Male Circumcision in Kenya is the surgical removal of the foreskin covering the tip of the penis. The circumcision procedure is fairly common for newborn boys in Kenya. For most families, male circumcision is a religious ritual.
Circumcision is a religious or cultural ritual for many Jewish, Islamic, and even Christian families, as well as certain aboriginal tribes in Africa. In some cases, there may be a medical need for circumcision, such as when the foreskin is too tight to be pulled back or retracted over the glans.
Potential Benefits of Circumcision
Circumcision offers several potential benefits, including:
- Better hygiene.
- Decreased risk of urinary tract infections.
- Decreased risk of sexually transmitted infections.
- Prevention of penile problems.
- Decreased risk of penile cancer.
Occasionally, the foreskin on an uncircumcised penis can be difficult or impossible to retract, called phimosis.
Risks and Considerations
Circumcision might not be an option if certain blood-clotting disorders are present. Rarely, circumcision might result in foreskin problems, usually if performed by a non-qualified professional.
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The Circumcision Procedure
For newborn circumcision, your son will lie on his back with his arms and legs restrained. After the penis and surrounding area are cleaned, an anesthetic will be injected into the base of the penis or applied onto the penis as a cream. Then, the penis will be covered with an ointment, such as a topical antibiotic or petroleum jelly, and wrapped loosely with gauze. This procedure is similar for older boys and male adults.
After the Procedure
It usually takes seven to 10 days for the patient to heal. The tip of the penis is likely to be sore at first and might look red, swollen, or bruised. It’s OK to wash the penis as it heals. For newborns, change the bandage with each diaper change and apply a dab of petroleum jelly to the tip of the penis to keep it from sticking to the diaper. Problems after circumcision are rather uncommon.
Traditional Circumcision Practices in Kenya
Boys from Kenya's Bukusu tribe participate in a ceremony to mark the circumcision ritual. In August, about 5,000 boys in western Kenya were rounded up, brought into the forest, and ritually circumcised. They're members of the Bukusu tribe, and they were marking the transition from boyhood to manhood in the traditional way. The elders who performed the procedure used homemade knives and no anesthesia, as they have done for centuries.
An estimated 10,000 boys from various tribes in Kenya's Bungoma County are circumcised every year, says Florence Lukoosi, the county's cultural director. About half of them, mostly Bukusu tribe members, go through the procedure in the old-fashioned way, which relies on traditional knives instead of surgical tools. Other families opt for a hospital procedure.
Amongst the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania, male circumcision has historically been the graduation element of an educational program which taught tribal beliefs, practices, culture, religion and history to youth who were on the verge of becoming full-fledged members of society.
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Traditional circumcision is practiced among the Bukusu people of Kenya. Ceremonies usually take place in August. They involve the use of mud.
The Bukusu tribe has kept the traditional circumcision ceremony since the 18th century
Efforts to Improve Safety
To minimize injuries and disfigurement, Bungoma County conducts two training sessions a year for traditional circumcisers. The one-day voluntary program teaches them to make the cut safely, how to practice proper hygiene, how to dress the cut after the surgery, and how to administer antibiotics if necessary.
Lukoosi said the elders who perform the ritual prefer to use their own knives, in order to be true to tradition. About 600 elders have taken circumcision training so far this year, Lukoosi says, but she admits that some still make mistakes.
The circumciser who mutilated the 13-year-old Bukusu boy has been "blacklisted," says Florence Lukoosi.
Perspectives on Traditional Circumcision
Murmbi Njibwakale, a 59-year-old Bukusu elder, was circumcised when he was 9 years old and remembers it "like it was yesterday." When asked about the boy whose penis was cut off, he said, "Accidents are accidents," emphasizing that they seldom happen. "It is not dangerous. We have done this since time immemorial." And why continue? "It is a test for endurance, of how courageous a man can be in his life," he said.
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Other circumcised men aren't so sure about the value of the traditional ways. "They took me and a group of other boys into the forest," says Joash Akwiry, 32, remembering his circumcision 22 years ago. For two weeks, elders from his Kisa tribe mentored him, preparing him for the experience. "On D-day, they smear you with clay, which signifies you are ready for circumcision." After the cut, he says, they rubbed ash from burned berries into the wound to stop the bleeding. His most vivid memory is of the pain.
Changing Traditions
"It's a breakdown of traditions," says Elizabeth Meyerhoff, an American anthropologist who has lived in Kenya since the 1970s. "Circumcision was an initiation ceremony, but a lot of the initiation has gone by the wayside."
But not in the Bukusu tribe, whose elders even force circumcisions on men from other tribes who want to marry Bukusu women. Men from the Turkana tribe fled their homes last month to avoid this forced circumcision, seeking refuge in nearby police stations.
Njibwakale, the Bukusu elder, defends the practice of circumcising adult men from other tribes who choose to live among the Bukusu. "Because they will be a part of us, they should adhere culturally," he says. But any elder who botches a surgery should be banned from future circumcisions, he adds.
The transition away from ritual circumcision reflects a changing Africa. But even some of those who would not subject a son to traditional cutting still respect the cultural significance of ritual circumcision as an initiation into manhood. Among the Bukusu, an uncircumcised man is given less respect and stature than a circumcised man. "Most Africans still believe in their culture," says Akwiry.
Among the Bukusu, circumcision is a rite of passage into manhood. For most Kenyans, by contrast, it's just the cultural norm.
Circumcision Prevalence in Africa
Circumcision is prevalent among 92% of men in North Africa and around 62% in Sub-Saharan Africa. Studies evaluating the complications due to traditional male circumcision have found rates varying from 35% (Kenya) to 48% (South Africa).
Regional Variations
The male child circumcision rate in Ghana is around 95%, with operations performed in hospitals and clinics. Nigerian culture favors circumcising baby boys when they are aged between eight and forty days. Neonatal (child) circumcision is performed on more than 85% of boys in Nigeria, Western Africa, and the majority of procedures are done by nurses (56%) and doctors (35%), with a small proportion (9%) performed by traditional practitioners.
Rwanda previously had a lower rate of circumcision, similar to South Africa. In both nations, there has been introduced a "safe" PrePex device which claims to involves no pain nor bleeding. The Government of Rwanda wishes to fight HIV. However, complications have occurred after a few of the circumcisions, including death.
In Uganda, circumcision is performed for religious, cultural, and medical reasons. Medical related circumcision is mainly to reduce the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus and sexually transmitted illnesses. In Uganda, Sebei, Bagisu, Baamba, and Bakonzo ethnic groups practice TMC. As of 2012, 70% of Ugandan men are not circumcised. Around 10% of Ugandan men belong to groups which practice traditional male circumcision.
In the South of Malawi, the Yao and Lomwe tribes practice tribal circumcision. The male circumcision rate in South Africa is estimated to be 44.7%. However, medical organizations in South Africa do not recommend it.
Each year thousands of young men go into the bush alone, without water, to attend initiation schools. According to one article, as of December 2015, 10 million men have undergone voluntary circumcision in East and Southern Africa.
| Country | Circumcision Prevalence |
|---|---|
| North Africa | 92% |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 62% |
| Ghana | 95% |
| South Africa | 44.7% |
Voluntary Circumcision Projects
In 2015, the Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics completed a voluntary circumcision project, covering three traditionally non-circumcising Tanzanian regions, Iringa, Njombe and Tabora, which circumcised 400,000 men. It was done in collaboration with the National AIDS Control Programme.
Non-Circumcising Communities
Of Kenya’s total of 44 ethnic groups, only a handful are traditionally non-circumcising, while all the rest practice circumcision. The traditionally non-circumcising lot consists of three tribes and two sub-tribes. They are: the Luo, the Turkana and the Teso, and two sub-tribes of the Luhya tribe namely Luhya tribe namely the Banyala of Port Victoria and the Samia.
While in the country’s traditionally circumcising ethnic communities circumcision is either a religious cultural rite or rite of passage that marks the passage of an adolescent into adulthood, in the Luo community as in its other traditionally non-circumcising mates, circumcision as a newly introduced practice is a mere artificial medical and/or cosmetic procedure that is a mere branding of the genitalia, with no tangible benefits or significance.
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