(See Photos at bottom of page and in the News Article section...)More than two years ago, following the success met by the project Clitoraid, its founder Raël had declared that instead of using the money collected by Clitoraid to only operate on some women, the teams should create the first "Pleasure Hospital", and operate on all African women who would wish to be operated on, free, with the assistance of volunteer doctors. Immediately the association’s volunteers were put to work to realize this fantastic idea thus answering the significant number of Burkinabé women candidates wanting to undergo the operation and the offer of many doctors wishing to rebuild the clitoris of all excised women.
A team was then setup
(1), composed of women and men on site, architects, and scientists working to build the Hospital, not without efforts since both concerned countries were reluctant
(2).
At the beginning of 2007, transactions were started in the village of Kuinina in order to obtain land to start the construction of this unique hospital. The AVFE, local association representing Clitoraid, quickly became owner of a piece of land and even organized a ceremony for the laying of the first stones on May 26th, 2007 in Matourkou whereas the last signatures were to wait for in the days that followed. It seemed to predict a construction without a problem...
However, in spite of the fact that all administrative documents were in order with the AVFE, a few weeks after the installation of the first stones, to our surprise, we saw a telecommunication company (CELTEL) undertaking the construction of a transmission tower on the said land in a completely anarchistic way. The AVFE-CLITORAID representatives of course opposed this construction by resorting to the existing legal means and by taking peaceful actions (letter addressed to the Health Minister, meetings, negotiations...). A complaint by the company CELTEL followed, which occupied the land, against the AVFE-CLITORAID... Doesn’t that make you smile? :-)
October (19th ), 2007, the AVFE-CLITORAID representatives, Lamane Hebie and Pierre Bolduc presented themselves to the audience organized at the Prefecture, answering a convocation addressed by the company CELTEL. Those present were, the representatives of CELTEL, , the domain receiver, the land register who had signed the transfer statement of the land for the Hospital and the two village chiefs of Matourkou and Kuinina, original owners of the land. We figured out in the process that part of our ownership problems come from the fact that the land was considered owned fully by both villages! After explanations from the two sides, the director judged that none of the two parties could claim to the appropriation of the land, since no entity was really in possession of the official attribution decree signed by the director, as the procedure requires it. (One of the signatures we didn’t have indeed...) Thereafter, the rallying of the two village chiefs to the telecommunication company and an informal procedure (more generally called "bribes", which we forbid by principle), allowed CELTEL to acquire the land. Besides that, the money that Clitoraid had committed to commit to for this acquisition, were diverted by the two go-betweens, B. Celibacy and D. Tuatara, representatives of the village chiefs.
Patient, determined and sure of their right, the AVFE-CLITORAID representatives organized a new meeting with the two chiefs and negotiated the attribution of new land. Following this meeting in March 2008, another land was finally allotted to us, thanks to the determination and the diplomacy of Lamane and Banémanie, who were able to rally the local chiefs. They simply formulated the wish to see their children being part of the personnel employed by the hospital.
On May 15th, 2008, an order of acquisition for the land was finally delivered to the association AVFE for the construction of the “Pleasure Hospital”: All the authorizations of the Health Ministry are signed. DELTE AVFE is now officially the owner of the land!
The official name of the Hospital was another ball game! The name “Pleasure Hospital” seems to have shocked some people along the administrative trail of the file. One of the women who were to sign for the Health Ministry, retained the file for several months, asserting that she would never sign as long as the word pleasure would not be removed from the official name. After many endless discussions, the women’s access to pleasure who were waiting, appeared more important to us than the name itself and the hospital thus became: The “KAMKASSO HOSPITAL” which means in the local language, the women’s house. But we will keep for our communications the name “Pleasure Hospital”, no matter how displeased that woman was that we could associate a clitoris and pleasure.
With a surface of 2,000 square meters, it will be situated on rural land in Matourkou, in Bobo Dioulasso county.
Marcus Werner from UK and Jacques Aizac from France have elaborated the architectural plans in order to combine functionality, security and a welcome center is planned in addition to the operation block, a laboratory, an infirmary, a sterilization room, an emergency waiting room, a hospitalization room, two consultation rooms for doctors, a conference room, a computer room, a fire security system, an incinerator, a laundry room, a kitchen, an apartment for a guard, public washrooms, a power generating unit to supplement the electrical company in case of breakdown, well-drilling and a small water tower, an autonomous mobile unit for production of medical air (medical air bottles are very expensive here, nearly 200 Euros per bottle), paths and diverse networks to facilitate the exit access and circulation. The plans were required by the Health Ministry’s technician who accompanies Pierre Bolduc’s team, a Canadian contractor who coordinates the construction for the AVFE-CLITORAID, in the development of the project.
Africa’s particularities were taken into account in the development of the plans (climatic conditions, prevention against contaminations...) in order to offer comfort and security to patients and health professionals. In addition, the plans are also made to include a possible expansion in the future.
Since the outcome and the acquisition of the land, information actions towards women were multiplied in Burkina Faso, in Togo, in Benin, Mali and Ivory Coast: press releases, conferences in schools and universities, leaflets distributions, meetings and conferences with women associations, post-mail sent to the authorities, meetings and discussions with the authorities and the directors of social and health organizations or the promotion of woman, surveys in the streets...
Today, in Burkina Faso, 166 women made the request for the restoration of their clitoris to AVFE-CLITORAID and are registered on the list, while waiting for the Hospital to be operational.
We are barely starting this formidable adventure where we put all our energy so that the dream of these women is realized... The construction of this hospital is the symbol that some consciences are waking up and a sign of hope for the years to come... Imagine, two African village chiefs offer to women, their wives and their daughters, the possibility of reconsidering ancestral traditions, to break habits... They accept that these women assert their freedom, sexuality and human rights. This is beautiful evidence of an evolution... And many more are still to come, isn’t it! Cheers to our village chiefs of Matourkou and Kuinina for the example of wisdom and intelligence that they offer us...
P.S.: A little wink... The chiefs made the Celtel Company pay for the land, but offered the land to our association...
:-)
(1) Two associations work together and unite their competences to build the "Pleasure Hospital": Clitoraid based in the US, whose first objective is taking charge of the women who were victims of excision and the AVFE (Association Female Blooming), based in Burkina Faso.
(2) Burkina Faso was selected because of its geographical location. It indeed is a true crossroads of six countries where the excision is performed on a regular basis. The Northern part of Ivory Coast close to the Burkina city of Bobo Dioulasso is also much affected by the circumcision practice.
Some Pictures from Start to Most Recent:
