New hospital in Africa to offer free reconstructive surgery for genitally mutilated women

March 11 2009, Categoría: Press-Releases
Over 200 African women from all walks of life have already signed up for a clitoral reconstructive procedure that will enable victims of female genital mutilation (FGM) to have their sexual organ of pleasure restored.

The surgeries will take place at The Pleasure Hospital, also known as Kamkaso Hospital, in Burkino Faso, Africa. Construction of the hospital is already under way thanks to the fundraising efforts of Clitoraid, a non-profit, U.S.-based organization founded by Rael, who is also the founder and leader of the International Raelian Movement.

“The Pleasure Hospital is for the women of Kama [the native name for Africa],” said
Abibata Sanon, a Raelian guide who has already had the surgery. “It’s a voyage into the deep ocean of women’s love worldwide because it brings hope to millions of genitally mutilated women.”

She added, “Ever since Clitoraid decided to build this facility to help women regain their flower of pleasure, we Kaman women are so excited! It’s such a great gift of love, and we can’t wait to welcome all the doctors and specialists who will be volunteering their time and energy to come here and provide their services.”
One prospective patient is more than 60 years old and has grown-up grandchildren, but to many genitally mutilated women past their prime, age isn’t a factor in the decision to have the surgery.

“I want to do it [have the surgery] and feel the results before I die,” said a retired high school teacher.

Women who sign up for the procedure are also eager to spread the word to others.

“Please build the hospital quickly – I want to discover what the pleasure is and talk about it with those around me,” said a female farm worker from a remote village in the district of Tenkodogo in eastern Burkina Faso. “I don’t have enough money to have the procedure without Clitoraid’s assistance and the reports from women who have already had the surgery get me so excited!”

The hope brought by the hospital is reflected in the glittering eyes of these women. But it also shows in the eyes of some of the local men. Clitoraid volunteers say many husbands are calling, asking the organization to help their wives regain their ability to experience the pleasure of sex.

And they add that with all this excitement growing, the building of the hospital has just passed its most difficult phase – obtaining all the necessary permissions and signatures and related documents. With official authorization to build granted by the town’s mayor two months ago, all the ground work is now completed. The foundation and the ground surface of the building are finished and the walls are now going up.

“Visiting the construction site brings a feeling of beauty and happiness that’s hard to describe,” Sanon said. “Many of us enjoy going there almost every day to visit and to help the male construction workers as much as we can. And it’s so much fun to take a brick and hand it to them saying, 'Here’s one more clit for you to build!’”
She said the atmosphere around the construction site is “like a playground even for the workers,” who get a foretaste of “pleasure-in-the-making.”

“It’s really fun working here with people,” said Pierre Bolduc and Claude Brideau, two volunteer builders from Canada who came thousands of miles to help construct the hospital. “We’re doing things with limited tools, but we’re generating a lot of happiness.”

She said the International Zero Tolerance for FGM Day on Feb. 6 generated additional hope as more people worldwide learned about the Clitoraid project.

“That week, from Gabon to Cote d'Ivoire to Burkina Faso, members of Clitoraid were interviewed by the local media,” Sanon said. “The number of new women calling to have their sense of pleasure restored has increased, and support for the facility now under way is incredible. At this pace, we may need a second pleasure hospital right away!”

With the first hospital now rising and visible, local community interest in the project is also escalating.

“You get the feeling something very nice is happening,” Sanon said. “The chiefs of the two villages that previously owned the land on which the hospital is being built have happily paid a visit to the construction site. And invitations to the mayor and other government officials to freely visit the site will soon be issued.”
She said the day celebrating the hospital’s completion will include a night-long “celebration of pleasure” with Clitoraid volunteers, government officials, the people of the villages and the city of Bobo, and everyone else who supported the project “Adopt a Clitoris,” which raised the funds to make the dream of the new hospital a reality.

“That will be a very big day for us all,” Sanon said.