FGM meeting

The Tanzanian government has laws banning female circumcision but it still is a common practice for many people groups here. Angelica, a missionary from Germany, has been educating women in the villages she works in for a long time about issues surrounding female circumcision. Recently a group of women in 2 villages pledged to help end circumcision in their areas. This is huge as they are some of the few with this opinion. When the government banned female circumcision Tikwa, the spiritual leader for Masai in our area, spoke about how circumcision would need to end. Many of the men assumed the practice was stopped. Instead women began circumcising their daughters as toddlers and doing it in secret. This increased the dangers as unskilled women were called upon to perform the circumcisions. Mama Mmari and Barbara organized a special meeting for Wednesday in Tikwa's village. Tikwa had his representatives in various villages come Tuesday to begin discussing the issue. Mama Mmari, Barbara and Angelica invited women from area villages to come hear various presentations on Wednesday. Unfortunately due to cultural restrictions amoungst the Masai (women and men apparently don't meet together like this) not many women came. Instead of the 200 women they were hoping for there were probably only about 20-25. Representatives from the UN and the US Embassy also came. They are going to provide support for the diocese to increase it's area of education. Evem though the meeting didn't turn out exactly as planned it still shows that progress is being made through education. The pictures at the end show the Masai Morani (warriors) dancing. The last 2 are videos. I was really excited to watch the dances as it was my first time seeing it in person. I hope one day to make it to a real ceremony so I can see the girls dancing too.
This doesn't really relate to the meeting at all but I have to say that Roberto Quiroz has to be one of the nicest people I've ever met. He's the Cultural Affairs Officer for the US Embassy. He invited Josh, Sue and I to come to Dar es Salaam anytime for a BBQ at his house!