The festival of virgins
Africa is a vast continent filled with varieties of customs,
traditions, cultures, and languages. Some of these outdated traditions and
customs are seen as senseless, useless, valueless, illiteracy, and complete
ignorance.
Female Circumcision: It is estimated that about 140 million
girls and women worldwide are currently living with the disastrous effects of
female circumcision. Horrific procedures have severely traumatized and
psychologically affected thousands of women. Female circumcision is practiced
in 26 countries across Africa.
In the Republic of Sierra Leone, an ethnic group called “The
Bondo Society” still carries this outdated tradition. Gambia launched a three-year program aimed to abolish Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Female
circumcision is the number one on my list as illiteracy taken as traditional or
custom.
Horrible tribal marks in Nigeria: In the olden days, tribal
marks were used as identification, especially in Yoruba lands, such as Ogun,
Oyo, Ondo states, and Benin.
Should in case something happens to you, your
tribal marks would help to identify the tribe you originate or where you come
from. The illiteracy behind this barbarous act has disfigured the face of
thousands of Nigerians.
Some of the marks are so horrible that they attract people
and gossip. Some women have to live with it for the rest of their lives without
husbands.
Time changes as we step into the world of technology and
development. Disfiguring of the face as tribal marks are gradually fading away
or completely stopped in many places thought out the country.
In South Africa, is a relatively landlocked country
called Swaziland. The king of the country, Mswati III has 14 wives. This
illiteracy which had been in existence for years is followed as a tradition.
The 46-year old monarch has ruled over Swaziland, which is
on the brink of economic disaster for 28 years. He can’t even solve the
problems of 40 percent of Swazis that are unemployed, the country’s highest
HIV infection rate per capita in the world, and the life expectancy of 46
years among the world’s lowest.
Yet at every annual reed dance, the king takes
the opportunity to take a new wife. Is this king ignorant, serious, or a
joker?
Horrible tribal marks of a Yoruba woman
He recently married a girl of fifteen. Apart
from the continued abuse of young girls, the king’s wealth
includes expensive cars (fleets of top-of-the-range Mercedes and BMW
cars, at least one Rolls-Royce and a $500,000 Daimler Chrysler flagship
Maybach 62) and the private jet ($17 million), while the citizens wallow
in poverty.
This money can be invested in education and health care to
develop his country. Have you seen how stupid and ignorant some of
these African leaders are?
When Asia is making headlines around the world, it’s about
business, but in the case of Africa, it’s about poverty, corruption, war,
conflicts and such stupid traditions and customs, draining Africa’s coffers and
under-developing Africa.