The Real Bondo Society.

              Introduction.                   

Bondo is an authoritative group that is entirely comprised of women confederation that grooms teenage girls into adulthood, wedlock, and parenthood. They possess great authority in Sierra Leone and are indisputable even by political leaders, especially regarding the issue of FGM. They take part in the initiation ceremonies during which the young girls are circumcised and instructed about medicinal herbs, motherhood, and becoming perfect homemakers.
Their power is so paramount that their decisions are held unanimously by the entire community.  The political leaders affirm their superiority and for them to hold office they offer to pay for the initiation ceremonies for a cohort of initiates. They boldly proclaim their supremacy.
In fact, Nina Smart points out in her book, Wild Flower  that "This time, they owned FGM as a national treasure, a cultural symbol of the powerful women's secret society. The Bondo mask had become the national logo used for tourism, replacing the controversial image of the diamond that reminded the world of Sierra Leone's bloody civil war ...It will never change! they said . Bondo is very powerful!  FGM is our tradition!" (Smart 223).

                                            The Map of Sierra Leone.

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                         The Bondo Women.

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The above picture represents some of the Bondo women who are celebrating after the initiation ceremony. They indulge in music and dance as a culmination of the ceremony. As seen in this picture they are not alone. The entire village is normally involved. The men are also part of the ceremonial party drumming and humming instruments all in tune as children spectate on the sides. As the African saying goes, "you educate a child, you educate the whole village." This saying applies likewise to initiation ceremonies, as the entire community gets involved.

                The Young Initiates.

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These are the young initiates lined up. They appear pensive as they await their fate.  They are dressed uniformly in white dresses, with faces painted in white, and a variety of head scarves adorning their heads as they are led into the Bondo bush.  The villagers in the background are going about their daily duties, unperturbed of what these young girls are feeling, to them this is life at its best.

              "Sowe" the Excisor.

 
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This is one of the Bondo women, as an "Excisor" she carries out the actual mutilation. Nina Smart in her memoir has emphasized that, "The mask worn by the Sowe, the woman who performs the cutting of the genitals in the secret society, now holds a central place in the new global image of Sierra Leone" (Smart 223). She is exceptionally regarded in society not only by the women but also political leaders in Sierra Leone. She is highly paid by the fathers of the initiates in order to perform the ceremony.

          Advocate against FGM, Dr. Nina Smart.

 https://studentaffairs.uci.edu/wei/images/nina-smart.png

Dr. Nina Smart is an advocate who has stood up against the practice of FGM, and luckily she escaped the knife from the Bondo Society.  She founded SWF-Servicing Wild Flower International  in 2004, a Los Angeles based non-profit, non-governmental organization. She focuses on matters of FGM in Sierra Leone that has had a great influence in saving many young girls lives.  In her Memoir, Wild Flower she narrates her personal encounters as a young woman in Sierra Leone and brings to light how the very practice is carried out. In addition, she has made a personal video that has made a huge impact in enlightening millions of people about the Bondo Society and the issue of FGM.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mRASfNCICo&noredirect=1

This video displays an interview of Dr. Nina Smart, the author of  the book, Wild Flower. She explains about the practices of FGM, the Real Bondo Society of women, also, how this practice impacts the lives of women and young girls of Sierra Leone.  She elaborates how she  narrowly escaped from the initiation process into this powerful society, and highlights efforts that have been put forth to help eradicate this practice.
Others have also stepped up their efforts in ending the practice of "cutting" young girls by replacing it with more affluent ways to help the Sierra Leonean community shun this outdated practice for good. For instance the two women from this video, https://youtu.be/7L2zdNo-rrI, are women activists who are against FGM, they elaborate to us how hard it is for them to reach out the community and how hard it is for their government to freely speak on the issue. Their quest is to eradicate this practice and the challenges that these young women are forced to face.  All while fearing for their own safety because they take the risk of being physically harmed by those who support the practice of FGM.