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Arts & Communication Documentary to support #EndFGM in Kenya

overturned. This tone came across particularly strongly in
her interview with Dr Tatu Kamau, for example, who led a
high-profile court case in 2021 arguing that FGM should
2
be legal for women over 18 on the grounds of personal
choice. Dr Kamau lost her case but has not given up the
fight.
The other main difference is with the presenters
themselves. The Gambian presenter, Hamilatou Ceesay,
underwent FGM when she was only 9 years old. In My
FGM Story (2020), she describes that day in vivid detail. In
contrast, Kaunga has not experienced FGM. As previously
Figure 3. Kaunga interviewing girls from the Doldol Safe House. Adapted discussed, both women interviewed their parents, who
9
from. Copyright © 2022 Author. were the decision-makers in this process. Ceesay’s mother
said she had arranged for her daughters undergo FGM
activists within the #EndFGM campaign. This enabled her because it was a tradition. By contrast, Kaunga reflects
and her collaborators to quickly and easily set up interviews on her feelings that her parents’ decision to spare her had
between December 2021 and January 2022 for filming empowered her. She also reveals in the film that she had
and editing in January 2022, mirroring the planning and never asked her mother, Jemima, about her own experience
process for My FGM Story (2020). of FGM. Indeed, before the interview, she was not even
sure whether her mother had experienced it. This resulted
In both films, the presenter interviews her family, in an emotional exchange between mother and daughter in
specifically her parents, as the people who made the decision which Jemima reveals that she almost died giving birth to
of whether she would undergo FGM. Both presenters also Kaunga due to complications caused by FGM. As a result,
interview members of the government and others that the Jemima decided not to put her own daughters through it.
viewers will recognize as people of authority and respect Meanwhile, Kaunga’s father admitted that he had not given
within their communities. The narrative of both films is the the matter much thought.
journey the presenter takes to find out why communities
put their girls through FGM, what impact this has on girls, One of the main reasons given for the continuation
women, and the wider community, and what it will take for of FGM in many countries is religion. This is another
people to change their minds about the practice. significant difference between The Gambia and Kenya.
In The Gambia, which is predominantly Muslim, many
In both films, arguments for and against FGM are people see FGM as a religious requirement. Cessay
made and questioned, although, because the presenters therefore interviewed three imams in My FGM Story,
are against the practice of FGM, both films are oriented in (2020), each with different views. Imam Fatty is currently
support of that viewpoint. Both films end with a positive, fighting to get the law reversed to make FGM legal in The
inspirational example of a girl (Rama, in The Gambia) or Gambia again. He told Cessay that it must be practiced
woman (Kaunga, in Kenya) who has not undergone FGM within the communities where it has been a tradition.
and yet leads a successful, happy life. Meanwhile, Imam Omar Mbowe quoted from the Koran
and interpreted that circumcision is required for men but
4.2. Differences
not women. Imam Baba Leigh was the third imam to be
The first significant difference between the films is in their interviewed, and he agreed that FGM should be banned,
tone. In The Gambia, at least half the national population comparing it to smoking. In Kenya, the filmmakers
has said that FGM is a good practice despite knowing it is discussed the role of religion with collaborators, and the
against the law. Many still believe that FGM is beneficial local experts advised that it was not relevant to the practice
15
for girls, including for their physical health, and will help of FGM within the Maasai Community. As a result, there
them during childbirth. The illegality of the practice is also was no religious element in My FGM Story, Kenya.
relatively new, so the tone of My FGM Story (2020) was one For both films, journalists and activists in The Gambia
of understanding and questioning rather than demanding and Kenya believed it important to include the nation’s
or condemning. In Kenya, FGM has been illegal for longer, president as he, being the highest elected official and
those who still practice it know they are a small minority, maintainer of the law, was believed to have influence over
and most Kenyans accept that the practice is harmful. As
a result, Kaunga is more forthright in her questioning 2 https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2021-03-17-win-for-
and less tolerant of those who are trying to get the law women-as-court-dismisses-pro-fgm-case

Volume 3 Issue 3 (2025) 5 doi: 10.36922/ac.3725