Embracing the knife

“The Luo community is relatively liberal as far as nudity is concerned, and this was not a challenge as such,” Ms Emali told The EastAfrican last week.

“What’s more, because circumcision is not a traditional Luo practice, it is not attended by the kind of taboos that exist in traditionally circumcising communities, such as the Bantu of central Kenya.”

According to Ms Emali, what made the circumcision photography project particularly exciting were the attempts by the six photographers to capture the complex undercurrents that can be stirred by a culturally transformational programme.

“The brief for the photographers was that they needed to take pictures that captured the poignancy of the moment of making the decision to embrace change,” said Ms Emali. “In a way, we wanted the photographers to move journalism into the realm of art, which is a huge leap.”

In Kenya, the Luo are among the half dozen communities or so, including the Teso and the Turkana who traditionally do not circumcise.

But many members of these communities, especially those born in hospital settings, had already undergone the procedure even before the World Health Organisation declared that circumcised men were less likely to contract HIV than the uncircumcised.

“The picture essays captured by the photographers in this project make one consider the enormity of considering a cut with culture,” observed Ms Jooste last week. “They tell of hardships. Of the sexual networking around the lake as a driver of disease.”

The who declaration on circumcision, which urged countries to roll out the procedure in addition to the conventional ABC strategy to curb the spread of HIV, was based on three studies conducted in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa involving over 11,000 men, which showed that the procedure could offer protection by up to 60 per cent.

“The surgical procedure, while not a cultural tradition of the Luo people who live here, has obviously gained much currency in the last one year,” observed Ernest Waititu, one of the photographers.

“This is important because HIV prevalence rates in the region are the highest in Kenya.”

THE DRIVE TO RAISE CIRcumcision rates in Nyanza received a major boost last August when the region’s political supremo, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, endorsed the procedure, saying that circumcision was no longer a matter of tradition but of survival.

After initial misgivings, the influential Luo Council of Elders also backed Mr Odinga.

“I agree with the research findings entirely [that circumcision is protective],” Mr Odinga said at a public rally then. “Communities that have not been circumcising their people should go for it, but do so in hospitals where safety is assured.”

More recent research has however shown that male circumcision does not have any protective effect on women partners.

According to anthropologists, circumcision has been practiced since the days of Ancient Egypt by various communities for religious, cultural and socio-political reasons.