The Cut Filming Locations

THE CUT The Kuria people both in Kenya and Tanzania practice circumcision for both boys and girls. Every even year young boys and girls are moved "from childhood to adulthood". Nobody knows the time it begun. People say that girls are circumcised to reduce libido and prostitution... There is a lot of peer pressure from parents, relatives, neighbors, peer group influence, and the fear of not getting married or to be tortured are some of the reasons as to why most girls go for the ritual not knowing the effects. Elderly women speak about their experience: The circumciser had used a kind of axe to cut the clitoris, labia majora leaving a plain hole. It was even difficult for them to walk and sleep. Nowadays, they say, "something small" (meaning clitoris) is being cut with a razor blade. During the period of circumcision the church educates people in different places within the community. The pastor advice parents to stop the outdated practice by telling them that they are doing what the fore-fathers did unknowingly. A rescue camp, also organized by the church, is providing refuge for girls who ran away from home, because of being forced to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM). Girls and women who were circumcised some years ago regret having gone there and speak about the pain they had to endure. A clinical officer and a nurse delineate the problems during giving birth. The circumcised have to suffer a lot; they usually tear badly since the scar tissue cannot expand. Although this is a known fact, many people do not want to end circumcision now. One of these men says that he cannot marry a circumcised lady while some cannot marry the one who is not since she cannot harvest vegetable from mother in-laws garden, they will dry. Some people think it will never ever end no matter the circumstances. Some say the elders will decide, if it will end and when.A circumcised girl is like a stone... The Kuria in Kenya and Tanzania are still practicing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as a ritual. It is painful and even dangerous. The older generation and peer pressure want to uphold the legacy of the ancestors... but the effect of generational practice has created a mixed feeling in the young generation in the 21st century. So what can human right activists do?