ed and mutilated she whispers Its not a pain you forget. In her account, she retells how she was held down, blindfolded and crying, by her mother so that a gypsy could perform this brutal rite of passage on her. The gypsy used a filthy dull razor and no anesthetic to perform the operation (Cheakalos and Heyn). Depending on the type of mutilation, Sunna circumcision, clitorictectomy, intermediate circumcision, or infibulation, the midwife will begin cutting from the top and go to the bottom of the small lip. Next, she will scrape out the insides of the large lip while having an assistant stick her finger inside the wound to verify her work (Walker 308). All the while the girl twists and wails in anguish. According to P.K. the operation seems to go on forever, as it has to be performed to perfection. She tells how she was suffering through an endless agony, torn apart both physically and psychologically (Walker 106).After the operator is finished with the cutting, she will use a thorn bush needle to sew the raw edges together to encourage the growth of scar tissue. A small sliver of wood is placed in the vagina to ensure that an opening will be left for urine and menstrual flow to escape. Dirie also describes how the ragged edges of her wound were sewn together, leaving her only a minute opening for urination and menstruation. She tells how menstruation became so painful that she would routinely faint (Cheakalos and Heyn). Once the midwife has completed sewing up the wound, a paste of butter and herbs is spread over the wound. This is done to cease the blood gushing out of the young girl. After the mutilation, the girls legs are bound together for up to a month to ensure proper healing (Female Genital Mutilation).As a result of the poor hygiene used in this procedure, the young girl will often have problems with her wound and will continue to experience intense pain. One such problem is the loss of a large amount of blood. D...
