A girl’s journey to womanhood

Keeping tradition alive … A group of women who have successfully completed their initiation at a traditional school in Botshabelo.
Initiation is a complex cultural issue, even more so where women are concerned. Tradition and modernism often clash, but women who participate in the practice believe it enriches their lives.

Although considered a controversial practice by some, female initiation and circumcision is an integral part of the societies and communities which practice it.

In many cultures across the globe, patriarchal authority and control of female sexuality and fertility are a given. In communities where a person’s place in society is determined by lineage traced through fathers, female circumcision is believed to reduce the uncertainty surrounding paternity by discouraging or preventing women’s sexual activity outside marriage.

South Africa is home to many different cultures, each with their own traditional practices. These traditions also differ between different clans within an ethnic group or culture.

A well-known cultural practice in Africa and South Africa is the initiation of men where they are guided through the transition from childhood to adulthood. The custom includes circumcision and the young men being taken to a place outside their dwellings as part of the passage to the manhood.

Recently, the practice of male circumcision has been mooted as a means to reduce the chances of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

Women can also undergo a form of circumcision and those involved in the practice consider it vital as it is said to also reduce the chances of contracting infections.

However, women cannot get ‘circumcised’ at hospitals, as is the case for men in modern times. The family will perform this procedure on their children.

Mamoya Grace Rakanoane is a teacher at an initiation school in Botshabelo who advocates female circumcision. Because of her expertise in this tradition, she now works as a coordinator between the different female initiations schools in the area.

For Rakanoane, it was a “calling by the ancestors” to help young girls.
Young girls who want to get circumcised come to her after they have been “instructed by ancestors in a dream”.

“The ancestors will direct them to me. Sometimes it is because they have a certain illness that can only be cured with circumcision.”

Rakanoane has been involved in this practice since she was 19 years old. By that age she was already circumcised and also knew how to perform the procedure.
According to her, the procedure is not a “child’s play” because if not done properly, it could result in death.

“Circumcision is a cultural activity that helps some women with certain sicknesses. This practice heals and also like in men, it teaches young women to be good wives. It instils good morals and teaches them to be responsible citizens. However, their lives could be lost if a teacher does not know exactly what to do or does not have a calling into this.”

Rakanoane would, however, not divulge the details of the procedure to The Weekly.
Others have turned initiation into big business. There are now many ‘schools’ that ask parents to pay R1 500 for their children to attend. This money covers food during their stay at the school. When it is time for the children to leave, the parents are also expected to buy gifts and in some cultures new clothes for the child.

Rakanoane said a major problem is traditional surgeons and teachers with no experience. They do not take the necessary precautionary measures, which include getting the parents’ permission and ensuring that if the participants have certain illnesses or medical conditions they take their treatment as prescribed by a medical doctor.

“We are now working with the Department of Health and these are the requirements we need to follow. The age limit also applies here because children must be 18 years or older. If they are younger, parents have to give consent. In our culture, a teacher must have at least five years’ experience, but according to the law it is 10 years. An affidavit and doctor’s approval must be obtained by parents.”

The experience of the teacher must include knowing how to treat each clan accordingly. The girls at the initiation school have to be placed in a certain area, sleep in a certain manner, wear certain clothes, and use certain soils as masks on their skin.

Proud of culture … Mamoya Rakanoane supports female initiation, which includes circumcision, as a cultural practice which saves lives.
In Sotho culture, “Phepa”, a white soil is used by girls on their body and “Pilo”, a black soil, is used as a mask for identification of the different clans. These clans include Bataung, Bahlakoana, Bakoena, Bafokeng, Basiea, and Baphuthing.
As a teacher, one should know which tribe is eligible to use a certain soil type or both of them for identification.

The dress code is also important in the traditional practice. “Lehlakana” is a weed which grows on the river banks and is used to dress up the initiates. There is also the “Kgolokwana”, which is a skirt. The initiates’ faces must also be covered with a veil and they will also wear a “Stiya”, which is made from a softened cow hide.

The girls will also be seen holding “Mare” (wooden sticks) that are supposed to protect them from evil spirits.

The maximum time spent by these initiates at the “mountains” is three months and the best season for the practice is the middle of summer.

The practice should, however, not be confused with forms of female genital mutilation practiced in other societies, and which can have devastating health effects.

The International Family Planning Perspective, published in September 1997, uses the term “female genital mutilation” to describe practises that were discouraged in some African countries. These procedures include removing parts of the female organ.

South Africa has ratified the Maputo Protocol, which was originally adopted by the Assembly of the African Union in Maputo, Mozambique in July 2003, which outlaws this practice.
Those who have attended female initiation schools in the Free State have dismissed any claims of mutilation.

Southern Sotho initiate Ntaoleng Mariba said it is a “good process” that women should go through. She added that all it does is teach young women good behaviour and enhances their sexual experience in marriage. “I also wanted to know more about this practice because I wanted to participate in it as a teacher.

I consider it a calling for me. I learned how to be a good wife. We do not perform any invasive procedure on the women’s bodies.” According to Mariba, the inner folds of the organ are enlarged for a more pleasurable lovemaking experience.

According to a master’s degree dissertation by Shirley du Plooy, Female Initiation: Becoming a Woman among the Basotho, submitted to the University of the Free State in 2006, the exact nature of the form of circumcision which might or might not occur during initiation is a closely guarded secret.

Through interviews, Du Plooy established that the elderly confirmed that some circumcision occurred while the younger participants vehemently denied it.
Although some people have reservations about the practice, prospective initiates continue streaming to schools to embark on this guided journey towards womanhood.