Project Director Prince Hillary Maloba’s landmark speech in Kimilili, Kenya. 2 February, 2016.
Mission
The VMMC Experience Project was established to give a voice to the people affected by the West’s mass circumcision campaign in Africa. Our mission is to empower the most frequently overlooked contingent: Africans.
Background
When we first started in 2014, six million men and children had been circumcised without follow-up, yet the global public had not heard a word from them. Lacking input from its subjects, media attention to the issue reflected positive press releases from VMMC-promoting agencies. But what was the real story? How “voluntary” was this mass surgical campaign? Did rural men and children really not mind being circumcised? Why were HIV rates rising instead of falling?
When we empower Africans to share their experiences, a different story emerges than what Western powers are presenting. As VMMC figures rise, so too does the urgency to document the aftermath.