Our Work


 Our Work

 
Sini Sanuman works in Mali, West Africa, to convince parents not to have their daughters excised, and excisers to stop excising. 

Our work involves many public meetings, sometimes with whole villages, and we also use the mass media a lot.  

We have convinced 151 excisers to stop excising, as of November 2023.   For many of them, we've helped them start new businesses and many of them have become important spokespeople in our movement., explaining to potential clients why they have stopped and encouraging other excisers to also stop.

Twenty one villages have made collective decisions to stop cutting their girls and signed Declarations to that effect.  Almost all of them celebrated the decision with a ceremony, most of which were televised.   See the list in the Village Decisions section below.  

The list that we started through the women's ministry has over 1,400 villages on it now that various NGO's have convinced to stop FGM.

We have collected over 80,00 signatures on our Pledge Against Excision and another 3,000 on the newer Pledge against Gender-based Violence.  

We have submitted signatures to the legislature twice now, in 2007 and 2015, encouraging them to pass a law.  We are still trying to encourage the National Transitional Counsel (CNT), the current government, to revise the Penal Code to outlaw FGM.

We also use music and dance to spread the message, with an album Stop Excision, and 5 music videos that we often put on the air.

We operate from our office in Bamako, Mali.

Susan speaking at Community Church, Boston, Feb., 2023.

News report from N'Golobougou, a village that abandoned FGM in Sept., 2018.

Trailer and the film "In the Name of Your Daughter" was aired in French on Malian TV in 2019-2020.
(Click image above to watch)


Besides its ongoing work, which is described in more detail below, the following are recent accomplishments and projects of Sini Sanuman.



October 2024 - Our new building, the House of Hope, is finished and Sini Sanuman is moving into it. It won’t just be our office, but there will be a medical office, a safe house, a training center and an internet café as well. We thank Close to Africa, the Hungarian government and Richter Gideon for making this dream come true.  In the middle below, our president Siaka Traoré (in orange) is getting the keys from the architect, Guy Lipem Laurent. On the right, Ousmane Traoré, the son of Seydou Traoré, who gave us the land to build on, looks onto the courtyard from the second floor.


October 2024 - Sini Sanuman produced a radio show that Radio Guintan broadcast at least 3 times featuring an ex-exciser who got in trouble with the police when she wasn't able to pay for the medical treatment of a girl she had cut before stopping.


Daffa Kanté was kept in jail for 3 days until she came up with the money. The mother of the girl, the doctor who treated her, Kaniba Baguiya, the activist who convinced her to stop and Daffa Kanté were all interviewed and made impassioned pleas for people to stop subjecting their girls to FGM.


On the right, is Daffa Kanté getting her Certificate of Honor (for having stopped) from Kaniba Baguiya, in September 2024.


On April 29, 2024, the villages of Diakoni, Djinidié, Chobougou and Sirakoro Dounfing gathered to mark their decision to stop excising in their villages. They signed a Declaration which includes a fine of $130 for anyone who goes against the decision.

Leaders of the villages holding the Declaration.

Kaniba Baguiya, the main Sini Sanuman activist who made this happen, singing to the group at the ceremony.

In 2023, 3 villages celebrated their decision to no longer excise their girls: Taliko 2 in June and Koyambougou and Djédjéni in September. Kaniba Baguiya conducted all the meetings that led up to these decisions. Here are the girls who sang "Leave Her Alone" and danced at the ceremony in Koyambougou, happy that they had not been cut.  Read about earlier village decisions here.



Below is an ex-exciser, Barama Kanté, who came to testify at the ceremony in Koyambougou and say how happy she felt to no longer be hurting girls. Aside from Barama, 3 other excisers also gave up the practice with our encouragement in 2023. One of them, Korotoumou Kané, was about to excise the daughter of a friend of our president Siaka Traoré's. When he stopped to say hello, and realized what was going on, he convinced everyone to stop, saving 4 girls from being cut in that conversation.

In a consortium with our partner groups ADICO (Association pour le Developpement de l'Initiative Communautaire) and COFESFA (Collectif des Femmes pour l'Education, la Sante Familiale et l'Assainissement) called JIGIFA (Satisfaction), Sini Sanuman is treating 100 victims of FGM and broadcasting on the radio against FGM in the project zones of Sikassa, Ségou, Mopti, Koulikoro, and Kayes with aid from the World Bank and SWEDD. The project started in October 2022 and is ongoing.



Seminar of leaders from the different villages in  Kayes, at the start of the project SWEDD, February 2023.

Small group at the seminar of leaders from the different villages in Koulikoro at the start of the project SWEDD, February 2023.

We put a new billboard up in SIkasso by the circle of the "Direction Régionale de la Santé" and redid the billboard by the Awa Keita Center in Bamako, in 2023.

The billboard in Sikasso.

The billboard in Bamako.

Sini Sanuman held public meetings about FGM in Sans Fil, a neighborhood in District II of Bamako in 2020. We spoke to women’s groups and at schools, and health centers about excision and other forms of GBV. Because of this work, two excisers renounced the profession and found new work with our help. In May 2023, we presented about FGM and GBV to religious and traditional leaders; support from Close to Africa (Proche Afrique).

One of the meetings at Sans Fil

Mariam Ballo, one of the two excisers who stopped excising because of our work in Sans Fil, with Fanta Keita and her Certificate of Honor and her new work

Fifty victims/survivors of FGM and other forms of GBV were trained by Sini Sanuman in the management of resources and supported in developing paid work so they would be independent; financed by the UN Population Fund in October 2021.

Sini Sanuman educated government officials about integrating the concerns of women into all programs and budgeting processes.  Seven ministries—Justice, Women, Education, Solidarity, Religion, Health and Social Action, Territorial Administration—as well as the National Assembly and other governmental agencies were trained in the zones of Sikasso and Segou and Districts I, III, and VI of Bamako. The project was financed by the UN Development Program in 2020-21.

Also in 2020-2021, with aid from the World Bank through the Malian Ministry of Finances, in the zones of Konna in Mopti and Ansongo in Gao, Sini Sanuman conducted the activities below:

  • trained health care providers in the clinical care of survivors of FGM and other gender-based violence (GBV);
  • educated community leaders and teachers about the problems associated with FGM and other GBV such as rape and sexual abuse and harassment;
  • trained community leaders and staff of projects on how to initiate a lawsuit about GBV;
  • produced radio programs that activate for stopping excision and other GBV;
  • created and displayed posters listing services available to survivors such as health care, counseling, legal help, security and housing;
  • created and displayed posters against FGM.

Poster showing where people can go for various kinds of help in Ansongo.  Click on image to expand.

Meeting at the Ansongo City Hall to organize the project.

Protection Team in Konna showing solidarity.

In 2019 and 2020, we did a lot of media, showing a video we'd made of legislators speaking out in favor of a law against FGM in Mali 6 times, showing the trailer for "In the Name of Your Daughter" 10 times and showing the whole film twice.  Watch trailer here.

Pledge Against Excision

Since 2001, we have been conducting a signature campaign with the Pledge Against Excision, which invites Malians to promise never to have a girl excised. It also asks whether the moment is right for a law in Mali against the practice. The vast majority of Malians who sign, think it is time. In October 2007, we turned in 30,000 signatures to the Malian National Assembly. In May 2015, we turned in more than 68,000 signatures to the Parliamentary Commission against Violence against Women. (See photo.) We hope that these signatures will help create such a law. In late 2008 and early 2009, we organized a series of workshops at which we put together a bill that we presented to the legislature in January 2009 and again in May 2015. We hope the legislature will vote on the question of excision soon.

Individual activists and our partner groups helped gather these signatures for the Pledge Against Excision and we haven’t stopped gathering signatures. Our partner groups include Amnesty International, Planned Parenthood, the Centre Djoliba and many other local groups.  We will keep taking signatures on the Pledge Against Excision at least until we see what decision the legislature makes about outlawing the practice.

We keep track of famous people who sign the Pledge. By now we have a long list of well-known signers, which we show people, if they seem to need extra persuading. We also turned this list in with the signatures to the legislature. The list includes famous politicians, popular artists like Ali Farka Touré and Oumou Sangaré, dozens of legislators, mayors, religious leaders, and other leading personalities in Malian society.

Our main handout has information about FGM on one side and quotes from religious leaders on the other. We have found that simply listing all the problems with FGM is powerful and that people are very impressed with the quotes, showing that many influential religious leaders these days do not support FGM.
Siaka Traoré turning in over 68,000 signatures on the Pledge Against Excision to the National Assembly in May of 2015
Sini Sanuman volunteer Broulaye Sidibé showing ex-exciser Mamou Traoré how to hold a pen so she can sign the Pledge.

Public Meetings

One of our main ways of spreading our message is through large meetings. A Sini Sanuman public meeting typically consists of a presentation of the main points against excision, often using felt-board drawings, photos of complications from FGM or a video. After questions and discussion, people are invited to sign the Pledge Against Excision. Sometimes we show movies, in which case, the discussion is shorter, but we still make time to share reactions and to invite people to sign the Pledge Against Excision, when this is feasible. At the end of our meetings, sometimes we ask people to stand up if they are with us, or to applaud, and usually almost everyone does.

Our biggest public meeting so far was in April 2015, a competition in a stadium in District I with about 3,000 people attending. Students who had worked with Sini Sanuman in 16 schools, shared their theater skits, poems and drawings against FGM and violence against women. There was also a soccer match. Speeches were made by dignitaries including the president of Sini Sanuman Siaka Traoré. The national TV station put it on the nightly news.

In 2013 we set up a drop-in center (Centre d'Ecoute) for victims of FGM and sexual violence, where women can go and share their experiences, taking part in group meetings and also getting individual counseling.

In August, 2013, we organized a meeting where 11 excisers were among the 30 women leaders discussing FGM for 5 days. All 11 decided to renounce the practice and many turned in their knives to the mayor of District l of Bamako, where the meeting was held (see photo). This brings our total to about 150 excisers who have abandoned the practice.

Some of our meetings include singing. There is a well-known song against FGM by Assa Kida which the Women’s Ministry has promoted extensively and often women sing this after our discussions or improvise their own songs.

Sini Sanuman activist Fili Mariko leads a meeting in a market place in Bamako (2011)
Wassa Sissoko turns over her old excising knife to the mayor, Tafa Diarra, August 2013.

Village Decisions

 In the course of four such meetings, the people of Moussala, a village near Bamako, decided to stop excising and adopted the Declaration of Moussala. They celebrated their decision on March 12, 2005, with speeches, songs, dancing and a big feast. In June, near-by Tamala had a similar celebration, covered on the TV news. In November 2006, a third village, Konibabougou, marked its decision to stop excising with a public ceremony, as well. In each case, the village chief played an important role. A fourth village, Missalabougou, made the same decision and held a ceremony in June 2007.  One highlight of that ceremony was a song by a chorus of girls who had not been excised in the last few years, since we started working there (see photo).

In March 2007, we put a sign up in Moussala and had a renewal ceremony which got on the nightly news in Mali. At that ceremony too, girls who had been spared from being excised sang and the 2 ex-excisers of the village received Certificates of Honor from representatives of the National Program Against Excision.

Kariba Coulibaly, chief of Konibabougou, had talked to other village chiefs in his area about following his village's lead. In 2009 Sini Sanuman worked in 10 villages, to try to convince them to stop excising. Soba, Colonda, Piekabougou and Arounabougou were near Konibabougou, Coulibaly's village, and he accompanied the activists from Sini Sanuman on all the trips to the villages, one of the reasons that things worked out so well in those villages. In January, Soba celebrated its decision to stop excising with great fanfare. In February, 2009, N'Tabakoro, on the other side of Bamako, close to Tamala, in Sanankoroba, celebrated their decision to stop with a ceremony. Colonda, Piekabougou and Arounabougou had a joint celebration in Colonda to mark their decision in November, 2009.

In 2012, the chief of Tamala, our second village to stop FGM, called the office to say that he'd heard some neighboring villages were planning a big excision ceremony. He wanted our president Siaka Traoré to join him to try to convince them to stop. In a whirlwind tour of 3 days they visited the villages of Welessebougou, N'Gassa and Falou and were able to convince the first two villages to cancel their planned excision ceremonies. In Falou, instead of 27 girls, 9 were excised. So we were able to save 62 girls from being excised in these three villages.

In 2013, Sini Sanuman worked in the villages of Marena and Madina in the circle of Kati, District Sofeto Nord and in July, 2013 they each celebrated their decisions to stop excising. Both village chiefs spoke and announced the new thing in these villages - that there would be a fine for anyone who went against the decision. In Marena a family would be charged about $88 plus a cow and in Madina the fine would be about $177 for anyone who had a daughter excised. These are the first villages we know of that have imposed a fine. We aren't aware of any people excising in any of our villages that have stopped, but this rule still shows a level of seriousness which is very encouraging. A couple of weeks later, a village close to Marena, Néguébougou, announced their decision to stop excising their girls as well and make a written declaration to that effect.

Another village where we worked in 2013 is Bendougouni, in the county of Bendougouba, circle of Kita.  Because of financial constraints, they didn't celebrate their decision until 2019.  They chose February 6, the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM for their ceremony (see photo at right).

Starting in 2008 but more intensively in 2017 and 2018, our activists made many trips to Kouralé and N'Golobougou.  Both villages finally made their decisions to stop cutting their girls in mid-2018.  Because of budget constraints, we were only able to celebrate the decision of N'Golobougou, which we did on September 22, 2018 when many villagers, and dignitaries from the government came together and spoke of their resolve to save their girls.  There was music and dancing and a big feast.  A representative of the aged village chief read the Convention of N'Golobougou, which includes a fine for anyone who might have a girl cut, in spite of the decision.   Watch below the news report that came out twice on Malian TV:

The people of Kouralé wrote their Declaration, which they signed at a village gathering on May 3, 2019.


After over a year of meetings run by Sini Sanuman activist Kaniba Baguiya, the village of Taliko 2 had a celebration of their decision to stop cutting their girls on June 25, 2023. It rained hard that day so the celebration was cut short but people got to eat and hear the main message, including the Declaration that had been agreed on by the leaders of the village. Their Declaration includes a hefty fine for anyone who might go against the will of the village and excise their girl.  See photo at right of the leaders of women and of youth holding the Declaration of Taliko 2.


With Kaniba Baguiya taking the lead again, and after two years of meetings, Koyambougou and Djédjéni held their joint ceremony of abandoning FGM on September 24, 2023 with around 1,000 people in attendance. The village chief of both villages spoke, as did the leaders of women and youth.  Three ex-excisers spoke and said how happy they were to no longer be hurting girls and a chorus of girls, who had all been spared from FGM through the efforts of Kaniba, sang "Leave Her Alone" in Bambara.  The photo at the right is of Assa Sissoko, a woman who works at the townhall of Koyambougou, who called Kaniba to start the discussions that led to these decisions and helped her organize all the meetings.


On April 29, 2024, the villages of Diakoni, Chobougou, Djinidié and Sirakoro Dounfing celebrated their decision to stop excising with about 400 people in attendance.  They listened to the village leaders, an ex-exciser, and a woman that we had saved after a very difficult childbirth.  They feasted and danced and sang with the organizer Kaniba Baguiya, pictured at right with the mayor of Kati.


Sini Sanuman now has 21 villages that have officially stopped excising and signed Declarations.


These villages, their "cercles" and their dates of Declarations are:


Moussala, Kalabancoro, March 12, 2005

Tamala, Sanankoroba, May 7, 2007

Konibabougou, Dogodouman, November 16, 2006

Missalabougou, Kalabancoro, June 23 2007

Soba, Dogodouman, January 17, 2009

N’Tabakoro, Sanankoroba, February 7, 2009

Colonda, Dogobouman,

Pièkabougou, Dogodouman et

Arounabougou, Dogodouman, November 29, 2009

Marena, Sofeto Nord et

Madina, Sofeto Nord, July 3, 2013

N’Golobougou, Kalabancoro, September 22, 2018

Bendougouni, Kita, February 6, 2019

Kouralé, Kalabancoro, May 3, 2019

Taliko 2, Bamako, June 25, 2023

Koyambougou, Dogodouman et

Djédjéni, Dogodouman, September 24, 2023

Diakoni, Chobougou, Djinidié and

Sirakoro Dounfing, Kati, April 29, 2024


We also initiated a list that is being kept by the Women's Ministry that counts all the villages that different NGO's or other groups have convinced to stop excising. There are 1,400 such villages that we've found out about so far around Mali. This list has been posted in the county halls where Sini Sanuman's villages are located, and is receiving a lot of attention (see photo at right).


Each village adopts its own declaration, but they tend to be similar. Read our first village's statement, the "Declaration of Moussala."


Another 3 villages, Néguébougou, Wéllessebougou and N'Gassa have decided not to excise with our help, but no official ceremony has been held and no agreement has been signed. We are not counting them in our count of villages, but are proud nonetheless of what they have decided.

Girls of Missalabougou singing about how happy they are not to be excised at their village ceremony.
Susan McLucas dancing with villagers at the ceremony when Soba celebrated their decision to stop excising in 2009.
The group at the ceremony in Bendougouni, February 6, 2019.

Leaders of women and of youth holding the Declaration of Taliko 2

Assa Sissoko addresses the ceremony in Koyambougou on September 24, 2023

People looking at the list of villages that have stopped excising in the county hall at Kalabancoro.

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Poster and Billboard Projects

 

In 2020, we produced a poster asking people not to excise their daughters, especially during the pandemic.    We put up 1,000 copies all around Bamako and got very good reaction from the public.  


We have had interest from people in Sudan and Ethiopia who would like to use it in their countries, as well as a US organization for use with immigrants from FGM-practicing countries.  

 

In 2015, we made more copies of a poster that we had distributed in 2008, which is a modified version of one that Susan McLucas made at the Centre Djoliba in 1997. It shows a terrorized girl about to be excised. We also made this into a billboard which is prominently displayed in Bamako (see photo). The billboard says "Let's Stop Excising! Excision hurts the health of girls and women." In 1997 many people considered the image too shocking. The exciser was too cruel looking and the girl too terror-struck, but today most people consider it useful and appropriate. View the poster in English or in French (as it appears in Mali) at right.

In July 2010 British photographer Sam Faulkner and Thomas Phillips, Sicco Diemer and Rosy Head from Mon Frere were awarded a Getty Grant for Good to strengthen advocacy work against FGM in Mali. Together with Sini Sanuman they devised and produced a series of posters from portraits of well-known and influential Malians who represent different groups relevant to the struggle. Among them are Fantani Touré and Alpha Diakité Bassamba, both famous musicians; Bakoniba Traoré, the village chief of a village that's stopped excising; Doctor Kamissoko Abdoulaye from the main health center in District IV of Bamako (CSRef CIV); Imam Fousseyni Doumbia, the imam of Quartier Mali; Sénédia Diarra, an ex-exciser now helping the campaign; Ben Chérif Diabaté, President of the Association of Griots in Bamako; Kadidia Sidibé, a well-known leader in the anti-FGM movement who's happy to say that she's not excised, a girl who's happy not to be excised and a victim of excision.

The portraits were shot in and around Bamako in the first two weeks of January 2011. The posters and billboards were designed and produced shortly thereafter. Distribution of 5000 posters began in February 2011 and 4 large bill boards went up in key public spaces in Bamako. The campaign was launched on the 'International Day Against Female Genital Mutilation' February 6, 2011.'   View the 10 posters below:
Click image above to enlarge.
Click image above to enlarge.
The billboard made from the portraits of famous Malians against FGM

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Working with Excisers

We take special notice of excisers. When we hear of one, we go see her and discuss the problems with the practice. We show graphic pictures of medical complications from FGM. Sometimes just looking at these pictures is enough to make a woman decide to quit. Often it takes a few visits, but most of the excisers that we’ve approached have decided to stop excising.

The most recent exciser who has stopped with us is Mariam Ballo of the village of Safo, who decided to stop in February 2022, with encouragement from Fanta Keita.  She is now making pottery.  (She is on the right here.)  The one before that was Namissa Kante of the village of Diakoni, who made the decision after speaking with Kaniba Baguiya, in May 2021.  (See her below.)

We always give excisers that stop a Certificate of Honor, which they really seem to appreciate, and often a copy of the tape “Stop Excision.” Sometimes we dance to a few songs, as a fun way to cement the understanding.

Our list of 151 excisers who’ve stopped is very persuasive to other excisers who are considering the change. One exciser said that with this list of ex-excisers, the quotes from religious leaders, the songs by famous musicians, and the list of famous people who’d signed the Pledge Against Excision, it seemed like everybody was stopping. So she stopped too.

Over the years we have recorded and broadcast many messages from ex-excisers saying why they had stopped and encouraging others to do the same. One said that, when she saw that FGM was bad, she just naturally wanted to stop. She said that of course her life is not worth any more than the next person’s, so why would she want to make her money hurting people? In 2015, one prominent ex-exciser spoke on Radio Guintan and explained why she had stopped, calling on other excisers and families to do the same.

We are honored and pleased by how many of the excisers who’ve stopped with our encouragement have joined the movement. They reach out to other excisers, and tell parents who come to them for the “service” why they’ve stopped. Many tell us that, because they stopped, their whole neighborhood has stopped.

Miriam with Fanta Keita of Sini Sanuman

Mariam with her new profession, potter

Fifth Person Principle

Our president, Siaka Traoré, was the fifth person to approach our first exciser, Djarawélé Sinagnoko. She told us she was very angry at the first person who criticized her “profession.” She was still upset, but less so, at the second person. By the time the fifth person said the same thing to her, she decided that she didn’t want to go against the whole community and stopped.

The early people might have felt that they failed, but they were part of the process of convincing her. Speaking up is a powerful tool and Sini Sanuman encourages everyone, if they are against FGM, to say so.
Siaka Traoré, president of Sini Sanuman.

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Music

In 2000, with a grant from the Canadian Center for International Cooperation and Study (CECI,) Sini Sanuman organizer Susan McLucas produced an album “Stop Excision.” It contains eight anti-excision songs in five local languages. The songs have been played extensively at meetings and on the radio. The women’s ministry distributed 5,000 copies of it to organizations in the movement. Sini Sanuman now has 2 new songs as well, “Ca Fait Mal” by Adama Yalomba and Hawa Diabaté and “I Abandon (excision)" by Ténin Bomboté. In “Ca Fait Mal” the popular couple sing that they would never excise a girl (watch music video below) and in “I Abandon” the singer relates that she couldn’t sleep at night, thinking of the cries of the girls.

Nayini Koné

Video and other Media

Besides hearing the songs on the radio, people also see them as music videos. Sini Sanuman’s newest music video, “I Abandon,” made in 2007, features 17 ex-excisers singing in the chorus, and throwing their knives in a hole. Then they show the new jobs they are doing with great pride. In 2005, Sini Sanuman produced a music video, “Ca Fait Mal” with Malian pop star Adama Yalomba and his wife Hawa Diabaté. In the video the woman singer laughs off a normally devastating insult (un-excised woman) and says she’s happy about that and her very popular husband gives a big thumbs-up. This video has been played over 100 times in 10 countries in West Africa. In 2001, as part of the grant for the album ‘Stop Excision,’ various producers began work on music videos of some of the songs on that album. In 2004, Sini Sanuman completed some of these videos and arranged for their broadcast.  These videos are: “Anka Fo ‘Ante!’” (We Can Say “No!”) by Kandia Kouyaté, “Sariya” (the Law) by the Zotto Boys, and “Takhoundi” (Excision) by Nayini Koné.
Other media:

Most of our media work has been producing and broadcasting our music videos, but we have also appeared on many radio programs, produced and broadcast many messages for the radio and produced and broadcast a major TV talk show “Ca Se Discute.” Our big stadium competition in April 2015 was on the nightly news as were our presentations of signatures on the Pledge Against Excision in 2007 and 2015, most of our village celebrations and many of our big public meetings.

We were also responsible for getting Moolaade on Malian TV twice, in April 2010. Moolaade is a classic anti-FGM film by Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene in the local Malian language of Bambara.

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Artists' Involvement

In a country where most people don’t read, songs by famous recording artists are a great way to get our message out. The album “Stop Excision” has been played for years on radio stations around Mali, which we presume has helped change people’s minds. Some of the artists also play an active role in our campaign. Adama Yalomba not only recorded “Ca Fait Mal” and made a video out of it; he joined us in person at the ceremonies when the village of Tamala stopped excising and Moussala erected their sign to that effect.

Daye Koné, who is a griot (traditional story-teller and singer) recorded “Takhoundi” (Excision) in Sarakolé, a local language, for the album “Stop Excision,” and has personally convinced many excisers to stop. He has access to important people, like government ministers, because of his role as a griot.
Adama Yalomba

Leaders' Involvement

We cultivate influential people and encourage them to use their influence for our cause. The village chief of Konibabougou, our third village to stop FGM, convinced an exciser to stop with very little trouble. It’s hard to say no to the chief. Also, Ousmane Chérif Haidara, a very influential Muslim preacher, has mentioned on various occasions that excision is not part of the religion of Islam. We know of one man, who was adamantly in favor of FGM, who changed his mind after hearing Haidara say that.
City officials of District V listen to arguments against FGM.

District Activism

In October 2011 we started a project in District I of Bamako that has allowed us to hire 8 workers. The opening ceremony was on the nightly news. Our activists are leading many public meetings, and helping to train key community leaders. Elected and other officials have participated in educational meetings which we hope will inspire them to take a position, perhaps banning FGM and, in any case, to warn newly-weds about the dangers of FGM. We also trained media people, who have created radio messages about excision, which air on 10 stations. Doctors and nurses learned about FGM and counsel their patients against it. Outreach to youth features sports and cultural competitions in which students are invited to create plays, songs or some kind of artistic expression on the subject of FGM. Victims of FGM get help getting treated and a system of referral for them has been developed in a series of meetings. Billboards went up with anti-FGM messages around Bamako.

Because of our project there, the city-wide commemoration of the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM was held in District I. It was on the news on February 7, 2012.

Watch videos:
At the end of 2007 we worked on a similar project in our part of Bamako, District V. We held training meetings with the authorities of the district. After the meeting, in early 2008, we organized a march to the city hall in collaboration with the officials, who said they were hoping to vote on a local ban on FGM. We still hope they do. As part of the same project, we held trainings for health workers and excisers. All the excisers who were there gave up the practice.

We did a similar project in District IV later in 2008 and one of the most important results of that effort was a group of imams that started preaching our message.
Banner in District 1 proclaiming the elected officials' goal to abolish FGM by 2025.
Fousseini Sy explains the problems with excision to local leaders of Bamako's District V.

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Religious Leaders' Involvement

A group of imams from District IV, who came to a meeting we organized at their city hall, asked us to help them create a common message that they promised to preach in all the 160 mosques in District IV. Friday May 15, 2009 was the first such preaching. The young imams had spread the word that there would be a major message about FGM and about 1,000 people came, about twice the normal number. The leader of the imams of District IV, Massoum Traoré, preached the message and apparently was very eloquent and won a lot of people over to our point of view.

In a large celebratory, late-night gathering celebrating the birthday of the prophet Mohamed, on February 26, 2010, 8 leading imams from District IV urged about 2,000 worshippers to abandon the practice of FGM. These preachers continue to spread the message years later.

Our handout features quotes from religious leaders. Our strongest one is from Woto Diarra, a well-known Muslim preacher, who says “Any person who is excised should be able to bring her parents before the court to demand damages.”
Religious leaders discuss FGM at a meeting organized by Sini Sanuman in 2013.

Clubs

A number of our activists have created clubs to participate in our campaign. Clubs around Koulikoro, a town close to Bamako, have been very active. They have collected lots of signatures on the Plede Against Excision, including those of the mayor and many important people of Koulikoro. A club at the university organized a big meeting and collected many signatures. Another, in N'Tomokorobougou, has worked for years educating their neighbors. The Club of Whole Women is a group of girls who are un-excised and proud to talk about it. They went on the radio in April '7 saying that they were rarely insulted and that, when it occasionally happens, they just laugh it off and say they are proud, which takes the wind out of the sails of the person who insulted them. In December 2007 they created a theater piece for the radio which became a video in 2009, which has been shown around Tominian in health centers. The most recent club is the Club Sini Sanuman in Djelibougou.
Students holding their poster at the stadium school competition in April 2015.

Campaign Stories


Here are just a few of the many stories from Mali that have evolved from Healthy Tomorrow/Sini Sanuman's efforts towards eradicating FGC in Mali through the Pledge Against Excision. 

Click on the image to begin a slideshow of stories or the "Expand below" link to view on this page.

Our Materials

  • Our Brochure -a single sheet, 3-panel brochure describing the work of Healthy Tomorrow/Sini Sanuman

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