Nyanza Circumcision Uproar

Nyanza Circumcision Uproar

By Kennedy Owino

10 April 2019

Since 2007 after some flawed Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) full of bias were carried out in three African countries of Kenya, Uganda and South Africa, male circumcision has been proclaimed to have unjustified health benefits in lessening the risk of HIV transmission among heterosexual partners by approximately 60%. In what has been popularly labeled as a scare tactic for women to convince their intact partners to go for circumcision, there was another conclusion relating cutting off a non-defective foreskin from the tip of a perfectly created penis to lowering the risk of acquiring cervical cancer in women. Circumcision proponents have also incoherently claimed that chopping off the foreskin from where it is supposed to fully serve its functions could help in maintaining hygiene in men.

All these unfounded claims have been proven to lack biological plausibility, epidemiological and scientific evidence. Through misleading information given to young men by uninformed doctors in circumcision clinics and other health facilities where the service is provided, coupled with risk compensation which arises from failure to value the consistency of condom use as the surest way to keep STIs at bay, many circumcised men in Nyanza have become reckless with their sex lives, leading to soaring levels of new HIV infections in a region that has been on the leading rank in HIV/AIDS prevalence for decades.

The massive circumcision drive in Sub-Saharan Africa was launched several years ago, not to help avert the high rate of HIV/AIDS among the uncircumcised populations as falsely claimed, but to form a solid gateway into Africa to harvest foreskins that are used in the cosmetics industry especially in the midst of an annually enlarging circumcision rejection brigade in America. The goal is to be achieved by trimming adult and teenage circumcision down to that of babies. It has been found that foreskins from babies manufacture better cosmetics than those cut off from the penis of an adult man. [NB: Foreskin-derived neonatal fibroblasts are used in biomedical research and in the manufacturing of some cosmetic creams.]

In a bid to propagate these vital points and debunk the mass circumcision myths, Intact Kenya talked to the people of Nyanza region on a radio platform of Milambo fm found in Migori town. Intact Kenya was created to advocate for the universal human right of genital autonomy and intact care. Behind the microphone was Caleb Anyange and I alongside our radio host Ouma Maurice. Caleb is a very resourceful man with a vast knowledge about male circumcision and its harmful effects. He skillfully and intelligently answered questions from listeners who called or sent short messages to place questions on why it’s time to stop the massive circumcision of Africans on the night of Friday 5th April, 2019.

I’m not sure whether this was our third or fourth time to go live on air via Milambo fm but what I’m sure of is that this was our shortest show ever, lasting for just one hour from 10pm to 11pm. As usual we had listeners on both sides of the bridge. There was a listener who talked of circumcision as a way of aiding hygiene in men, irrelevantly connecting it with the necessity of cutting hair off the heads of babies. One talked of circumcision as a way of helping to avoid cracks from occuring on the foreskin. There was another listener who said that the injection to suppress pain during circumcision causes a disease. These and other questions were immediately answered to the satisfaction of the concerned parties.

At the end of the show, we gave our contacts as we’ve always done in the previous radio shows. A listener immediately called and organised to meet us the following day. When we met him on Saturday morning as we had agreed, Caleb gave him cards, stickers, wrist bands and a pen. He told us how he was traditionally circumcised a long time ago to meet the cultural prerequisite for becoming a man. As the radio show began the previous night, he was one of the callers who had a neutral stand on the cut, but the information we passed across as the show progressed made him change his stand to take a firm ground against male circumcision. He gave us an informal invitation to organise a circumcision information session in his remote village in order to wake up the sleeping members of his community.

As the radio show began the previous night, he was one of the callers who had a neutral stand on the cut, but the information we passed across as the show progressed made him change his stand to take a firm ground against male circumcision.

As we were in the process of sharing with him, another person called saying that even though he got cut at an adult age slightly above 18, he has silently suffered the negative consequences of circumcision. Apparently, erectyle dysfunction has taken a toll on him. He talked of gradual minimised sexual duration from approximately 40 minutes before the cut to around 15 minutes after undergoing the cut. And he is worried that he is a man who will soon fail to have an erection in its entirety. He has not shared this story with anyone else for fear of being ostracised within the society where he comes from. It’s, however, surprising that in spite of what he undergoes after circumcision, he has a son who he took for circumcision at an early age of 9 years. The son is now a teenager who is in high school. He is eagerly relying on us to help him reverse the adverse effects of his circumcision.

[H]e has silently suffered the negative consequences of circumcision. … He has not shared this story with anyone else for fear of being ostracised within the society where he comes from.

As Caleb went to give out more intactivism materials within the outskirts of Migori town, he met a man who did not listen to our show over the radio, but his attention was captured by the conversation Caleb was having about circumcision with someone else next to his place of work. Caleb called me and we immediately went to his carpentry shop for a finer discussion. He said that he got circumcised several years ago just like most of his peers, but the cut has ruined his sex life. He constantly asked us if we are able to help him reverse the adverse effects of the cut. He too talked of having three sons who are also all cut already. We gave him cards, pens and stickers for his own use and if possible to share with his neighbours. The unique part of our conclusion with him is that he gave us money. A 50 KES note, to appreciate what we do and help motivate us to spread the anti-circumcision information further afield. We were very grateful as we left.

He said that he got circumcised several years ago just like most of his peers, but the cut has ruined his sex life. He constantly asked us if we are able to help him reverse the adverse effects of the cut.

One of the people we met suggested that we should plan to have another radio show during the day when most of the target audience are awake. As you know, all our previous shows have been held at night.

Keep it here for another circumcision information update which is expected to come out soon.

Kennedy Owino is the Director of Intact Kenya.