grow healthy. Women put pressure to have their daughters cut because they believe it’s the only way their children will find a husband. FGM is seen as a way to satisfy the desire of traditional men.
Liz: Can you tell us how you got involved with Global Media Campaign and became part of the Soroptimist Six? How important is Soroptimist support through the Road to Equality Appeal?
Rugiatu: I invited Maggie O’Kane, Executive Director of Global Media Campaign, and her colleague to visit Sierra Leone, and we held a successful media training session with members of parliament, traditional and religious leaders, and a few media personnel. I had a lot of opposition from Sierra Leoneans in the UK and here in the country. Everybody thought I should and must not allow them to play that documentary. I stood my ground and we succeeded. I am sure a lot of people have seen my commitment and passion in this fight, which I have kept up, with or without funds. Often big funding will go to larger INGOs (International Non-Governmental Organisations), however, with funding I will move mountains. I have given my whole life to this fight, because of my personal experience, and due to the death of my cousin. Before meeting Maggie of Global Media, I worked with Nina Smart in California USA, and she used my story and her own in her book. The support of Soroptimists enables me, staff and beneficiaries to keep up my engagement through the media; helping in the ongoing fight to end FGM here in Sierra Leone.
Liz: Can you give an example of how you get your message across during your campaigns?
Rugiatu: I always set up teams of panellists which include a cutter, traditional leader, religious leader, young, cut girls and mothers. The different target categories are set into teams that go on the radio and television to speak. The listening audience will then make telephone calls to ask questions or input into the discussions. We have people making jingles in different languages which run on radio stations for weeks. For hard to reach communities who don’t even have an opportunity to listen to a radio or watch TV, we buy megaphones to get our messages out there.
Liz: How has COVID-19 impacted your work to end FGM in Sierra Leone?
Rugiatu: Restrictions due to COVID-19 create lot of challenges. And donors have also reduced their support to do massive work in maintaining the momentum we have created. However, we have an opportunity to expand to new communities in districts where people thought it was not possible to speak about FGM, for example, Bo and Moyamba. We have recently started engagement with practitioners/soweis, FGM members, young people and traditional leaders there.
Liz: What practical steps can Soroptimists take to bring an end to FGM?
Rugiatu: Continuing to support the Road to Equality President’s Appeal, and at a local level, to perhaps directly support local campaigners, and not just for special days. There are now a lot of initiatives in different communities to move away from FGM as part of the traditional Bondo culture, so I urge Soroptimists to continue their support for local campaigners and instigate further strategies leading to ending FGM, including action through the media to propagate the work. In fighting to end FGM, a holistic approach is required.
Liz: Thank you so much Rugiatu and thank you all for sharing this interview with me. You read her words about the real need for additional funding to help her with her exceptional campaign, so I need to say no more. I just need to let you know how you can help her. I urge you to support the International President’s Appeal Road to Equality so we can continue to fund Rugiatu and the rest of the Soroptimist Six to create (in her words) ‘a safe world for women and girls’.
Last thoughts: The future I want for girls and women is a world free from FGM and other gender-related violence committed against women, whilst maintaining a rich African culture for women. I wish for a world where women take leadership to create change at every level for everyone. A safe world for women and girls.
Find out more about FGM & the Road to Equality HERE