Clitoraid: 2nd humanitarian clitoral restorative surgical mission in Kenya

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. based humanitarian organization, Clitoraid, is launching its 2nd clitoral restorative surgical mission in Nairobi, Kenya, March 4 - 14, 2019 to help the victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) regain their dignity and sexual pleasure, thanks to a technique developed by a French urologist.

"According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 25% of the Kenyan female population has endured the horrific tradition of genital cutting though the practice is now illegal in Kenya," explained Nadine Gary, Clitoraid Director of Operations.

The WHO estimates that 125 million women worldwide have had their genitals forcibly mutilated as babies or when they were toddlers or possibly as teenagers. This practice grossly violates the UNICEF Convention on the Right of the Child.

Clitoraid volunteer head-surgeon, Dr. Marci Bowers of San Francisco, USA, will co-lead the clitoral restorative medical procedure in partnership with Kenyan Dr. Adan Abdullahi affiliated with the Kenyan NGO, Garana.

"They will be assisted by local Kenyan doctors as well as MDs from the US, Canada and Australia," said Gary.

"Close to 100 FGM survivors, including women from Tanzania, Sudan and The Gambia are scheduled for surgery during the two week, humanitarian endeavor that will take place at Dr. Abdullahi's clinic in Nairobi," informed Gary.

"Since 2009, Clitoraid has provided clitoral restorative surgery (CRS) to over 500 genitally mutilated women mostly in the U.S. where more than half a million FGM survivors currently reside according the Center for Disease Control," expressed Gary. "We have also operated in Kenya and in Burkina Faso, West Africa where our hospital dedicated to FGM victims awaits opening," she added.

International spiritual leader, Rael, a relentless defender of human rights and women's rights, inspired the creation of Clitoraid. The innate right to sexual health and fulfillment has been a core value to the Raelian philosophy for nearly half a century and is now advocated by the World Health Organization as a basic human right.

"Society must rid itself of sexual shame and guilt disseminated by archaic patriarchal religions, both tribal and mainstream, that are especially abusive and demeaning to women," Gary stated. "Repressing their sexuality has been a powerful ploy to control and subdue them for centuries," she continued.

Gary concluded: "Today, with education, women are realizing that the traditions and cultures that violate their sexual integrity and their sexual freedom also violate their dignity as women."