– FGM Escapees Narrate Harrowing Stories
By: G Bennie Bravo Johnson, I.
A relative of at least two individuals (Musu, and Georgina), who have lost their lives to the harmful traditional practice of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Bokay Town, Grand Bassa County, is calling on the National Legislature of the Republic of Liberia to enact a law criminalizing Female Genital Mutilation FGM).
The anonymous advocate believes that the practice is more than tradition and warned that if the government doesn’t act, more girls will die in silence. “This is more than tradition—it’s a human rights crisis. If we don’t act, more girls will die in silence.”
In February 2022, Liberia’s National Council of Chiefs and Elders (NACCEL) announced a three-year suspension of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), intended to last until February 2025. To enforce the mandate, on February 6, 2023, the Council of Chiefs and Elders (NACCEL), led by Former Traditional Chief Zanzan Karwor, declared a ban on FGM across the country. This announcement coincided with the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM and was supported by traditional leaders from all 15 counties.
However, the declaration, which aimed to end the practice through cultural consensus and marked a significant step toward protecting women’s and girls’ rights in Liberia, appears to be more of a “soft law” or a “toothless mandate”—as the harmful traditional practice remains active and widespread across villages in Liberia. The absence of enacted national legislation criminalizing FGM leaves the practice unregulated by law.
Now, a relative of the two recent victims and now a father and a native of Bokay’s Town—recounted their harrowing escape from the town in a conversation with the Women Voices Newspaper. The family fled across multiple borders in a desperate bid to shield their daughters from forced FGM—a deeply rooted harmful traditional practice that has claimed the lives of three of their relatives.
He revealed that his call for the “criminalization of FGM” stemmed from his traumatic experience in Bokay’s Town, which forced him to spend years relocating both locally and internationally to protect his daughters from what he described as “a deadly cultural tradition.”“For the safety of our girls, we’ve lived in Logan Town, Monrovia, Nimba County, Cape Mount County. Each move was an escape from the hands of traditional enforcers who believe our girls should undergo circumcision.”
The victim described one of the most terrifying moments on the night of May 3, 2024, just hours after his birthday celebration. “I had left for work in Monrovia, leaving my wife and children at home. Around 11:55 p.m., our house was broken into by men who we later identified as traditional enforcers. They claimed they were acting under the orders of village elders and female ‘zoes’ because we didn’t respond to a summons regarding our daughters’ initiation.”
Fearing for their safety, the family fled under darkness to escape to safety, but soon realized their safety was still at risk due to similar cultural practices in the host village.
“From there, we moved to Nimba County, was later sought refuge in northern Nimba County, where a 70-year-old woman took us in. She shared her own painful experience with FGM and told us she’s been against it all her life,” the victim continued. But tragedy would follow them even in hiding. On June 6, while bathing their children, the victim’s wife received a devastating phone call from a neighbor in Bokay’s Town – informing them that another young child has died as the result of the practice.
“She put the phone on the loudspeaker without knowing the content. We all heard Patricia say that three-year-old Georgina Wallace—our daughter Precious’ closest friend and playmate—had died. Her body was at Two Brothers Funeral Home.”
Overcome with emotion, the victim’s wife dropped the phone and wailed: “Georgina oh! Georgina oh! Who will play with Precious again? Who will call her ‘Pata’?”
“The news shattered young Bennetta Precious, who burst into tears, refused to wear clothes, and lost her appetite for several days. We’ve noticed that some nights between 1 and 2 a.m., she jumps up crying in her sleep,” he said. Their elderly host advised them to take the children into Ivory Coast to avoid further danger. The victim is now pleading with authorities and human rights organizations to act urgently.
Bokay’s Town – Grand Bassa County: A Community in Crisis
In the heart of Grand Bassa County, Bokay’s Town remains engulfed in a practice that continues to devastate the lives of young girls: female genital mutilation (FGM). Despite growing international calls for reform, Liberia remains without a law criminalizing FGM—leaving vulnerable girls unprotected, especially in rural areas like Bokay’s Town.
At least 50 percent of girls between the ages of 2 and 14 in Bokay’s Town have undergone this procedure, which is still viewed by many traditionalists as a rite of passage into womanhood. According to local accounts, 31 girls in the community live with long-term physical or emotional complications from the practice. Originally performed on girls between the ages of 8 and 15, the age range for initiation has drastically decreased. In response to families fleeing with their daughters to avoid the ritual, traditional elders now seek out girls even from the day of birth. Locally, the practice is referred to as “excision”—the removal of the clitoris.
Disturbingly, these procedures are conducted without anesthesia, using non-sterile instruments such as razor blades that are reused on multiple girls. The consequences have been deadly. Some girls have died from excessive bleeding or infections—victims as young as three years old. One such tragic case was an eight-year-old girl known affectionately as “Monkonjay.” She was the only daughter of the victim, a once vibrant and healthy lecturer at the University of Liberia. Overwhelmed by grief following his daughter’s death, the victim himself died just two months later from hypertension—a loss that shook the entire community.
The ritualistic path to FGM in Bokay’s Town begins just seven days after a baby girl is born. Female elders, known as “zoes,” pay a ceremonial visit to the family under the guise of celebrating the newborn. During this visit, they present two new African lappas—one for the mother to tie around her wrist, and another to wrap around the infant. This act serves as a traditional symbol that the baby girl has been culturally “engaged” for initiation into the secret Sande Society bush, a practice that will occur once her clitoris becomes visible. In the case of twin girls, four lappas are presented.
As the cultural festival seasons approach—between April and July, or September through December—custom dictates that family heads or firstborn males surrender eligible girls for initiation. These girls must be accompanied by a “traditional package,” which includes two new lappas, two pairs of shower slippers, two packs of bath soap, two packs of washing soap, a pack of razor blades, and ten thousand Liberian dollars.
After three to six months in the bush, a “graduation” ceremony is held for those who survive. The girls, paraded half-naked through the town accompanied by music and celebration, are publicly presented as new initiates. However, for some families, the day is marked by sorrow. If a parent does not see their daughter in the procession—or instead sees a female elder delivering the child’s belongings bundled at the doorstep—it is a grim signal: the girl did not survive the ritual. Tragically, tradition in Bokay’s Town forbids mourning in public, denying grieving families even the dignity of shedding tears.
Adding to the cruelty, the norms in Bokay’s Town have recently granted zoes broader authority. These female elders are now empowered to seize girls from marketplaces, riversides, playgrounds, left alone parent homes, etc who they assumed they were rite to be initiated.
