David Hecht reports from Senegal on a unique educational program which has been quite successful in getting whole villages to renounce the traditional practice of female circumcision. The approach is built around a series of two-month courses which focus on a range of topics, from hygiene to human rights. The program goes on for a full year before the subject of female circumcision is even raised. Facilitators do not say it is wrong, or that it inhibits sexual pleasure; they merely focus on the procedure's health risks.
Copyright 1998 NPR
