In Order for Girls to No Longer have Genital Mutilation, for Boys to No Longer Ask for Food

Jun Xu

Translated By BRI Youth Jolina Hor and Vivian Hor

Since 2013, our team has been in Senegal for charity work. After seeing so many tragic events, we cannot help but share this heartbreaking, yet hopeful stories with you. Their sad lives and many volunteers contribution have given us the encouragement to keep working harder.

The Young Girl’s Genital Mutilation

Female genital mutilation is a thousand-year horrific culture in Africa with the goal of keeping purity for females from the contamination of the male gender. From the first week of birth, baby girls must shave their hair and cut slashes on the head with a knife. Afterward, these cuts will continue to be made on their heads every few years. When a young girl reaches her teenage years, there will be a ceremony in which only women can attend. During the ceremony, a group of masked women will sing ancient songs while grabbing and pressing down the soon-to-be circumcised girl’s arms and legs. Then, an older woman (with no medical training) will cut off the young girl’s labia majora, labia minora, and even the clitoris. The young girl will then have her vaginal opening sutured with twine, leaving only a small opening for the girl to allow her menstrual blood to flow out. All of this, sadly, is done with no anesthesia and is not sterile. As a result, after the surgery, many girls are unable to urinate as the urethra and vagina cause fistula to occur. This operation leads to infection and high fever, making the mortality rate very high. The immense pain of this tradition has caused many young girls to fear the procedure; however, society’s customs are pushing them into an abyss of suffering.

Somali Poetess Dahabo Musa, in 1988, wrote a poem titled “Three Feminine Sorrows” that described the pain and suffering the genital mutilation practice brought to females.

1. The procedure stretches to over ten years of painful suffering.
2. During the wedding night, the pain of the vagina reopened.
3. During childbirth, the vagina is reopened and the woman suffers pain again when the child’s head goes through the birth canal.

Moreover, Musa has not yet mentioned the fourth painful suffering: when the husband, for some reasons, leaves his wife, the women in the family will have to resew the wife’s vulva until the husband comes back home. Unfortunately, the poor wife will have to go through this pain once more.

In mid-2000, with a heart full of ambition to contribute to the society, Ms. Ana Paula came alone to the leprosy village, Fatiga in Senegal. Not long after she arrived there, she encountered a big problem. One day, a young girl secretly came and told Ms. Ana Paulathat she had to do the genital mutilation and invited Ms. Ana Paula to attend her circumcision ceremony. When Ms. Ana Paula learned about the genital mutilation practice, she immediately told the young girl that she was going to protest.

Fig 1, Ms. Ana Paula and her daughter protested at the scene.

Fig 2, The young girl, filled with fear, about to be circumcised.

Sadly, Ms. Ana Paula’s protest was like a drop of rain in a big, dull lake and did not arouse any reactions. The young girl’s arms and legs were pressed down by seven to eight women. Without anesthesia and sterile conditions, a part of the young girl’s sexual organs was cut off for the procedure.

Fig 3, A young girl after her genital mutilation procedure, relatives and friends gave her 2000 CFA franc as a gift (about 3 USD).

In the leprosy village, Fatiga, all of middle aged and older women have undergone the genital mutilation procedure. If a young girl does not go through the procedure the whole village will see her as a filthy and unclean person, and she cannot be married. What should we do? What should we do? Ms. Anna’s heart burned as if it was on fire with the blazing pain keeping her awake at night. She must save these young girls.

The Young Boys Who Seek for Food

In May of 2013, when we were on our way to Leprosy Village, our medical team stopped the car to pump gas. At that moment, a group of kids wearing shabby and ragged clothing surrounded our car asking for money and food.

Fig 4, A group of boys surrounded the car, asking for food.

Among them was a child, frowning, who was wearing an adult T-shirt and had dirty skin covered in scabies. We gave the group of kids some bread and I took the photos below.

Fig 5, The melancholy boy asking for food, and their smile after receiving bread.

Why are groups of boys on the streets begging for food? Why do their eyes show pain and not happiness? Why, at young ages, do they show stressful sorrow that adults usually have? Why are there no girls begging for food? Shouldn’t it be easier for girls to find money? Our local co-workers, then, let me know the huge, dark inside story.

Marabout is an Islamic educational institution distributed in various countries in West Africa. In history, many Islamic teachers and religious leaders have been called the title of Marabout and are considered a branch of the Islamic Brotherhood.

Fig 6, A Marabout teacher

In Senegal, the average life expectancy of a person is 50 years; every woman gives birth to an average of five kids, and the average infant mortality rate is 50%. Because most families cannot afford to support half of the kids, the Marabouts would tell them: “Either way, half of your kids are going to pass away, why not leave them with us?” They would coax and trick these poor families into giving their children that are ages 5 and up into “free foster care and education.” A majority of the poor families do not trust to give their daughters to these strangers, so they usually only hand their sons to them.

Once these poor kids are in the hands of the Marabout, every child must hand in 200 CFA francs, which is 40 cents per day. Adults in Senegal can only earn 2000 CFA francs a day. The Koran stipulates that adults must give one-tenth of their income to the poor every day, and as a result, that amount of money is collected by the children from Marabout. In Senegal alone, there are about fifty thousand Marabout children begging for food on the streets. Thus, the Marabouts receive about one million CFA francs every day. As time goes on, they have accumulated a huge amount of wealth. They monopolize lawsuits, snatch people’s wealth, force children to join Islam, and use money and religion to influence and manipulate the country. One time, we passed through a highway and saw a manor on the highway. All the cars must take a turn and bypass it. Our co-workers told us that this is the home of one of the Marabout boss and that no one dares provoke his land. (Please see the following for more information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talibe)

On March 3rd, 2013, at least nine Marabout children were imprisoned in a dark room because they did not beg the 200 CFA francs required. The wagging candlelight shone on the frowning children and the hungry bugs made cooing noises. Suddenly, the candle stand fell down and a flame fell down on the dry wall like a poisonous snake burning. “Help me, help me!” the children desperately shook the locked door and within minutes, the flames engulfed the children’s cries and the vivid lives turned into a plume of smoke.

Fig 7, The children in this house were burned alive.

After the tragedy occurred, the New York Times and a couple of French newspapers made some detailed reports on the incident. The Senegalese President Macky Sall gave a speech stating that the murderer must be severely punished; however, after two months, the court believed that the death of those kids occurred because “God wanted them to go home.” As a result, all the Marabouts involved in the case were acquitted. In the end, Senegal’s streets continue to have struggling children who are “freely raised and going to school.”

Fig 8, A typical Marabout school

When these children reach the rebellious period of their youth, the Marabout are unable to control all of them, and as a result, they will kick most of them out of school. The children who are kicked out don’t know a lot of words, have no skills to earn a living, can only steal and rob, and bring a huge instability to society. Therefore, when we were in Senegal, we never went outside during the evenings. During the day, only under the guidance of the local co-workers could we find safe places.

Saved by Fire and Water

The children’s tragic experiences are like a dull knife tearing against our hearts. What should we do? We have no money, no resources, no ability to influence the government, and no way of directly conflicting with the Marabout. However, we always feel like we need to do something. Although we have no power to save all the children, we feel that saving one is our duty, saving more are earning, and we must do something to make our contribution. The Africa Cries Out team decided that running a school was the best solution. One day, Pastor Otavia Marques took us to an empty base and told us “We bought this piece of land ten years ago; however, as we did not have enough money, we were unable to build a school. Do you guys have a solution?”

Fig 9, Pastor Otavia Marques and Doctor Jun Xu at the empty base in the year 2013.

After returning back to the United States, we immediately established the American Africa Cries Out Foundation chaired by Doctor Jun Xu, and soon, the US government officially approved of our 501 (C)3, i.e. tax free status. Challenged by those tiny faces in pain with ubiquitous needs, we only had a small amount of confidence while doing whatever we could. Our confidence was just like a mustard seed, which is small at first, and then it slowly grows into a towering tree. Unexpectedly, in the past eight years, with the support of caring people from around the world, we were able to build a technical school from scratch. Here is a bit of our tidbits;

1) The donation from the Paims: Mr. Anderson Paims worked as a social worker in Sao Paulo, Brazil. One day, during a charity event, he met Andressa, a very beautiful senior bank manager. Together, the couple delivered meals to the poor in Sao Paulo and organized summer camps for the poor children. The fire of love and their common ambition drew them to marriage. They bought a three-bedroom and one-living room unit in a high-end residential area in Sao Paulo and owned two good cars. Life is like a garden full of fresh flowers, bringing them the sweetness of hope.

Fig 10, The beautiful bride and handsome groom.

In 2012, they met Mr. Marques, who opened a school in Guinea-Bissau and performed charity ministry. Mr. Marques told them that they could change the lives of others, save the boys who were tortured by Marabout, save the women who were forced to undergo circumcision by feudal abuses, and it would be the happiest moment in their lives. Mr. Marques’ words deeply moved the couple. They sold their house and cars, took all the money, and came to Bissau. In order to save these children, they raised donations everywhere, opened schools, invested the money they brought into the school, bought a residence for themselves in Bissau, and fully determined to take root in Africa.

Fig 11, Anderson in Africa.

In 2014, Mr. Marques informed the Paims that he was building a technical school in Senegal and needed their support. Gazing at the just purchased warm new home that they had spent lots of energy and time on repairing, they sold it without saying a word. However, due to the massive depreciation of the African franc, they were only able to sell it for $6,000, and they directly took it to the base. As soon as they arrived, they heard that the base needed to buy a pickup truck for exactly 6,000 US dollars. Without hesitation, they took their money out of their pockets and used the remaining money to buy a bed, which became their only property.

Fig 12, The Paims’ only property.

Money can buy a lot of things; however, it cannot necessarily buy righteousness. Soon, Andressa became pregnant. I told the couple, “Your family needs money, why don’t you keep some for yourself?” Andressa replied, “For the children of Africa, I am willing to give up everything!”

My eyes became moist; the selflessness of their soul illuminated the barren night sky of Africa. Great sentiment sees money as trash. In order to save the children of Africa, they gave everything. We all secretly vowed that we must work hard to raise the fund to build the school.

Fig 13, Anderson, Andressa, and their daughter Elana while the hot African sun tans the family of three.

2) With the help of caring people in mainland China, love was connected. Many friends in mainland China who we knew or did not personally read about the report we wrote about Leprosy Village, and after seeing young girls’ genital mutilation practice and Marabout boys begging on the street, they were heartbroken. They extended a helping hand and donated money. With the donations, we purchased three containers of construction materials, bed, doors and windows, computers, cooking utensils, etc. A strong import and export company in mainland China handles purchases, bargaining, warehousing, import and export, etc. for us free of charge. The caring people in mainland China laid a solid foundation for the establishment of the technical schools.

Fig 14, Loading goods donated by the caring people of mainland China into the trucks.

Fig 15, The donated goods being unloaded at the technical school.

3) With the donations from kind-hearted people all over the world, with the help of the far-reaching Internet, we have established contacts with Chinese people from all over the world. Among them, there are retired elders, caring entrepreneurs, and even prisoners serving sentences.

Fig 16, Mr. Pan, a retired elder from Brooklyn’s, cash check.

Fig 17, Prisoner Mr. Lu’s cash check. Every month, he only receives $20.18 for living expenses, and he donates all of it.

Chinese all over the world have started mobilizing to give a piece of their love. 95% of our donations come from Chinese, holding the money that they have saved. Their kindness, just like a fire from the bottom of their hearts, burns and urges us to continue moving forward. Our team also contributes money and efforts. In just a short time, we have the start-up funds, and can start to build the school.

The Construction Process

1) Water is the origin of all life

The sunlight in Senegal lasts around twelve to fourteen hours, and if there is water under the heat, and as long as a branch is placed, then it will sprout. However, there is insufficient water in Senegal, and its freshwater resource is about 75 to 100 meters underground, which is around 20 to 35 stories deep underground. To drill a well, it costs approximately US$25,000. This makes it impossible for ordinary villages and people to raise large sums of money. When we found a well-drilling company, they had offered a price of $25,000; through negotiation , we had agreed on US$16,000. They accepted the contract on condition that they would only try to drill twice. If two attempts failed, the money would not be refunded. In order to save money, we gritted our teeth and agreed. Accordingly, when they drilled about a depth of 60 meters, water flowed out, and the amount that came out was so large that thousands of people could use it. On the day after the water flowed out, a column of water danced under the sun with the blue sky and white clouds. Both parties were filled with joy.

Fig 18, Water spurting

2) A free designer, an advanced vision

The sunset over the Long River brought upon melancholy while economic limits shortened the hero’s breath. We needed an architect to design not only a building, but also a whole park. That would definitely be a large sum. Right as we were in desperation, an architect named Peel appeared. He was a friend of our finance worker, Mr. Nielsen, and was willing to help design for free. With his help, a beautiful 10,000-square-foot teaching building sailed on our base like a ship, and a 6,000-square-foot student dormitory was designed to the standards of America. The entire campus of Meilun was stunning. We were asked to lay the foundation of a two-story building in order to add another storey later.

Fig 19, The already constructed 10,000-square-foot teaching building with a hall in the middle and classrooms on both sides. Not long after, we will add another layer.

Fig 20, The 6,000 square feet student dormitory under construction.

Fig 21, The interior of the student dorms.

Thanks to the generous donations of all the caring people, the school now has a teaching building and a student dormitory, as well as a well, and doors, windows, beds, computers, cooking utensils, and more, sent from mainland China. The embryonic form of a school has been established. Each one of us is as ecstatic as an owl in the clear sky, and we are proud to gaze upon the flowers in the spring breeze. In fact, we started celebrating a little too early. Afterall, running a school isn’t that easy.

3) Standing Strong Under the Pandemic

How simple is it to open a technical school? To start with, we did not have any teaching qualifications and we had never had a background in teaching or establishing schools. Therefore, we had no way of applying for the qualifications of running a school. There was a lot of enthusiasm yet no plan, which didn’t help much. No teaching qualifications meant that teachers couldn’t be hired and diplomas couldn’t be issued. Our team could only call upon the heavens and ask for help. The result was unexpected. A legal local technical school was willing to jointly run a school with us. They provided the needed qualifications, used their teachers and subject schedules, and completed the Senegalese Ministry of Education’s required courses. We paid them and then hired some of our own teachers. In the future, when the students graduate, there will be two school seals on the diploma.

From the words of Ms. Anna, “Kamis of Chad and his Malian family from Kedougou came here to become supervisors. Jeff, who came from Togo, teaches hydraulics, and Servais from Congo (DRC) teaches electricals. From Brazil, Celia used to teach chemistry to make new products. I brought Professor Hildigo of computer science from Guinea-Bissau. There is also a Senegalese chef who teaches cooking. Indeed…… we have formed a giant army.” We have truly become a real international school.

Just as we were full of confidence and ready to dedicate ourselves to save the young boys and girls of Senegal, in early 2020, the coronavirus pandemic struck and brought upon a dire challenge to our thriving technical school. Our students were dismissed, and our school was forced to close indefinitely. For a time period, layed frozen in the deserted village with only the wind at night could faintly listen to. Dreaming about riding a war horse in iron armor across the frozen river was gone with wind as our school ministry fell apart.

Until October of 2020, only after the arid African grasses had been burned, could fresh green grass grow in its place. Our students returned, and the school once again took a steady step forward. We strictly implemented regulations to prevent the spreading of the pandemic, and everyone wore masks. And on April 15, 2021, all 36 students of the second class would finally graduate. Their accommodation, meals, and tuition were all free with the tuition and fees being as high as $2,000 per student for a year. We thank all for their support, as we could not only fully support them, but also had our third class start on October 18 of 2021.

Fig 22, The students of the cooking class use a gas stove for the first time.

Fig 23, The mechanics class curiously studies the chainsaw, while attentively taking notes.

Fig 24, The sewing class stitching face masks to support the fight against the pandemic.

Fig 25, The vegetation class learning how to plant organic European and American vegetables.

Fig 26, Learning to Tie-Dye T-Shirts

Looking Towards the Future

Life is a journey, and we are all pedestrians. We are determined to continue running the technical school, strive for a number of graduates each year, and steadily expand the scale of it. In about next year, we will also be constructing a teaching building that is 10,000 square feet. Our long-term plan is to open a university, so let’s work hard together!

The unwavering creed of the Africa Cries Out team and the meaning of our life are to help others and change the lives of others. Throughout our whole life, we have received countless amounts of help from our society with many people acting as human ladders in order to build us up. We should also assist others and give them a new beginning. If you only care and love your children, and leave your fortunes for them, that is something even a hen would do. Human lives cannot be measured by the length of time, so when the heart is overflowing with love, then the moment is eternal! Let us all put in our efforts to love our neighbors, friends, and colleagues; transform our lives into candles, light our candles to illuminate others, and even if we are crushed, we will not forget our initial purpose. This is the meaning of our life.

Please visit: https://africacriesout.net to see our works.

Email: africacriesout@gmail.com

Wechat: jun9174343767, Public WeChat ID: lifeexploring人生天路

About the Author: Dr. Jun Xu, Male, President of Africa Cries Out Foundation. Since 2013, together with his colleagues, he established a technical school in Senegal, and went to leprosy villages and other villages to treat patients.