By Isha Fadilu Turay
‘Bondo’ the traditional initiation of young girls into full womanhood has been a practice, a tradition and a way of life of Sierra Leoneans spanning centuries even before the establishment of Sierra Leone as a British Crown State in 1808.
It was an anointed practice said to train and prepare young girls and young ladies into womanhood ready for marriage. In recent times, advocates against the practice have to refer to it as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) which basically describes the slashing of the clitoris and other vital organs of the woman’s genitals. Traditionalists maintain that it helps to preserve the sex orgy in women so as not to be sexually dishonest to their husbands. To these, it is a symbol of maturity and of esteem.
But advocates of recent are arguing that the practice is cruel, unhealthy and a risk to the lives of women and girls who go through the practice. The traditionalists also maintain that it is anti-African and anti-religion for a woman not to go through the ‘Bondo’ initiation. In fact, it is a secret society similar to the ‘Poro’ society for boys and young men entering maturity and adulthood.
Michaella Kabia a focused and determined young lady with her eyes on education as a means of empowerment was born in a family of traditionalists and kingpins in both the ‘Bondo’ and ‘Poro’ societies from her paternal and maternal sides, except for her mother who later changed to a born again Christian and had eschewed the tradition.
In her maternal village of Kamatortor in the Kambia District in the North-west of Sierra Leone her great grandmother was Chief of the ‘Sowei’. The Sowei title was
granted to elderly women in the country’s traditional communities who are actual cutters of the female genital parts in the Bondo circumcision ritual. She was therefore the grand supervisor of the Soweis in that part of the country and the position was hereditary from one generation to another. After the death of Michaella’s great grandmother, the title was shifted to her grandmother. After
the demise of this grandmother, it was decided that Michaella’s mother inherits the title; she herself had already been initiated.
According to sources, Michaella’s mother had vowed that none of her female children will undergo the Bondo initiation on her own accord except if they chose to do so, on their own volition. This stance had radicalized her to decide to marry to a Christian even though she hailed from a very strong Muslim background.
Michaella’s mother was now a transform being, a devout born-again Christian. Therefore, when her community elders confronted her with her inheriting the Sowei leadership of her own mother, she refused arguing that she is a Christian and she no longer believes in the custom and tradition of the Bondo Society and its attendant initiation or circumcision rites. Because of the ensuing persistent pressure, she therefore escaped from the community to an undisclosed location. She bore and raised her children without ever returning to her community of origin.
As such, Bondo initiation was attempted on all of Michaella’s elder sisters in one way or the other, but they had each resisted and parted ways with their custom and tradition. Michaella being the last child was the one who was faced with the most ferocious attempt and her growing stature and status among her peers in the community caused so much attraction that she ultimately became a prime target for the Bondo women, fearing that she might persuade many of her colleagues to oppose and frown the Bondo tradition. They Bondo authorities therefore started exerting pressure on both her parents even as Christians that she must undergo the Bondo initiation.
In the main time however, the news waves of girls bleeding to death during Bondo initiations were pervading the country. A journalist lady reporting for the State Broadcaster, the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC), Balema
Samba was on news has been hounded and hunted by Soweis in the Eastern District of Kenema simply for reporting on Bondo initiations in the community, resulting in her mysterious death.
Michaella’s mother was alarmed by these disturbing news reports and therefore became very apprehensive that, with her now open denial of the practice, if she should allow her daughters to attempt going through the initiation, they could lose their lives. She therefore reportedly aided her last daughter Michaella to run away and out of Sierra Leone.
Traditional secret societies in Sierra Leone are so powerful that they can go for anybody of their choice and want and force an initiation with no legal consequences. That is more the reason why, it is still a tall order for politicians and civil society advocates to attract popular support for their disbandment in the country.
Credible sources in Kamatortor have intimated this reporter that even though Michaella’s mother appears to have put her new-found religious belief above a traditional system she has been an integral part of, the Sowei Heads have declared that they will do everything in their powers to ensure she did not contaminate her children with what they have claimed to be western influence.
“As long as she lives and her children live, we will pursue them anywhere, wherever in this country. Each of those children we will go after; in particular Michaella because of her influence amongsther peers and she is already aware of what it means to be an African woman,” the Chief Sowei of Kambia District has reportedly declared.
Concerns among friends and associates of Michaella now is that given her own established disbelief in the tradition of the Bondo society and especially the excruciating pain and anguish of going through the initiation of cutting vital parts of her sex organ, she will never be safe and comfortable in her native Sierra Leone anymore.
“I don’t see anyway Michaella can be ever safe again with this declaration by the Chief Sowei. We are all aware of the power and influence this women’s tradition has on the old generation who now control power in all spheres of the country’s administration. There is no way anyone can seek for justice for this poor lady,” a civil society activist lamented.
The general worry over Michaella now is that; no one knows what may befall her if she suddenly decides to come out of her hiding and she is grabbed and taken into any of those Bondo shrines in the country. Will she survive it?