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Arabic: https://www.bbc.com/arabic/multimedia/2013/10/131030_closeup_female General field: Science Detailed field: Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
Source text - Arabic
Timecode Sound Image
00:25 In the room were many kids my age. My sister and my mother took hold of me. woman in silhouette looking out through bars of window
00:32 They were taking off my trousers. separating my legs. I screamed. what are you doing to me?
(SLOW DOWN SPACE OUT THE LINES) woman in silhouette looking out through bars of window
00:37: My mother said: Nothing dear, just a little pain and it’ll be over.
They threw me on the ground. A pain started between my thighs. Everything turned dark
When they wanted to raise me to my feet I could not stand. My thighs were covered in blood.
01:05
VO: Iraqi Kurdistan . . a state for the Kurdish people that came into its own after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Despite this liberation, and the prosperity that came with it, Kurdish women remained victims of an old and brutal ritual.
كردستان العراق ...دولة للأكراد نالت استقلالها الذاتي بعد سقوط صدام حسين. على الرغم من هذا التحرر وما رافقه من ازدهار ، ظلت النساء الكرديات ضحايا طقوس وحشية قديمة. Skyline of Sulimanya
GV street scenes in Sulimanya
01:32 IV: If you want to talk about this, please sit down.
Young Girl: It is safe for us here to talk to you because it is forbidden to discuss khatana in the villages. Group of girls coming through field
they sit in group
01.27 GFX Khatana Title
“female genital mutilation
1.50 NADYA KHALIFE: Female genital mutilation, or fgm, is basically the cutting of a girl's genitalia, and it is usually the clitoris.
ناديا خليفة: تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية، أو ختان الإناث، هو قطع الأعضاء التناسلية للإناث، وعادة ما يكون البظر.
MCU IV woman
1.58 Young Girl: They said “Let's go to another village, to the house of your aunt”
(Slow here too if possible space out lines)
They said “do not put on your underwear, your blouse is enough.” Two women took me away and they said “We will style your hair” and suddenly both women held my legs. IV group of young girls
02.24 Young Girl: I picked up a knife. I said to them, “Leave me alone or I will stab you with the knife.”
(space out)
They said “We will mutilate you!” I still had the knife in my hand and said, “Let me go!” After that they released me, and I ran away.
(Space)
The midwife said, “Go after her!” Young girls sitting on rocks
2.42 It's not something that families discuss. It's just something that is done, and is forgotten about. MCU IV woman
02.55 IV: Is it shameful to speak about khatana?
Woman: Yes of course, it is shameful to talk about khatana. Woman in black
02.59 Shame on you for bringing this subject in front of the camera . . .
How dare you? Women in black
03:09 Excuse me, I do not want my face on camera
Why?
I just don’t like it
Why? there are no men here?
No but my brothers would not be happy with this. Shara and mid-wife w/ 2 women
03:21 Shame on you to talk about this subject!
03:25 We just need 10 more minutes to finish our work here.
In no way can I let you and honestly I can’t fight my tribe.
I cannot finish if you don’t agree to be recorded
I told you this before that I had a lot of pressure from the mullah and family members.
I even told them that I was very unhappy to have given you permission. undercover shooting
3.4 Everything concerning sex in the middle east culture is taboo, so talking about female genital mutilation is talking about a sensitive area of a female's body and it's taboo. You should not talk about it. MCU IV with man in office.
GV street scenes of Sulimanya
3.57 NADYA KHALIFE: This is what is hap-pening in Kurdistan and nobody in the outside world really knew about it. That was the real shocker
ناديا خليفة: هذا ما يحدث في كردستان، ولا أحد في العالم يعرف حقاً بهذا الموضوع. تلك كانت الصدمة الحقيقية. extraordinary
4.03 VO: But the Kurdish political establish-ment denied that female genital mutila-tion was even a problem. This politi-cian's brief was preventing violence against women
لكن المؤسسة السياسية الكردية لم تعترف حتى بأن ختتان الإناث مشكلة. موجز ما قاله هذا السياسي ينفي العنف ضد المرأة. (Is there more of this guy for ad-ditional VO line?)
4.15 Narim Abdulla: This phenomenon is not as widespread as all that. We checked in schools in some regions and we couldn’t find a single girl who had undergone circumcision. News Video:
Narim Abdulla: Dir. Dept Vio-lence Against Women
4.3 VO:
IN 2004, NABAZ AHMED, A YOUNG FILMMAKER DECIDED TO BREAK HIS SOCIETY’S SILENCE AND MAKE A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE SITUA-TION
عام ألفين وأربعة قرر ناباز أحمد، المخرج الشاب كسر الصمت في مجتمعه، وعمل فيلماً وثائقياً عن هذا الوضع. Car traversing mountain road, MCU of avan.
4.47 NABAZ: Nabaz: As A film maker I always wanted to be more innovative and do something that hadn’t been done before.
ناباز: كمخرجٍ سينمائي، أردت دائماً أن أكون أكثر ابتكاراً، وأقوم بعمل شيء لم يعمله أحد من قبل. IV Avan against black
4.57 VO: It was the beginning of a difficult seven year journey for Nabaz.
كانت تلك بداية رحلة شاقة لناباز استمرت سبع سنوات.
5.03 NABAZ: My goal in making this film was to tell the truth about female genital muti-lation in my country because the gov-ernment had always denied that the girls were being cut.
ناباز: كان هدفي من عمل هذا الفيلم إظهار الحقيقة حول تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية للإناث في بلدي، وذلك لأن الحكومة كانت دائماً تنكر أن الفتيات يتم ختانهن.
5.18 VO: NABAZ KNEW THAT MOST WOM-EN WOULDN’T TALK TO A MAN ABOUT SUCH A TABOO SUBJECT, SO HE BEGAN WORKING WITH A CO-DIRECTOR SHARA AMIN.
أدرك ناباز أن معظم النساء لن يتحدثن إلى أي رجل عن مثل هذا االموضوع المحرم، لذا بدأ بالعمل مع المخرجة المساعدة شارا أمين. Nabaz in car
Car traversing more mountain roads
5.28 Shara: Circumcision is one of the most horrible acts that can be done to a fe-male’s body. My goal in making this film was that it would have some impact in reducing womens pain and help de-crease the number of women being cir-cumcised
شارا: الختان واحد من أفظع ما يمكن فعله في جسم أنثى. كان هدفي من انتاج هذا الفيلم أن يكون له بعض الأثر في التقليل من ألام النساء، والمساعدة في الحد من عدد النساء اللاتي يتم ختانهن. IV Shara
Shara interviewing women
6.02 Nabaz: It took a lot of time to convince them to speak to us. This was a very ta-boo subject. Speaking about it on cam-era was a very brave thing to do.
ناباز: استغرقنا الكثير من الوقت لإقناعهم بالحديث معنا. هذا الموضوع محظور جداً. الحديث عنه أمام الكاميرا كان تصرفاً شجاعاً للغاية. Gvs arriving at villages
women’s faces
6.23 Q: Do you remember your khatana?
Woman: It’s a shameful subject.
Women in house, smiling women.
6.42 Woman in film: They brought a plate of ash and a razor and they cut off my clitoris. Not much blood came out. I was so frightened that I did not pee for two days. A woman in a very impover-ished village with sheep
6.56 Woman: I have performed khatana on all the women of this village. I have done it myself.
I collect the pee with a teacup. I wash it with her pee. That seals it, and she gets back on her feet.
Cutting is good for Islam!
Woman in from of brick wall; A young girl in an orange boiler suit.
7.17 Q: Do you want your daughter to have khtatana?
Woman: They say If I don’t it’s a sin. IV woman in pink hijab
7.24 IN VILLAGE AFTER VILLAGE WOMEN BEGiN TO OPEN UP AND TELL THE FILM MAKERS THEIR STORIES
في قرية تلو الأخرى، بدأت النساء تتحدثن بصراحة، وتخبرن مخرجي الفيلم عن تجاربهن.
7.34 well they would just grab the little girls, take them and cut them and the girls came back home.
I can still remember I was sick, infected for three months.
Yes I swear. I could barely walk after I was cut Women and young girls gath-ered in room
7.51 An old wife came to our village, and we hid ourselves.
Q: why did she come?
To cut us.
Q: Where did you run and hide?
We hid in this car. Young girls in back of jeep
women in house/
shoes/ women sitting
8.06 There was a woman going round the neighborhood and mutilating all the girls. She had ash and a blade. With this she would numb the pain, although it did not numb well, but she did not care. women in group in house
8.19 That was how they mutilated us. They did not care if we would get infected or have pain. This is not only my story, most girls were mutilated like this.
8.41 WOMAN: I speak from experience
One of my sisters got an infection and died
She was cut with a dirty blade. She had an infection for two days so we took her to a doctor. He couldn’t treat her and she died
What year was it?
1980
Woman goes in car journey. She gets out and prays by a grave.
9.23 SHARA: When I hear the word Khatana or when I face someone who went through it,
I feel angry.
As a woman I feel their suffering
شارا: عندما أسمع كلمة ختان أو عندما أصادف فتاة أجري لها الختان، أشعر بالغضب.
كامرأة ، أشعر بمعاناتهن. group of women
Shara’s eyes
IV Shara
pan to women sit-ting and sigh
9.42 WOMAN; A midwife cut seven of our daughters in one place. We were hold-ing and deceiving them. When she cut the flesh from their bodies, some of the peed out of pain.
10.03 SHARA: This was a documentary to help women and that’s what kept me going as I continued working on the film.
شارا: كان هذا الفيلم الوثائقي يهدف لمساعدة النساء، وهذا ما دفعني للاستمرار، لذا واصلت العمل على الفيلم. Shara talking to women/
leaving house w/ women
10.16 VO: The further the filmmakers journey the more the realization grew, that the problem was much greater than they had realized.
كلما واصل مخرجو الفيلم رحلتهم ، كان يقينهم يزداد بأن المشكلة أكبر بكثير مما كانوا يدركون.
Int. car on country road
10.25 WOMAN IN PURPLE SCARF: I cannot imagine that there is a girl left who has not had khatana. They cut all the girls.
There is nobody left who is not cut. Actu-ally there was someone who was not cut but she had many difficulties.
Her husband said to her “I do not want you. I will divorce you if you don't get cut” So she was facing difficulties. But in our region all the girls are cut.
Close up of girl
10.58 VO: In Kurdistan the cutting is usually done by an older women who is also a community midwife
في كردستان تجري الختان عادة امرأة كبيرة في السن، وهي قابلة الحي أيضاً. Gvs Kurdish town
midwife walking
11.09 PURA SEWA: For over 40 years I have been a midwife and practice this kind of work. IV midwife out-side
walking in fol-lowed by Shara
I washed myself around the 18th or the 19th.
What day of the month is today?
It’s been ten days since your period?
What do you think about that?
Do you mean I may have become preg-nant in the last ten days?
Yes.
It is not possible
You have no children?
I have never had any. Older women sit-ting in living room. With younger w
11.44 When I touch a pregnant woman, I know when she will give birth. I know when she will have a child. I touch inside of her and I know if she will become pregnant, I know if she will have a child or not. IV Avan
12 Nabaz: Pura Sewa is an ordinary wom-an, like my mother or my aunt
ناباز: بورا سيوا امرأة عادية مثل أمي أو خالتي.
Pura, with shara
sitting outside
12.1 SHARA: when did you start cutting fe-males?
شارا: متى بدأت بختان الفتيات؟
Well I was 45
عندما كنت في الخامسة والأربعين.
In your opinion is Khatana a good thing
هل الختان شيء جيد في رأيك؟
Yes of course there is nothing better.
It’s good for your faith your religion and it is good for everything else
There is nothing bad about it.
The practice has been passed on to us from our ancestors.
نعم بالطبع لا شيء أفضل منه. إنه جيد لإيمانك ودينك وجيد لكل شيء آخر. ليس هناك شيء سيء فيه. هذه الممارسة انتقلت لنا من أجدادنا. Pura & Shara
Pura walking in garden
12.35 NADYA KHALIFE: Nobody really knows the origins of female genital mutilation. But it is a very, very old traditional custom
Definitely a cultural tradition. It really has nothing to do with Islam or Christianity or Judiasm and I think people just adopted this practice. It just carried on from gen-eration to generation.
ناديا خليفة: لا أحد يعرف بالفعل أصول الختان. لكنها عادة تقليدية قديمة جداً. لا شك أنها تقليد اجتماعي لا علاقة له أبداً بالدين الإسلامي أو المسيحي أو اليهودي. أعتقد أن الناس تبنوا هذه الممارسة واستمرت بالانتقال من جيلٍ إلى جيلٍ. MCU IV woman
intercut w/ Pura working in garden
12.57 How did you learn how to circumcise?
How did I learn? I just know
I learned from my mohter and from peo-ple we knew.
I was clever IV Pura
13.11 Are you cut yourself
of course
Can you tell me how it happened?
We were little girls.
My mother told us she placed us in a large water pan and we had khatana.
That was it. IV Pura
photographs of younger Pura
.
13.29 And if someone is not cut what will you think of her?
That must be.
And before they get married What would you say to the girls who are not cut?
we would not say anything until she gets married.
Her new owner would say, “she is not cut. He would demand that she be cut. intercut w/ pura working in garden
13.48 PURA: I may have performed khatana on nearly 200 women.
I’ve done it to women right after child-birth.
I don’t ask her permission to cut her.
She has so much pain after childbirth she does not know I am cutting her
There is no negative side to Khatana.
People say the hands of a circumcised women are clean when they serve food.
In the past people live according to sha-ria law. Now it is the land of the infidels IV PUra intercut w/
Birds & Pura working in garden
Ext. Mosque
14.2 Calls to prayer. Ext mosque
14.28 VO: ADVOCATES OF FEMALE CIR-CUMCISION SAID IT WAS A RELI-GIOUS MANDATE
دعاة ختان الإناث قالوا إنه واجب ديني.
14.33 WOMAN: They told us that if a girl does not get Khatana, any food made by her hands would be haram( “sinful”)
14.39 CLERIC: Khatana is a duty: it is spiritual-ly pure( sunnah)
14.53 Midwife: I have asked our mullah and he said it is sunnah to perform khatana
and so we have to follow his words and continue to perform khatana
15.03 VO: BUT IN THIS ATTITUDE KURDISH MUSLIM’S WERE A SMALL MINORITY OF THE FOLLOWERS OF ISLAM
لكن بهذا الموقف كان المسلمون الأكراد أقلية صغيرة من أتباع الدين الإسلامي.
15.12 NADYA: The majority of Kurdish people are muslim but they adhere to the Shafi'i faith. In many places where the Shafi'i faith is the predominant denomination, that's where female genital mutilation is practiced.
ناديا: غالبية الشعب الكردي مسلمون لكنهم يلتزمون بالمذهب الشافعي . في كثير من الأماكن التي تسود فيها الأغلبية الشافعية، هناك يمارس تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية.
15.26 VO: EVEN AMONG THE MULLAHS THERE ARE DISAGREEMENTS. THE FILMMAKERS WENT TO INTERVIEW PROMINENT ISLAMIC CLERICS TO TRY TO CLARIFY THE ISSUE.
هناك اختلاف في الرأي حتى بين رجال الدين. لذا ذهب مخرجا الفيلم لمقابلة رجل دينٍ إسلامي بارز في محاولة لتوضيح المسألة.
15.36 In my view Khatana is allowed but there aren’t any verses from the Koran that di-rectly talk about khatana verse about khatana. There are many interpretations and explanations by Imams and Islamic scholars.
16.03 CLERIC: All the four Sunni Islamic schools agree on the fact that khatana is a feature of Islam
16.14 If Khatana had any religious basis then why are some Muslim countries prohibit-ing it?
For example in Saudi Arabia, which is the place of revelation of the Koran and Islam the clergymen have declared that khatana is not allowed for women.
If Khatana had any religious basis then the clergymen in Saudia Arabia would have encouraged it. Car traversing country tracks.
Est. village.
16.5 VO: DESPITE THE DIFFERENCES AMONG THE KURDISH RELIGIOUS LEADERS MOST PARENTS UNDERSTOOD THAT HAVING YOUR DAUGHTERS CUT WAS PART OF BEING A GOOD MUSLIM.
على الرغم من كل الاختلافات بين رجال الدين الأكراد، إلا أن معظم الآباء كانوا يدركون أن إجراء الختان لبناتهن هو جزء من إلتزامهم بالإسلام.
16.59 And if someone was not mutilated, they would label or consider her not religious. People have no choice but to do it. women sitting against wall with others.
17.17 VO: BUT SOME GIRLS ARE ABLE TO FIGHT BACK.
ONE DAY NABAZ AND SHARA MET A GIRL WHO WAS DETERMINED TO MAKE HER OWN DECISIONS.
لكن بعض الفتيات قادرات على المقاومة.
في أحد الأيام قابل ناباز وشارا فتاة كانت مصممةً على اتخاذ قراراتها بنفسها. girl w/ geese
17.31 SHARA: One of the girls we met on our way to a village was a girl called Nisar
She hadn’t been cut
شارا: إحدى الفتيات اللاتي قابلناهن في طريقنا إلى قرية من القرى كانت تدعى نيزار.
تلك الفتاة لم تكن مختونة. village scene & Nisar walking bodly down
17.42 Q: Do you want to be cut?
No but if I am not cut they will tease me and say my clitoris will become lager, and that I will feel sensations and go af-ter boys.
Q: and now when you are not cut what do they say to you?
They tease me and say “your clitoris is not cut off”
Q: Why do they say those things to you?
I do not know.
Q: So after they bully you do you want to be cut?
No but to them I will say I am cut. GV children in vil-lagers
Intercut with IV young girl.
18.15 NADYA: Female genital mutilation, peo-ple give it many justifications, that it's a tradition, part of their cultural identity. Some people do it because they think it's justified within their own religion. Some people do it as in Kurdistan, out of social pressure.
ناديا: الناس يعطون العديد من المبررات لممارسة تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية لأنه تقليد وجزء من هويتهم الثقافية. بعض الناس يفعلونه لأنههم يعتقدون أنه مبرر في دينهم. والبعض الآخر ،كما هو الحال في كردستان، يفعلونه بسبب الضغوط الاجتماعية.
My inclination after speaking to religious leaders in Iraqi Kurdistan is that it is to control women's sexuality. And In fact two of the mullahs in the villages did say to me in hot climates, in Iraqi Kurdistan, something needs to be done to control womens sexuality. Female genital muti-lation is performed to control womens sexuality.
بعد الحديث مع رجال دين في كردستان العراق، أميل للقول بأن الختان يمارس من أجل السيطرة على النشاط الجنسي للمرأة. وفي الحقيقة قال لي اثنان من الملالي في القرى إنه في الجو كردستان العراق الحار يجب القيام بشيء ما للسيطرة على نشاط النساء الجنسي. لذا يتم إجراء ختان الإناث للسيطرة على نشاطهن الجنسي. Gv villagers
Intercut MCU IV woman
18.56 It is well knowN that the women's physi-ology differs from that of women in cold and temperate climates. In warm re-gions, the clitoris is larger than women in colder regions. Therefore a woman is liable to be stimulated by any movement or by any random contact, resulting from riding animals. Or by performing hard work. So they cut off a little piece. VT mullah
19.28 VO: THE FILMMAKERS FOUND A FAMILY WILLING TO TALK ABOUT THE DIRECT EFFECT OF CUTTING ON THEIR FAMILY LIFE
وجد مخرجا الفيلم عائلة ً على استعداد للحديث عن الأثر المباشر للختان على حياتهم الأسرية.
19.35 SHARA:During our travels one of the sto-ries we had was a married couple, who had an intimacy problem. The reason was female genital mutilation.
When visiting that house the woman was very shy and couldn’t discuss it freely.
After trying hard for some time I man-aged to convince her to talk about it
شارا: خلال رحلاتنا كانت إحدى القصص التي صادفناها عن زوجين لديهما مشكلة في علاقتهما الجنسية. والسبب في ذلك هو تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية. عند زيارة ذلك المنزل كانت الزوجة خجولة جداً ولم تستطع مناقشة الأمر بحريةً. وبعد أن حاولت جاهدةً لبعضٍ الوقت، تمكنت من إقناعها بالحديث عن ذلك. Shara in car
Shara w/ Hawa and family
Hawa cutting ma-terial
going to sewing machine
20.02 My two sisters and I , three of us we all had khatana. Believe me my mother did not care about the practice, never insist-ed. But my grandma insisteded. She would always say food and water served by their hands would be haram if the girls were not cut. Hawa sits behind sewing
CU of needle sewing.
20.3 I got married in 1996 and I work as a tai-lor. CU sewing nee-dle.
20.45 I don’t have desire. I have no desire for a man. I knew from an early age I was like that. Of course when you are a kid you don’t understand that. But when you grow older you know the difference. Hawa
21.14 Q: When you were cut did they remove a little or a lot?
My husband always says “nothing is left of you.” So I don’t know but that’s what he says. Hawa at sewing machine, intercut with her making dinner for family.
21.37 This circumcision is similar to neutering animals. It’s a major problem. There is no sensation. It feels like lying next to a cold fish. With all due respect, often I ask her to come to me, but because she does not get pleasure out of it, I have to call her five or six times. But if she also enjoyed it she would come faster or get involved faster. Erat to camera
22.07 HAWA: For eight years after I got mar-ried,I didn’t know that there was such a thing as orgasm. I was a young girl. I was a young girl, I was 18 when I got engaged, and 19 when I got married. Wedding photo of Erat and Hawa
22.2 HAWA: Even when I had two kids, I still didn’t know what an orgasm is. I thought that marriage is having your own house, coming and going as you wish and hav-ing a family. Daughter brings tray of tea into room. Hawa at sewing machine
22.4 ERAT: I was not aware of this when I married her. If I had known, I swear to God even if they paid me $10,000 I would not have married her. Because it is a problem for me. Erat sitting in front if TV, drink-ing tea:
22.53 Q: Has your husband ever thought about remarrying because of this issue?
HAWA: Yes, many times he did. He says he has been treated unfairly. “I feel like I live with a dead person.” He wants to marry again. Once, I asked a woman to marry him but my brother-in-law wouldn’t allow it.
Q: He wouldn’t allow you to arrange it? HAWA: He wouldn’t accept it. But he didn’t know what the reason was. I would tell him that it was okay to let my hus-band marry again. But he would say: “this is not possible.”
Hawa at sewing machine.
21.01 ERAT: In reality she is my cousin. Di-vorce is not allowed or easy, among the tribal members. I want to divorce her and remarry and she has this problem. I’m trying to tolerate the situation. But it is al-ready too late.
Large group pho-to with Erat and Hawa
Erat with children in living room lighting cigarette:
22.11 HAWA: I have never had any desire to make love to him. When he calls me to make love and I say I’m not interested, he gets upset, starts mumbling. But I don’t pay attention to that and just sleep. In the morning when I make breakfast if anything is even slightly out of order he uses it as an excuse to get angry.
Hawa in kitchen at stove cooking with children, cut-ting vegetables.
Walks from kitch-en towards living room.
22.35 ERAT: I have insulted her many times because of this problem. It causes me trouble. I get upset. My sexual desire does not go away and I get mad.
Erat to camera.
22.48 HAWA: He says this is not a good life, and he says that “ if it wasn’t for my uncle Abdi I would have sent you back to your parent’s house. As for beatings he has never laid his hands on me, except on rare occasions. Hawa
23.07 Erat and Hawa sit on floor putting a meal out -daughter walks in; two girls in kitchen; Family eating.
23.25 HAWA: He tells me that even now I’m still shy with him. But for me it is not about shyness. I just don’t have any desire. Hawa at sewing machine
23.56 VO: NAZAZ AND SHARA WANTED TO GET A SENSE OF THE DILEMMA’S FACING MOTHERS WHO ARE BEING PRESSURED TO CUT THEIR DAUGH-TERS.
ناباز وشارا أرادا فهم المأزق الذي يواجه الأمهات اللاتي تتعرضن لضغوط من أجل إجراء الختان لبناتهن.
24.14 I have been married for 18 years since 1993. I have four children, two sons and two daughters. I was away one afternoon and my mother in law took my daughters to the neighbors. A woman had come to the neighborhood to cut children. When they came back, she was cut. For the next three days she appeared to be sick. I asked “why did you cut my daughter?” Gulala at kitchen sink.
GV gulala's chil-dren.
24.38 She answered, “It is sunnah (pure) to cut and it is haram not to cut”
Gulala at sink
Gulala's children
25.00 Q: Piroza who old are you?
I'm 15
Q: Do you remember your khatana?
Yes
Q: How old were you then?
I’m not sure, I don’t remember maybe seven or eight.
Gulala: No you were five then. It was be-fore you started school.
I don't know, I don't remember.
Q; What did they say to you?
They said “come here, we brought beads for you” They took me into a room, there was an old woman. There was a razor and ash and they cut me. Piroza and Gulala in living room
Piroza on street.
25.31 I was in a lot of pain and I bled heavily. And my mom told me that if I go pee, I will recover. Who cut you?
An old woman.
In whose house?
In the house of my uncle Hussein.
Q: Who took you to that house?
My grandma
Gulala sitting with older daughter Piroza
Day exterior with Piroza and other teenage girl.
Piroza and friend outside
MCU IV lady
25.54 GULALA: I have not had khatana done to my younger daughter yet. Some say you have to do it, others say not to do it. Her aunts are not happy, they say she must have khatana. She will not be pure if she doesn’t. I can’t decide what to do. MCU of younger daughter Helen
Gulala to cam
Helen outside blowing bubbles
26.14 NADYA; If a girl is not cut there is a lot of pressure for the girl to be taken... it's something that is shameful... she might be considered loose... as a girl she needs to be contained in kurdish society, and that's one way to control girls.
ناديا: إذا لم تكن الفتاة مختونة، فهناك الكثير من الضغوط تمارس من اجل أخذها للختان. هذا شيء يعد مخجلاً...وقد تعتبر منحلةً أخلاقياً.. كفتاةٍ حي بحاجة لاحتوائها في المجتمع الكردي. وهذه إحدى طرق السيطرة على الفتيات. Gulala at kitchen sink
Nadya IV
26.35 NABAZ: We wanted to film a midwife who was practicing khatana. It was very difficult to find one who would agree to be filmed.
ناباز: أردنا تصوير قابلة وهي تجري الختان، لكن كان من الصعب جداً العثور على واحدة توافق على أن تظهر في فيلم. IV Nabaz
Midwife praying
27.08 MIDWIFE:
When my grandma was still alive, I imi-tated her, I did it like she did, it was easy. Touch that part of the flesh, cut a little of it and apply the ash.
I myself have been cut, just a sting and nothing else.
Do you remember yours?
Of course I still remember the sting.
Did it bleed?
Of course, it’s unpleasant. But it bleeds just for a moment.
What did you use to cut them?
I cut them with a knife.
27.38 THE MOTHERS HAVE BROUGHT THEIR GIRLS TO BE CUT.
أحضرت الأمهات بناتهن حتي يختن.
Cutting sequence Briefly small gathering in yard. Midwife walks in-to building fol-lowed by mothers with children -- goes to black. Mothers with chil-dren emerge. Midwife emerges with knife in her hand and stands in yard looking at the camera.
29.00 Helen are you cut?
No I’m not.
How about your friends, are they cut? Yes.
Helen, do you know what khatama is? Yes.
What is it?
GULALA: Do you know what it is?
Yes.
What is it?
Gulala: Tell them.
(Helen, being shy.)
GULALA:I’m confused now Gulala and Helen sit together.
Helen walking in distance
Helen, being shy
VO: From the interviews that they had conducted during their years of work the film makers made a documentary that for the first time told the real story of female genital mutilation in Kurdi-stan. They called it a: A Handful of Ash.
أعد مخرجا الفيلم من المقابلات التي أجرياها خلال سنوات عملهم فيلماً وثائقياً أسموه "حفنة من الرماد" ، يروي للمرة الأولى القصة الحقيقية لتشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية في كردستان.
Montage of inter-views.
FILM: The women here have been mutilated with a razor.
At that time they used to say: it is a sin if it is not done. The bread she bakes should not be eaten; the water she brings should not be drunk iwomen & children in dark room watching film.
VO: Nabaz and Shara had been col-laborating with a national network of activists from a group called WADI. Now WADI wanted to use a Handful of Ash as an educational tool in their campaign against female genital muti-lation.
تعاون كلاً من ناباز وشاران مع شبكة وطنية من النشطاء تابعة لجماعة تدعى الوادي. تريد الوادي الآن استخدام فيلم "حفنة من الرماد" كأداة تثقيفية في حملتهم ضد تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية.
30.39 FILM: They cut what we in Kurdish call “kurrka” , the clitoris Woman on screen./
People watching the film.
31.07 VO: The person who took the film from village to village was a young WADI activist, Avan.
نقلت الفيلم من قرية إلى أخرى ناشطةً شابةً من نشطاء الوادي تدعى أفان .
Avan
Avan talking to women in hall.
Film: it feels like dying
Did you have a lot of pain?
My pain was endless crowd in room watching woman on screen
AVAN: we think this is a very important issue in this region
because there is no real awareness re-garding the negative impact of khatana.
It was a common occurrence in the past, but from now on we must be aware of the consequences of khatana
You could be causing your daughters a lot of problems
You may be preventing these girls from enjoying a full life Avan speaking to group
Avan: I wish that a girl would shout loud-ly before she is cut. I would be able to reach out and rescue her. Avan and activists traveling in car. They stop and pick girl walking
35.13 VO: WADI carried out the first national survey of female genital mutilation.
أجرت الوادي أول مسح وطني عن تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية.
FALAL: From 2007 we started dividing Kurdistan into six zones, and we con-ducted the first statistic research.
Woman tells WADI surveyor: It is almost a year since I circumcised the first two but not the other two.
WADI woman: You still haven’t cut two? Do you want to to circumcise them?
Woman: I haven’t cut them yet but yes I would like to do it.
VO: The survey was history-making: it was the first time that any organiza-tion had tried to find out how many fe-males were cut in Kurdistan
كان ذلك المسح يسجل للتاريخ: فهو المرة الأولى التي تحاول فيها أي منظمة معرفة عدد الإناث المختونات في كردستان. .
35.27 We found out that there is not difference between the cities and the villages.
According to this sample which we took, 1408 women 72.7 % of them were muti-lated.
Our statistics, we were sending them to the parliament. To the ministry of health, and we informed the ministry of educa-tion.
We told them, you need to do something in this region. Gvs of Kurdistan.
MCU IV man in office
35.55 VO: WAADI’s finding that almost three quarters of the women had been cut shocked the country.
صدمت الدولة بالنتائج التي توصلت لها الوادي والتي مفادها أن حوالي ثلاثة أرباع النساء قد ختن.
GV Kurdistan
36.03 NADYA: Iraqi Kurdistan really sees itself as this other Iraq.
I think they really wanted to maintain this image, that they are advanced on wom-en's rights. That they are different than other countries in the region.
They didn't want the whole world to know that this is a practice that is going on in their country.
ناديا: كردستان العراق تعتبر نفسها عراقاً آخر بالفعل.
أعتقد أنهم أرادوا الحفاظ على صورتهم كمتحضرين في مجال حقوق المرأة. وأنهم مختلفون عن غيرهم من البلدان في المنطقة. لا يريدون أن يعرف العالم كله أن هذه ممارسة تجري في بلدهم. Young people in a park
MCU IV woman
Market scene
36.29 FALAL: The first reaction from govern-ment on female genital mutilation... they are shocked... that this is a lie, all our sta-tistics about female genital mutilation are not true. They accuse us that we fal-sification numbers in oder we receive foreign funding even we got threatened from ministers an politicians that they are going to close down WADI. Market scene
MCU IV man in office
37.20 VO: But in parliament the women rep-resentatives took the lead in demand-ing that female genital mutilation be outlawed.
لكن في البرلمان أخذت ممثلات النساء زمام المبادرة للمطالبة بحظر تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية للإناث.
Est. boardroom
37.27 FALAH: In 2007 we are submitting a draft of law to the parliament which bravely the women committee in the parliament they were lobbying for it, they convinced 68 parliamentarians to support them. MCU IV man in office
women talk in boardroom
37.38 VO: The women's committee asked the filmmakers to show A Handful of Ash in parliament.
طلبت لجنة المرأة من مخرجا فيلم "حفنة من الرماد" عرضه في البرلمان. Screening the film in the boardroom.
NABAZ: Showing the film in parliament was a great breakthrough for us. When you spend years making a documentary about such a sensitive and taboo subject it is a very big thing when the repre-sentatives of your society ask to see it. It made me very happy.
ناباز: عرض الفيلم في البرلمان كان تقدماً كبيراً بالنسبة لنا. فعندما تقضي السنوات في إعداد وثائقي عن مثل هذا الموضوع الحساس والمحرم، يكون شيئاً عظيماً جداً أن يطلبَ منك ممثلو مجتمعك رؤيته. هذا أسعدني جداً.
37.51 Excerpt from film: They threw me on the ground. A pain started between my thighs. Everything turned black.
When they tried to get me on my feet I could not stand. My thighs were covered in blood. Women watching film.
38.03 VO: No male members of parliament showed up for the screening but the film made a strong impression on the female lawmakers.
لم يحضر عرض الفيلم أي عضو من أعضاء البرلمان الذكور، لكن الفيلم ترك انطباعاً قوياً على المشرعات الإناث.
38.12 WOMAN POLITICIAN: First of all be-cause of the fact we are women too, we will be honest with you because we share the same concerns. And the sec-ond thing is we think it is very important that this proposed legislation is imple-mented.
We have created four punishments for all acts of mutilation. Woman in board-room chair, giving speech.
Mid reaction shots.
Wide of board-room.
38.35 VO: A year later in 2008 the bill out-lawing female genital mutilation was introduced in parliament.
وبعد سنة، في عام ألفين وثمانية، قدم للبرلمان مشروع قانون لحظر ختان الإناث
Straight away it hit a roadblock.
على الفور اصطدم بحاجز. Wide of city square
38.47 NADYA: There was a session to discuss the draft bill and basically all male mem-bers of the Kurdish parliament did not want to discuss it. I think it is because it is shameful for them. This has to do with a women private part. Men were just too shy. So the bill was not passed.
ناديا: كانت هناك جلسة لمناقشة مسودة القانون، وجميع الأعضاء الذكور في البرلمان الكردستاني من الأساس لم يريدوا مناقشته. أعتقد لأنه أمرٌ مشين بالنسبة لهم. فهو يتعلق بالأعضاء التناسلية للمرأة. كان الرجال خجولين للغاية لذلك لم يتم تمريرمشروع القانون. MCU IV woman
Shots of kurdish parliament
39.08 WOMAN POLITICIAN: This is not a sub-ject that these politicians are concerned about
IV second woman in office
39.50 WOMAN POLITICIAN: Another problem is the fact that there are members of par-liament who reject the existence of muti-lation in Kurdistan.
Shots of Kurdish parliament
IV female politi-cian in front of blinds
Female politician giving speech in parliament
40.35 VO: These events in the Kurdish par-liament attracted the attention of Hu-man Rights Watch.
Nadya Khalife was a women’s rights researcher for the organization.
هذه الأحداث في البرلمان الكردي جذبت انتباه منظمة هيومان رايتس ووتش.
كانت ناديا خليفة تعمل باحثة في حقوق المرأة لدى المنظمة.
In 2009 they sent her into Kurdistan to investigate.
عام ألفين وتسعة أرسلتها المنظمة إلى كردستان لتقصي ذلك. Archive HRW b-roll
40.45 NADYA: I went to Kurdistan as a re-searcher for human rights watch, You go to a village and you speak to women and girls. almost all of them have been cut. So to me that gave me the impression that that is something that is normal. I did ask these girls “ do you talk about this? Do you talk to your teachers do they tell you it? Do they raise your awareness about the health implications of FGM. and there’s really no discussion.
ناديا: ذهبت إلى كردستان كباحثة لمنظمة هيومان رايتس ووتش. كنت أذهب إلى القرية وأتحدث مع النساء والبنات، جميعهن تقريباً كن مختونات. ذلك أعطاني الانطباع بأنه أمر طبيعي. سألت تلك الفتيات: "هل تتحدثن عن هذا الموضوع؟ هل تطرحنه امام معلماتكن أو يشرحن لكن عنه؟ هل يوعينكن بالآثار الصحية الناجمة عن قطع الأعضاء التناسلية للإناث؟ لم يكن هناك بالفعل أي حديث عن الموضوع.
Government officials really denied that FGM exists in kurdistan they told me that it happens here and there. They didn't want to face up to the truth that it was live and well and has been practiced in soci-ety for a very long time.
نفى المسؤولون الحكوميون وجود الختان في كردستان، وقالوا إنه يحدث هنا وهناك على نطاق ضيق. لم يريدوا مواجهة الحقيقية بأنه سائد ومقبول وتتم ممارسته في المجتمع منذ زمن بعيد. MCU IV woman
43.00 VO: By 2010 Nadya Khalif had finished her Human Rights Watch report on FGM in Kurdistan.
بحلول عام ألفين وعشرة، أنهت ناديا خليفة تقريرها لمنظمة هيومان رايتس ووتش عن ختان البنات في كردستان. Archive
43.13 NADYA:When the report was launched, there was a lot of attention from Kurdish officials, from Kurdish society and actual-ly from the outside world that this report has been launched, this is what is hap-pening in Kurdistan.
ناديا: عندما تم نشر التقرير كان هناك الكثير من الاهتمام من قبل المسؤولين الأكراد، ومن المجتمع الكردي ومن العالم الخارجي لأنه تم نشره. فهذا ما يحدث في كردستان. MCU IV woman
Archive
VO: A surprise presence at the press conference was the prominent reli-gious leader Mullah Omar Cyngiani
المفاجأة التي ظهرت في المؤتمر الصحفي كانت حضور الزعيم الديني البارز الملا عمر سنجياني
NADYA: For us it was imperative that he be there because this practice is so in-grained in society as a religious obliga-tion that we really wanted a religious leader to be there and to tell people that this is not part of islam. To sort of correct some of the views that people had and I think that had a tremendous impact.
ناديا: بالنسبة لنا، كان من الضروري جداً تواجد هذا الملا في المؤتمر الصحفي، فهذه الممارسة متأصلة جداً في المجتمع كإلتزام ديني، لذلك أردنا حقاً أن يكون هناك رجل دين بارز يخبر الناس بأن هذا ليس جزءاً من الإسلام. وليصحح نوعاً ما بعض الآراء التي كانت لدى الناس، وأعتقد أن ذلك كان له أثر هائل.
44.00 NADYA: When he started to speak, a lot of the people wanted to ask him ques-tions, about, FGM, whether it is in the re-ligion, whether it's not... why do we do it.... and I think it's because people were just not used to having these open con-versations and these discourses in pub-lic. This was between men and women, between a religious leader, so I think that moment was really significant.
عندما بدأ بالحديث، أراد الكثير من الناس طرح أسئلة عن الختان، فهل هو من الدين أم لا؟ ولم يفعلونه؟ أعتقد أن السببب في ذلك هو أن الناس لم يعتادوا على وجود هذه النقاشات الصريحة وهذا الحديث علناً. هذا الحديث دار بين الرجال والنساء ورجل الدين البارز، لذا أعتقد أن تلك اللحظة كانت هامة حقاً. Archive
44.31 VO: It set off an unprecedented debate about Female Genital Mutilation across Kurdistan.
فجر هذا الحديث جدلاً غير مسبوق عن ختان الإناث في جميع أنحاء كردستان Archive
ARCHIVE:Is khatana a religious matter?
and what does religion say about khat-ana?
أرشيف: هل الختان أمرؤ ديني؟ وما رأي الدين فيه؟
ARCHIVE:Mullah Omar: if you open the Koran there isn’t a text saying circumci-sion is a duty even for men
الملا عمر: إذا فتحت القرآن فلن تجد فيه نص يقول أن الختان فرض حتى على الرجال.
44.39 VO: The debate amongst muslim cler-ics was particularly intense.
كانت حدة الجدال واضحة بين رجال الدين. praying in Mosque
44.47 MULLAH: Did this subject come with Is-lam? No it was there even before Islam. It’s a fact that Islam organized and beau-tified it.
الملا: هل أتى هذا الأمر مع الإسلام؟ لا كان موجوداً حتى قبل الإسلام. إنها الحقيقة أن الإسلام نظمه وهذبه.
praying in Mosque
IV cleric
int. mosque.
MULLAH: Female circumcision in an in-justice, it is a crime against women.
ملا : ختان الإناث ظلم، وهو جريمة بحق المرأة.
Other Mullah: Any woman who is cir-cumcised according to islamic instruc-tions does not impact negatively her sexual life.
ملا آخر:أي امرأة تختن وفقاً للتعاليم الإسلامية، لا يؤثر ذلك سلباً على حياتها الجنسية.
45.48 VO: Then the national association of Mullahs met to discuss the issue.
ثم التقت الرابطة الوطنية للملالي لمناقشة القضية. Archive
45.53 MULLAH: In Kurdistan, most of us follow the Shafi'i religious teachings. Which recommends that it is better for girls to be cut. But the mullahs have reconsidered this as a mandate.
ملا: في كردستان يتبع معظمنا المذهب الشافعي، ومن المستحب للفتاة برأي هذا المذهب أن تختن. لكن الملالي يعتبرونه فرضاً. IV cleric
46.17 VO: This reconsideration of the issue resulted in fatwah being declared that female genital mutilation was not an Islamic religious mandate.
أدت إعادة النظر في هذه المسالة إلى إصدار فتوى بأن الختان ليس واجباً دينياً إسلامياً.
There was also now a growing interna-tional pressure on the Kurdish gov-ernment to take action.
أصبح هناك أيضاً ضغط دولي متزايد على الحكومة الكردية لاتخاذ الإجراءات اللازمة.
Archive
Gvs of city
46.36 NADYA; We had members in the Euro-pean Parliament writing letters to Barza-ni telling him that you really have to look at these issues in your country.
ناديا: راسل أعضاء في البرلمان الاوروبي مسعود بارازاني وقالوا له يجب عليك أن تنظر في هذه القضايا في بلدك. MCU IV Woman
46.42 VO: The scene was now set for anoth-er vote in parliament.
تم تعيين موعد آخر للتصويت على القرار في البرلمان. Kurdish parlia-ment
46.46 WOMAN POLITICIAN: Active female members from all factions demanded strongly and forced men also to vote in favor for the law, even though the men did not discuss the bill in much detail we succeeded.
المرأة السياسية: عضوات نشيطات من جميع أطياف الفصائل طالبن الرجال بشدة وحثوهن على التصويت لصالح القانون، على الرغم من أن الرجال لم ينجحوا بمناقشة القانون بالتفصيل كما فعلنا. IV woman 2
Kurdish parlia-ment
TBA: Archive of Contributions to the debate in Parliament.
TBA: Archive: Bill is passed
أرشيف من المساهمات في النقاش بالبرلمان
47.16 NADYA: Cutting a girl is now illegal, a person who cuts a girl or a woman would be punished.
ناديا:ختان الفتاة أصبح الآن غير قانوني، وسيعاقب الشخص الذي يقطع الأعضاء التناسلية لفتاة أو امرأة. Kurdish flag
MCU IV woman
47.23 FEMALE POLITICIAN: It was a great step to create a law to prevent violence against women. The next step is how the law will be taking effects in all parts of the country and the action of all the de-partments of the government. City scenes
IV female politi-cian
47.42 VO: The conservative religious back-lash against the bill began almost immediately. it was lead by Mullah Ishmael Sosae.
ردة الفعل الدينية المحافظة بدأت على الفور. وترأسها المُلا اسماعيل سوسه. Archive
47.49 VT Mullah: If you are truthful to your branch of religion don’t accept what is being said in the parliament
VT mullah
48.11 Woman politician: It is true we passed a law to stop FGM and it is important. But the bigger problem is the cultural and the educational background of the members of society. IV woman 2
48.25 PURA: We have been advised not to practice mutilation, and we have obeyed that. They said not to mutilate otherwise you will be taken to jail. They took away my license and I stopped. But if they hadn't taken it away, I would still be per-forming the khatana for Islam. IV Pura
48.48 If I have had another daughter, I would do it, although it would be done secretly I swear to god that I would not even listen to Presidents Talabani and Brazani. I will not even listen to a mullah who might be against it, because I am a (true) muslim. Ext. Village
IV older woman
49.06 VT mullah: Talking about khatana and Sunnah is talking about your honour my honor
They talk about your wife in parliament. They talk about the private parts and the embarrassing body parts of our families.
Why is this acceptable? VT mullah
49.15 VO: In what was widely interpreted to be a concession to conservative pres-sure, President Barzani allowed the bill to become law, but he refused to sign it.
فيما تم تفسيره على أنه تنازل أمام ضغوط المحافظين، سمح الرئيس البارازاني لمشروع القانون أن يصبح قانوناً لكنه رفض التوقيع عليه. City Scene
49.28 FALAH: They just passed the law, it's in their bookshelves, now when BBC or a UN agency is visiting them, and they ask them what do you do about this issue, they say we have a law. We have a very nice beautiful law, it's fantastic, I like this law very much but we need to implement it. IV man
49.52 NADYA: When you pass a law it's a start-ing point but then to enforce the law and the mechanisms and how it's playing out on the ground is what's going decrease the rates of FGM.
نادياً: عندما تمرر القانون تكون تلك نقطة البداية، لكن بعد ذلك إنفاذ القانون والآليات والكيفية التي يطبق بها على الأرض هي ما سيخفض معدلات الختان.
IV woman
CA newspapers / leaflets.
Women at desks
50.03 VO: The government failure to do do anything about the new law forced ac-tivists to begin publicizing it them-selves.
فشل الحكومة في فعل أي شيء من أجل القانون الجديد، اضطر الناشطين للبدء بنشره بأنفسهم.
50.15 Doctor?: For those who work in the med-ical sector and who also perform mutila-tion, there are even tougher punish-ments. Woman giving speech
reaction shots from audience
50.46 TV archive TV archive
51.07 Whoever commits a criminal act, regard-less of his or her social standing commits the crime. The main issue is the crime itself.. Woman giving speech
51.33 VO: Out in the rural areas Nabaz and Shara found signs of change.
وجد ناباز وشارا علامات تغيير في المناطق الريفية.
They visit a remote village that has banned female genital mutilation.
زاروا قرية نائية حظرت ممارسة تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية.
Int car driving through country-side./ Shara in the car/A new build-ing with a banner
51.52 MAYOR: In 2011 we decided that we should not do khatana anymore. Be-cause it's bad for the health and society. It was me and all the village that decided that we will not cut women.
The woman Amina who is the midwife, Decided before everyone to stop cutting Nabaz interview with man in black
Gvs children in village.
Women and a child in a living room
52.34 Q: You practiced khatana since 1985. Why did you stop?
AMINA: It harms us more than benefits us. Also I now have a 21 inch TV and lis-tening to the Mullahs and religious pro-grams, it is clear that it has no benefits. IV Amina
VO: Mothers and daughters were now having conversations that are laden with regret.
تتتناول الأمهات والبنات الآن الحديث المليء بالأسف.
53.03 VILLAGE MOTHER: It was passed from older generations and it was said that it must be done. We didn't have the knowledge of today. People were poor. We were illiterate, without any knowledge. If they knew, why would they have done it. I have done it to all 6 of my daughters. IV two women outside
53.35 Q: are you happy it was done to you?
DAUGHTER: No I'm not, but what can I do. It's already done.
MOTHER: I deeply regret it now if I knew what it would mean, I wouldn't have done it to any of them.
DAUGHTER: What I think and what I want to say is that if anything has nothing to do with religion or islam, it shouldn't be done. If something is not Sharia or religion, why should it be done? It shouldn't. IV CU daughter
IV Mother
54.22 AMINA: If it's not a duty but sunnah then it can be avoided. IV midwife
54.37 Q: did you know that it harms their health?
MOTHER: Of course we didn't know, if I knew I wouldn't have cut them.
DAUGHTERS: When I sit with others and one tells me they haven’t been circum-cised, I wish that I wasn't too. IV mother and daughter outside
54.57 AMINA: Why should I disable someone? I promised to stop and will never do it. IV midwife
55.07 DAUGHTER: Now that I know I have been circumcised (CUT), and I know it is bad. I wish I wasn't, I wish they didn't cir-cumcise me. IV daughter
VO: Nabaz and Shara went back to re-connect with some of the people they interviewed before the new law was passed.
عاد ناباز وشارا للتواصل مع بعض الأشخاص الذين قابلوهم قبل صدور القانون الجديد.
When they had started filming in 2004 they’d met Fermiz who was ony 11 years old.
عندما بدءا تصوير الفيلم عام ألفين وأربعة، قابلا فارميز التي كانت إحدى عشر سنة حينها.
FERMIZ: They did not catch me and I was still on the run.
Where did you get the knife?
That was the same knife that they want-ed to use to cut me.
I picked up a very large stone and threw it at the midwife’s head.
FERMIZ: They attempted to cut me sev-eral times after that. I didn’t let them. My father didn’t want them to either. He said “I’ve only one daughter and I don’t want her going through this.
Ever since then I have fears. Even talk-ing about it right now scares me. I avoid talking about khatana, even now.
VO: They visited Nisar who was 12 when they first met her.
زارا نيزار التي كانت ابنة اثنتي عشرة سنة عندما قابلاها للمرة الأولى.
SHARA:Nisar do you remembe when we visited you two years ago?
شارا: نزار، هل تذكرين عندما زرناك قبل عامين؟
Yes
نعم
You told us that you were not cut
أخبرتنا أنك غير مختونة.
Yes
نعم
Are you still not cut?
هل مازلت غير مختونة؟
NISAR: No I am not cut
نيزار: لا، أنا لست مختونة
They don’t call me names now. Only my aunt calls me names, when my mother isn’t here.
لم يعودوا يطلقوا علي الألقاب الآن. فقط عمتي تطلق علي ألقاباً عندما لاتكون أمي موجودة.
What does she say to you?
Don’t be shy!
ماذا تقول لك؟
لاتخجلي!
NISAR: She calls me the uncut vagina. That makes me angry and I stop talking to her.
تناديني بذات المهبل غير المختون. هذا يغضبني ويجعلني وأتوقف عن الحديث معها.
SHARA: would you like to be cut
شارا: هل تودين أن تختني؟
NISAR: Of course not.
نيزار: بالطبع لا.
SHARA: Why not?
شارا: لم لا؟
NISAR: I don’t like it I’m older now It’s wrong.
نيزار: لا أحب هذا، أنا كبيرة الآن، وهذا شيء خاطئ.
MOTHER: Her father didn’t want it.
الأم: والدها لم يرد هذا.
NISAR: even if he di it would be wrong for me to accept it.
نيزار: حتى لو أراد سيكون خطأً مني القبول بذلك.
MOTHER: he said there was no need for it. That’s what he said.
الأم: قال إنه لا داعي له. هذا ما قاله.
SHARA: Did you want her to do it?
شا
MOTHER: Yes of course
Why?
MOtTHER: Because of what people would say. They would say food from her hand would be haram
SHARA: What if she did it now?
MOTHER: No I wouldn’t do it. She is too old now. I think it’s better not to do it.
Why?
The man who will be her husband would say she will have more desire. That’s why
Shara: do you feel regretful about cutting your other daughters?
Mother: yes
Why do you feel sorry?
MOTHER: because they have no desire anymore. That was why we did it so ear-ly, to avoid trouble for them.
Shara, Nisar & mother
شارا: هل أردت أن يجرى لما الختان ؟
MOTHER: Yes of course
الأم: نعم بالطبع
Why?
لماذا؟
MOtTHER: Because of what people would say. They would say food from her hand would be haram
الأم: بسبب ما قد يقوله الناس. يقولون إن الطعام الذي تقدمه بيديها يكون حراماً
SHARA: What if she did it now?
شارا: ماذا لو قامت به الآن؟
MOTHER: No I wouldn’t do it. She is too old now. I think it’s better not to do it.
الأم: لا، لا أفعل ذلك، هي كبيرة الآن. أظن أنه من الأفضل عدم القيام به.
Why?
لماذا؟
The man who will be her husband would say she will have more desire.That’s why
الرجل الذي سيكون زوجها ربما يقول إنها سيكون عندها رغبة جنسية أكثر. هذا هو السبب.
Shara: do you feel regretful about cutting your other daughters?
شارا: هل تشعرين بالندم لختان بناتك الأخريات؟
Mother: yes
الأم: نعم.
Why do you feel sorry?
لم تشعرين بالأسف؟
MOTHER: because they have no desire anymore. That was why we did it so ear-ly, to avoid trouble for them.
الأم: لأنهن لم يعد لديهن الرغبة الجنسية. لهذا السبب قمنا بختانهن في سن مبكرة جداً، لتجنيبهن المتاعب.
VO: Nabaz and Shara also paid a visit to the married couple Hawa and Erat.
ناباز وشارا قاما أيضاً بزيارة الزوجين حواء وإيرات.
55.30 Shara: We heard that Hawa had a child, because I was always in touch with them. When I heard we went back to visit them.
شارا: كنت دائماً على صلة بالزوجين، وسمعنا أن حواء جاءها مولود جديد. عندما سمعت بالخبر رجعنا لزيارتهم.
We have a new baby!
عندنا مولود جديد
What is the baby’s name?
ما اسم المولود؟
Darin!
دارين
It is a boy.
وهو ولد
He is inside.
موجود في الداخل
He is awake now.
وهو مستيقظ الآن Street scene.
Shara approach-es a house.
Talking to a young girl outside the house.
56.11 SHARA: After every problem life can change and something new comes along. This was their new born baby, a new life, a new start. We hoped this new baby could create a new start in their life.
شارا: بعد كل مشكلة ممكن أن تتغير الحياة ويظهر شيء جديد. كان هذا مولودهما الجديد، حياة جديدة، وبداية جديدة. تأملنا أن يخلق هذا المولود الجديد بداية جديدة في حياتهم. IV Shara
56.32 NABAZ: When was your child born?
ناباز: متى ولد ابنك؟
HAWA: Last night around one o'clock.
حواء: ليلة أمس، حوالي الساعة الواحدة.
Last night?
ليلة البارحة؟
Yes.
نعم Hawa with her baby
56.50 ERAT: My daughters have not been touched, and I will not allow them to be touched, because I have witnessed the situation myself. It has really negative impacts on marriage. IV Erat
his daughter out-side
VO: When Nabaz and Shara had last left Gulala she had not yet decided if she would allow her second daughter to be cut.
عندما ترك ناباز وشارا غلالا في المرة الأخيرة، لم تكن قد قررت بعد ما إذا كانت ستسمح بختان ابننتها الثانية.
57.53 GULALA: I will not do it at this point. I don’t believe I will. But if people ask I will say to them “I have given my daughter khatana.”
Why are all the girls who have been cut sunnah BUT not my girl who is not cut?They will probably talk about it a lot but eventually keep quiet. Image
Helen gets mon-ey from her father
Then hits her mother up too.
58.12 NADYA: If a woman is not convinced that she wants to cut her girl, but there is pressure from her mother in law or her grandmother or what have you, then, she can be like OK there's a piece of paper that says this is illegal and someone's going to get punished for it.
ناديا: إذا لم تكن المرأة مقتنعة بختان ابنتها، لكن هناك ضغوطات عليها من جانب والدة زوجها أو جدتها أو أي أحد آخر، فبإمكانها أن تقول حسناً هناك وثيقة تثبت أن هذا غير قانوني وسوف يعاقب من يقدم عليه. Hawas daughter leaves for school.
MCU IV woman
54.50 Are you cut?
No.
And you?
No I am not.
Why not?
Those things are so outdated.
END. Midwife in living room talking to young girls.
Translation - Arabic
Timecode Sound Image
00:25 In the room were many kids my age. My sister and my mother took hold of me. woman in silhouette looking out through bars of window
00:32 They were taking off my trousers. separating my legs. I screamed. what are you doing to me?
(SLOW DOWN SPACE OUT THE LINES) woman in silhouette looking out through bars of window
00:37: My mother said: Nothing dear, just a little pain and it’ll be over.
They threw me on the ground. A pain started between my thighs. Everything turned dark
When they wanted to raise me to my feet I could not stand. My thighs were covered in blood.
01:05
VO: Iraqi Kurdistan . . a state for the Kurdish people that came into its own after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Despite this liberation, and the prosperity that came with it, Kurdish women remained victims of an old and brutal ritual.
كردستان العراق ...دولة للأكراد نالت استقلالها الذاتي بعد سقوط صدام حسين. على الرغم من هذا التحرر وما رافقه من ازدهار ، ظلت النساء الكرديات ضحايا طقوس وحشية قديمة. Skyline of Sulimanya
GV street scenes in Sulimanya
01:32 IV: If you want to talk about this, please sit down.
Young Girl: It is safe for us here to talk to you because it is forbidden to discuss khatana in the villages. Group of girls coming through field
they sit in group
01.27 GFX Khatana Title
“female genital mutilation
1.50 NADYA KHALIFE: Female genital mutilation, or fgm, is basically the cutting of a girl's genitalia, and it is usually the clitoris.
ناديا خليفة: تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية، أو ختان الإناث، هو قطع الأعضاء التناسلية للإناث، وعادة ما يكون البظر.
MCU IV woman
1.58 Young Girl: They said “Let's go to another village, to the house of your aunt”
(Slow here too if possible space out lines)
They said “do not put on your underwear, your blouse is enough.” Two women took me away and they said “We will style your hair” and suddenly both women held my legs. IV group of young girls
02.24 Young Girl: I picked up a knife. I said to them, “Leave me alone or I will stab you with the knife.”
(space out)
They said “We will mutilate you!” I still had the knife in my hand and said, “Let me go!” After that they released me, and I ran away.
(Space)
The midwife said, “Go after her!” Young girls sitting on rocks
2.42 It's not something that families discuss. It's just something that is done, and is forgotten about. MCU IV woman
02.55 IV: Is it shameful to speak about khatana?
Woman: Yes of course, it is shameful to talk about khatana. Woman in black
02.59 Shame on you for bringing this subject in front of the camera . . .
How dare you? Women in black
03:09 Excuse me, I do not want my face on camera
Why?
I just don’t like it
Why? there are no men here?
No but my brothers would not be happy with this. Shara and mid-wife w/ 2 women
03:21 Shame on you to talk about this subject!
03:25 We just need 10 more minutes to finish our work here.
In no way can I let you and honestly I can’t fight my tribe.
I cannot finish if you don’t agree to be recorded
I told you this before that I had a lot of pressure from the mullah and family members.
I even told them that I was very unhappy to have given you permission. undercover shooting
3.4 Everything concerning sex in the middle east culture is taboo, so talking about female genital mutilation is talking about a sensitive area of a female's body and it's taboo. You should not talk about it. MCU IV with man in office.
GV street scenes of Sulimanya
3.57 NADYA KHALIFE: This is what is hap-pening in Kurdistan and nobody in the outside world really knew about it. That was the real shocker
ناديا خليفة: هذا ما يحدث في كردستان، ولا أحد في العالم يعرف حقاً بهذا الموضوع. تلك كانت الصدمة الحقيقية. extraordinary
4.03 VO: But the Kurdish political establish-ment denied that female genital mutila-tion was even a problem. This politi-cian's brief was preventing violence against women
لكن المؤسسة السياسية الكردية لم تعترف حتى بأن ختتان الإناث مشكلة. موجز ما قاله هذا السياسي ينفي العنف ضد المرأة. (Is there more of this guy for ad-ditional VO line?)
4.15 Narim Abdulla: This phenomenon is not as widespread as all that. We checked in schools in some regions and we couldn’t find a single girl who had undergone circumcision. News Video:
Narim Abdulla: Dir. Dept Vio-lence Against Women
4.3 VO:
IN 2004, NABAZ AHMED, A YOUNG FILMMAKER DECIDED TO BREAK HIS SOCIETY’S SILENCE AND MAKE A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE SITUA-TION
عام ألفين وأربعة قرر ناباز أحمد، المخرج الشاب كسر الصمت في مجتمعه، وعمل فيلماً وثائقياً عن هذا الوضع. Car traversing mountain road, MCU of avan.
4.47 NABAZ: Nabaz: As A film maker I always wanted to be more innovative and do something that hadn’t been done before.
ناباز: كمخرجٍ سينمائي، أردت دائماً أن أكون أكثر ابتكاراً، وأقوم بعمل شيء لم يعمله أحد من قبل. IV Avan against black
4.57 VO: It was the beginning of a difficult seven year journey for Nabaz.
كانت تلك بداية رحلة شاقة لناباز استمرت سبع سنوات.
5.03 NABAZ: My goal in making this film was to tell the truth about female genital muti-lation in my country because the gov-ernment had always denied that the girls were being cut.
ناباز: كان هدفي من عمل هذا الفيلم إظهار الحقيقة حول تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية للإناث في بلدي، وذلك لأن الحكومة كانت دائماً تنكر أن الفتيات يتم ختانهن.
5.18 VO: NABAZ KNEW THAT MOST WOM-EN WOULDN’T TALK TO A MAN ABOUT SUCH A TABOO SUBJECT, SO HE BEGAN WORKING WITH A CO-DIRECTOR SHARA AMIN.
أدرك ناباز أن معظم النساء لن يتحدثن إلى أي رجل عن مثل هذا االموضوع المحرم، لذا بدأ بالعمل مع المخرجة المساعدة شارا أمين. Nabaz in car
Car traversing more mountain roads
5.28 Shara: Circumcision is one of the most horrible acts that can be done to a fe-male’s body. My goal in making this film was that it would have some impact in reducing womens pain and help de-crease the number of women being cir-cumcised
شارا: الختان واحد من أفظع ما يمكن فعله في جسم أنثى. كان هدفي من انتاج هذا الفيلم أن يكون له بعض الأثر في التقليل من ألام النساء، والمساعدة في الحد من عدد النساء اللاتي يتم ختانهن. IV Shara
Shara interviewing women
6.02 Nabaz: It took a lot of time to convince them to speak to us. This was a very ta-boo subject. Speaking about it on cam-era was a very brave thing to do.
ناباز: استغرقنا الكثير من الوقت لإقناعهم بالحديث معنا. هذا الموضوع محظور جداً. الحديث عنه أمام الكاميرا كان تصرفاً شجاعاً للغاية. Gvs arriving at villages
women’s faces
6.23 Q: Do you remember your khatana?
Woman: It’s a shameful subject.
Women in house, smiling women.
6.42 Woman in film: They brought a plate of ash and a razor and they cut off my clitoris. Not much blood came out. I was so frightened that I did not pee for two days. A woman in a very impover-ished village with sheep
6.56 Woman: I have performed khatana on all the women of this village. I have done it myself.
I collect the pee with a teacup. I wash it with her pee. That seals it, and she gets back on her feet.
Cutting is good for Islam!
Woman in from of brick wall; A young girl in an orange boiler suit.
7.17 Q: Do you want your daughter to have khtatana?
Woman: They say If I don’t it’s a sin. IV woman in pink hijab
7.24 IN VILLAGE AFTER VILLAGE WOMEN BEGiN TO OPEN UP AND TELL THE FILM MAKERS THEIR STORIES
في قرية تلو الأخرى، بدأت النساء تتحدثن بصراحة، وتخبرن مخرجي الفيلم عن تجاربهن.
7.34 well they would just grab the little girls, take them and cut them and the girls came back home.
I can still remember I was sick, infected for three months.
Yes I swear. I could barely walk after I was cut Women and young girls gath-ered in room
7.51 An old wife came to our village, and we hid ourselves.
Q: why did she come?
To cut us.
Q: Where did you run and hide?
We hid in this car. Young girls in back of jeep
women in house/
shoes/ women sitting
8.06 There was a woman going round the neighborhood and mutilating all the girls. She had ash and a blade. With this she would numb the pain, although it did not numb well, but she did not care. women in group in house
8.19 That was how they mutilated us. They did not care if we would get infected or have pain. This is not only my story, most girls were mutilated like this.
8.41 WOMAN: I speak from experience
One of my sisters got an infection and died
She was cut with a dirty blade. She had an infection for two days so we took her to a doctor. He couldn’t treat her and she died
What year was it?
1980
Woman goes in car journey. She gets out and prays by a grave.
9.23 SHARA: When I hear the word Khatana or when I face someone who went through it,
I feel angry.
As a woman I feel their suffering
شارا: عندما أسمع كلمة ختان أو عندما أصادف فتاة أجري لها الختان، أشعر بالغضب.
كامرأة ، أشعر بمعاناتهن. group of women
Shara’s eyes
IV Shara
pan to women sit-ting and sigh
9.42 WOMAN; A midwife cut seven of our daughters in one place. We were hold-ing and deceiving them. When she cut the flesh from their bodies, some of the peed out of pain.
10.03 SHARA: This was a documentary to help women and that’s what kept me going as I continued working on the film.
شارا: كان هذا الفيلم الوثائقي يهدف لمساعدة النساء، وهذا ما دفعني للاستمرار، لذا واصلت العمل على الفيلم. Shara talking to women/
leaving house w/ women
10.16 VO: The further the filmmakers journey the more the realization grew, that the problem was much greater than they had realized.
كلما واصل مخرجو الفيلم رحلتهم ، كان يقينهم يزداد بأن المشكلة أكبر بكثير مما كانوا يدركون.
Int. car on country road
10.25 WOMAN IN PURPLE SCARF: I cannot imagine that there is a girl left who has not had khatana. They cut all the girls.
There is nobody left who is not cut. Actu-ally there was someone who was not cut but she had many difficulties.
Her husband said to her “I do not want you. I will divorce you if you don't get cut” So she was facing difficulties. But in our region all the girls are cut.
Close up of girl
10.58 VO: In Kurdistan the cutting is usually done by an older women who is also a community midwife
في كردستان تجري الختان عادة امرأة كبيرة في السن، وهي قابلة الحي أيضاً. Gvs Kurdish town
midwife walking
11.09 PURA SEWA: For over 40 years I have been a midwife and practice this kind of work. IV midwife out-side
walking in fol-lowed by Shara
I washed myself around the 18th or the 19th.
What day of the month is today?
It’s been ten days since your period?
What do you think about that?
Do you mean I may have become preg-nant in the last ten days?
Yes.
It is not possible
You have no children?
I have never had any. Older women sit-ting in living room. With younger w
11.44 When I touch a pregnant woman, I know when she will give birth. I know when she will have a child. I touch inside of her and I know if she will become pregnant, I know if she will have a child or not. IV Avan
12 Nabaz: Pura Sewa is an ordinary wom-an, like my mother or my aunt
ناباز: بورا سيوا امرأة عادية مثل أمي أو خالتي.
Pura, with shara
sitting outside
12.1 SHARA: when did you start cutting fe-males?
شارا: متى بدأت بختان الفتيات؟
Well I was 45
عندما كنت في الخامسة والأربعين.
In your opinion is Khatana a good thing
هل الختان شيء جيد في رأيك؟
Yes of course there is nothing better.
It’s good for your faith your religion and it is good for everything else
There is nothing bad about it.
The practice has been passed on to us from our ancestors.
نعم بالطبع لا شيء أفضل منه. إنه جيد لإيمانك ودينك وجيد لكل شيء آخر. ليس هناك شيء سيء فيه. هذه الممارسة انتقلت لنا من أجدادنا. Pura & Shara
Pura walking in garden
12.35 NADYA KHALIFE: Nobody really knows the origins of female genital mutilation. But it is a very, very old traditional custom
Definitely a cultural tradition. It really has nothing to do with Islam or Christianity or Judiasm and I think people just adopted this practice. It just carried on from gen-eration to generation.
ناديا خليفة: لا أحد يعرف بالفعل أصول الختان. لكنها عادة تقليدية قديمة جداً. لا شك أنها تقليد اجتماعي لا علاقة له أبداً بالدين الإسلامي أو المسيحي أو اليهودي. أعتقد أن الناس تبنوا هذه الممارسة واستمرت بالانتقال من جيلٍ إلى جيلٍ. MCU IV woman
intercut w/ Pura working in garden
12.57 How did you learn how to circumcise?
How did I learn? I just know
I learned from my mohter and from peo-ple we knew.
I was clever IV Pura
13.11 Are you cut yourself
of course
Can you tell me how it happened?
We were little girls.
My mother told us she placed us in a large water pan and we had khatana.
That was it. IV Pura
photographs of younger Pura
.
13.29 And if someone is not cut what will you think of her?
That must be.
And before they get married What would you say to the girls who are not cut?
we would not say anything until she gets married.
Her new owner would say, “she is not cut. He would demand that she be cut. intercut w/ pura working in garden
13.48 PURA: I may have performed khatana on nearly 200 women.
I’ve done it to women right after child-birth.
I don’t ask her permission to cut her.
She has so much pain after childbirth she does not know I am cutting her
There is no negative side to Khatana.
People say the hands of a circumcised women are clean when they serve food.
In the past people live according to sha-ria law. Now it is the land of the infidels IV PUra intercut w/
Birds & Pura working in garden
Ext. Mosque
14.2 Calls to prayer. Ext mosque
14.28 VO: ADVOCATES OF FEMALE CIR-CUMCISION SAID IT WAS A RELI-GIOUS MANDATE
دعاة ختان الإناث قالوا إنه واجب ديني.
14.33 WOMAN: They told us that if a girl does not get Khatana, any food made by her hands would be haram( “sinful”)
14.39 CLERIC: Khatana is a duty: it is spiritual-ly pure( sunnah)
14.53 Midwife: I have asked our mullah and he said it is sunnah to perform khatana
and so we have to follow his words and continue to perform khatana
15.03 VO: BUT IN THIS ATTITUDE KURDISH MUSLIM’S WERE A SMALL MINORITY OF THE FOLLOWERS OF ISLAM
لكن بهذا الموقف كان المسلمون الأكراد أقلية صغيرة من أتباع الدين الإسلامي.
15.12 NADYA: The majority of Kurdish people are muslim but they adhere to the Shafi'i faith. In many places where the Shafi'i faith is the predominant denomination, that's where female genital mutilation is practiced.
ناديا: غالبية الشعب الكردي مسلمون لكنهم يلتزمون بالمذهب الشافعي . في كثير من الأماكن التي تسود فيها الأغلبية الشافعية، هناك يمارس تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية.
15.26 VO: EVEN AMONG THE MULLAHS THERE ARE DISAGREEMENTS. THE FILMMAKERS WENT TO INTERVIEW PROMINENT ISLAMIC CLERICS TO TRY TO CLARIFY THE ISSUE.
هناك اختلاف في الرأي حتى بين رجال الدين. لذا ذهب مخرجا الفيلم لمقابلة رجل دينٍ إسلامي بارز في محاولة لتوضيح المسألة.
15.36 In my view Khatana is allowed but there aren’t any verses from the Koran that di-rectly talk about khatana verse about khatana. There are many interpretations and explanations by Imams and Islamic scholars.
16.03 CLERIC: All the four Sunni Islamic schools agree on the fact that khatana is a feature of Islam
16.14 If Khatana had any religious basis then why are some Muslim countries prohibit-ing it?
For example in Saudi Arabia, which is the place of revelation of the Koran and Islam the clergymen have declared that khatana is not allowed for women.
If Khatana had any religious basis then the clergymen in Saudia Arabia would have encouraged it. Car traversing country tracks.
Est. village.
16.5 VO: DESPITE THE DIFFERENCES AMONG THE KURDISH RELIGIOUS LEADERS MOST PARENTS UNDERSTOOD THAT HAVING YOUR DAUGHTERS CUT WAS PART OF BEING A GOOD MUSLIM.
على الرغم من كل الاختلافات بين رجال الدين الأكراد، إلا أن معظم الآباء كانوا يدركون أن إجراء الختان لبناتهن هو جزء من إلتزامهم بالإسلام.
16.59 And if someone was not mutilated, they would label or consider her not religious. People have no choice but to do it. women sitting against wall with others.
17.17 VO: BUT SOME GIRLS ARE ABLE TO FIGHT BACK.
ONE DAY NABAZ AND SHARA MET A GIRL WHO WAS DETERMINED TO MAKE HER OWN DECISIONS.
لكن بعض الفتيات قادرات على المقاومة.
في أحد الأيام قابل ناباز وشارا فتاة كانت مصممةً على اتخاذ قراراتها بنفسها. girl w/ geese
17.31 SHARA: One of the girls we met on our way to a village was a girl called Nisar
She hadn’t been cut
شارا: إحدى الفتيات اللاتي قابلناهن في طريقنا إلى قرية من القرى كانت تدعى نيزار.
تلك الفتاة لم تكن مختونة. village scene & Nisar walking bodly down
17.42 Q: Do you want to be cut?
No but if I am not cut they will tease me and say my clitoris will become lager, and that I will feel sensations and go af-ter boys.
Q: and now when you are not cut what do they say to you?
They tease me and say “your clitoris is not cut off”
Q: Why do they say those things to you?
I do not know.
Q: So after they bully you do you want to be cut?
No but to them I will say I am cut. GV children in vil-lagers
Intercut with IV young girl.
18.15 NADYA: Female genital mutilation, peo-ple give it many justifications, that it's a tradition, part of their cultural identity. Some people do it because they think it's justified within their own religion. Some people do it as in Kurdistan, out of social pressure.
ناديا: الناس يعطون العديد من المبررات لممارسة تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية لأنه تقليد وجزء من هويتهم الثقافية. بعض الناس يفعلونه لأنههم يعتقدون أنه مبرر في دينهم. والبعض الآخر ،كما هو الحال في كردستان، يفعلونه بسبب الضغوط الاجتماعية.
My inclination after speaking to religious leaders in Iraqi Kurdistan is that it is to control women's sexuality. And In fact two of the mullahs in the villages did say to me in hot climates, in Iraqi Kurdistan, something needs to be done to control womens sexuality. Female genital muti-lation is performed to control womens sexuality.
بعد الحديث مع رجال دين في كردستان العراق، أميل للقول بأن الختان يمارس من أجل السيطرة على النشاط الجنسي للمرأة. وفي الحقيقة قال لي اثنان من الملالي في القرى إنه في الجو كردستان العراق الحار يجب القيام بشيء ما للسيطرة على نشاط النساء الجنسي. لذا يتم إجراء ختان الإناث للسيطرة على نشاطهن الجنسي. Gv villagers
Intercut MCU IV woman
18.56 It is well knowN that the women's physi-ology differs from that of women in cold and temperate climates. In warm re-gions, the clitoris is larger than women in colder regions. Therefore a woman is liable to be stimulated by any movement or by any random contact, resulting from riding animals. Or by performing hard work. So they cut off a little piece. VT mullah
19.28 VO: THE FILMMAKERS FOUND A FAMILY WILLING TO TALK ABOUT THE DIRECT EFFECT OF CUTTING ON THEIR FAMILY LIFE
وجد مخرجا الفيلم عائلة ً على استعداد للحديث عن الأثر المباشر للختان على حياتهم الأسرية.
19.35 SHARA:During our travels one of the sto-ries we had was a married couple, who had an intimacy problem. The reason was female genital mutilation.
When visiting that house the woman was very shy and couldn’t discuss it freely.
After trying hard for some time I man-aged to convince her to talk about it
شارا: خلال رحلاتنا كانت إحدى القصص التي صادفناها عن زوجين لديهما مشكلة في علاقتهما الجنسية. والسبب في ذلك هو تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية. عند زيارة ذلك المنزل كانت الزوجة خجولة جداً ولم تستطع مناقشة الأمر بحريةً. وبعد أن حاولت جاهدةً لبعضٍ الوقت، تمكنت من إقناعها بالحديث عن ذلك. Shara in car
Shara w/ Hawa and family
Hawa cutting ma-terial
going to sewing machine
20.02 My two sisters and I , three of us we all had khatana. Believe me my mother did not care about the practice, never insist-ed. But my grandma insisteded. She would always say food and water served by their hands would be haram if the girls were not cut. Hawa sits behind sewing
CU of needle sewing.
20.3 I got married in 1996 and I work as a tai-lor. CU sewing nee-dle.
20.45 I don’t have desire. I have no desire for a man. I knew from an early age I was like that. Of course when you are a kid you don’t understand that. But when you grow older you know the difference. Hawa
21.14 Q: When you were cut did they remove a little or a lot?
My husband always says “nothing is left of you.” So I don’t know but that’s what he says. Hawa at sewing machine, intercut with her making dinner for family.
21.37 This circumcision is similar to neutering animals. It’s a major problem. There is no sensation. It feels like lying next to a cold fish. With all due respect, often I ask her to come to me, but because she does not get pleasure out of it, I have to call her five or six times. But if she also enjoyed it she would come faster or get involved faster. Erat to camera
22.07 HAWA: For eight years after I got mar-ried,I didn’t know that there was such a thing as orgasm. I was a young girl. I was a young girl, I was 18 when I got engaged, and 19 when I got married. Wedding photo of Erat and Hawa
22.2 HAWA: Even when I had two kids, I still didn’t know what an orgasm is. I thought that marriage is having your own house, coming and going as you wish and hav-ing a family. Daughter brings tray of tea into room. Hawa at sewing machine
22.4 ERAT: I was not aware of this when I married her. If I had known, I swear to God even if they paid me $10,000 I would not have married her. Because it is a problem for me. Erat sitting in front if TV, drink-ing tea:
22.53 Q: Has your husband ever thought about remarrying because of this issue?
HAWA: Yes, many times he did. He says he has been treated unfairly. “I feel like I live with a dead person.” He wants to marry again. Once, I asked a woman to marry him but my brother-in-law wouldn’t allow it.
Q: He wouldn’t allow you to arrange it? HAWA: He wouldn’t accept it. But he didn’t know what the reason was. I would tell him that it was okay to let my hus-band marry again. But he would say: “this is not possible.”
Hawa at sewing machine.
21.01 ERAT: In reality she is my cousin. Di-vorce is not allowed or easy, among the tribal members. I want to divorce her and remarry and she has this problem. I’m trying to tolerate the situation. But it is al-ready too late.
Large group pho-to with Erat and Hawa
Erat with children in living room lighting cigarette:
22.11 HAWA: I have never had any desire to make love to him. When he calls me to make love and I say I’m not interested, he gets upset, starts mumbling. But I don’t pay attention to that and just sleep. In the morning when I make breakfast if anything is even slightly out of order he uses it as an excuse to get angry.
Hawa in kitchen at stove cooking with children, cut-ting vegetables.
Walks from kitch-en towards living room.
22.35 ERAT: I have insulted her many times because of this problem. It causes me trouble. I get upset. My sexual desire does not go away and I get mad.
Erat to camera.
22.48 HAWA: He says this is not a good life, and he says that “ if it wasn’t for my uncle Abdi I would have sent you back to your parent’s house. As for beatings he has never laid his hands on me, except on rare occasions. Hawa
23.07 Erat and Hawa sit on floor putting a meal out -daughter walks in; two girls in kitchen; Family eating.
23.25 HAWA: He tells me that even now I’m still shy with him. But for me it is not about shyness. I just don’t have any desire. Hawa at sewing machine
23.56 VO: NAZAZ AND SHARA WANTED TO GET A SENSE OF THE DILEMMA’S FACING MOTHERS WHO ARE BEING PRESSURED TO CUT THEIR DAUGH-TERS.
ناباز وشارا أرادا فهم المأزق الذي يواجه الأمهات اللاتي تتعرضن لضغوط من أجل إجراء الختان لبناتهن.
24.14 I have been married for 18 years since 1993. I have four children, two sons and two daughters. I was away one afternoon and my mother in law took my daughters to the neighbors. A woman had come to the neighborhood to cut children. When they came back, she was cut. For the next three days she appeared to be sick. I asked “why did you cut my daughter?” Gulala at kitchen sink.
GV gulala's chil-dren.
24.38 She answered, “It is sunnah (pure) to cut and it is haram not to cut”
Gulala at sink
Gulala's children
25.00 Q: Piroza who old are you?
I'm 15
Q: Do you remember your khatana?
Yes
Q: How old were you then?
I’m not sure, I don’t remember maybe seven or eight.
Gulala: No you were five then. It was be-fore you started school.
I don't know, I don't remember.
Q; What did they say to you?
They said “come here, we brought beads for you” They took me into a room, there was an old woman. There was a razor and ash and they cut me. Piroza and Gulala in living room
Piroza on street.
25.31 I was in a lot of pain and I bled heavily. And my mom told me that if I go pee, I will recover. Who cut you?
An old woman.
In whose house?
In the house of my uncle Hussein.
Q: Who took you to that house?
My grandma
Gulala sitting with older daughter Piroza
Day exterior with Piroza and other teenage girl.
Piroza and friend outside
MCU IV lady
25.54 GULALA: I have not had khatana done to my younger daughter yet. Some say you have to do it, others say not to do it. Her aunts are not happy, they say she must have khatana. She will not be pure if she doesn’t. I can’t decide what to do. MCU of younger daughter Helen
Gulala to cam
Helen outside blowing bubbles
26.14 NADYA; If a girl is not cut there is a lot of pressure for the girl to be taken... it's something that is shameful... she might be considered loose... as a girl she needs to be contained in kurdish society, and that's one way to control girls.
ناديا: إذا لم تكن الفتاة مختونة، فهناك الكثير من الضغوط تمارس من اجل أخذها للختان. هذا شيء يعد مخجلاً...وقد تعتبر منحلةً أخلاقياً.. كفتاةٍ حي بحاجة لاحتوائها في المجتمع الكردي. وهذه إحدى طرق السيطرة على الفتيات. Gulala at kitchen sink
Nadya IV
26.35 NABAZ: We wanted to film a midwife who was practicing khatana. It was very difficult to find one who would agree to be filmed.
ناباز: أردنا تصوير قابلة وهي تجري الختان، لكن كان من الصعب جداً العثور على واحدة توافق على أن تظهر في فيلم. IV Nabaz
Midwife praying
27.08 MIDWIFE:
When my grandma was still alive, I imi-tated her, I did it like she did, it was easy. Touch that part of the flesh, cut a little of it and apply the ash.
I myself have been cut, just a sting and nothing else.
Do you remember yours?
Of course I still remember the sting.
Did it bleed?
Of course, it’s unpleasant. But it bleeds just for a moment.
What did you use to cut them?
I cut them with a knife.
27.38 THE MOTHERS HAVE BROUGHT THEIR GIRLS TO BE CUT.
أحضرت الأمهات بناتهن حتي يختن.
Cutting sequence Briefly small gathering in yard. Midwife walks in-to building fol-lowed by mothers with children -- goes to black. Mothers with chil-dren emerge. Midwife emerges with knife in her hand and stands in yard looking at the camera.
29.00 Helen are you cut?
No I’m not.
How about your friends, are they cut? Yes.
Helen, do you know what khatama is? Yes.
What is it?
GULALA: Do you know what it is?
Yes.
What is it?
Gulala: Tell them.
(Helen, being shy.)
GULALA:I’m confused now Gulala and Helen sit together.
Helen walking in distance
Helen, being shy
VO: From the interviews that they had conducted during their years of work the film makers made a documentary that for the first time told the real story of female genital mutilation in Kurdi-stan. They called it a: A Handful of Ash.
أعد مخرجا الفيلم من المقابلات التي أجرياها خلال سنوات عملهم فيلماً وثائقياً أسموه "حفنة من الرماد" ، يروي للمرة الأولى القصة الحقيقية لتشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية في كردستان.
Montage of inter-views.
FILM: The women here have been mutilated with a razor.
At that time they used to say: it is a sin if it is not done. The bread she bakes should not be eaten; the water she brings should not be drunk iwomen & children in dark room watching film.
VO: Nabaz and Shara had been col-laborating with a national network of activists from a group called WADI. Now WADI wanted to use a Handful of Ash as an educational tool in their campaign against female genital muti-lation.
تعاون كلاً من ناباز وشاران مع شبكة وطنية من النشطاء تابعة لجماعة تدعى الوادي. تريد الوادي الآن استخدام فيلم "حفنة من الرماد" كأداة تثقيفية في حملتهم ضد تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية.
30.39 FILM: They cut what we in Kurdish call “kurrka” , the clitoris Woman on screen./
People watching the film.
31.07 VO: The person who took the film from village to village was a young WADI activist, Avan.
نقلت الفيلم من قرية إلى أخرى ناشطةً شابةً من نشطاء الوادي تدعى أفان .
Avan
Avan talking to women in hall.
Film: it feels like dying
Did you have a lot of pain?
My pain was endless crowd in room watching woman on screen
AVAN: we think this is a very important issue in this region
because there is no real awareness re-garding the negative impact of khatana.
It was a common occurrence in the past, but from now on we must be aware of the consequences of khatana
You could be causing your daughters a lot of problems
You may be preventing these girls from enjoying a full life Avan speaking to group
Avan: I wish that a girl would shout loud-ly before she is cut. I would be able to reach out and rescue her. Avan and activists traveling in car. They stop and pick girl walking
35.13 VO: WADI carried out the first national survey of female genital mutilation.
أجرت الوادي أول مسح وطني عن تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية.
FALAL: From 2007 we started dividing Kurdistan into six zones, and we con-ducted the first statistic research.
Woman tells WADI surveyor: It is almost a year since I circumcised the first two but not the other two.
WADI woman: You still haven’t cut two? Do you want to to circumcise them?
Woman: I haven’t cut them yet but yes I would like to do it.
VO: The survey was history-making: it was the first time that any organiza-tion had tried to find out how many fe-males were cut in Kurdistan
كان ذلك المسح يسجل للتاريخ: فهو المرة الأولى التي تحاول فيها أي منظمة معرفة عدد الإناث المختونات في كردستان. .
35.27 We found out that there is not difference between the cities and the villages.
According to this sample which we took, 1408 women 72.7 % of them were muti-lated.
Our statistics, we were sending them to the parliament. To the ministry of health, and we informed the ministry of educa-tion.
We told them, you need to do something in this region. Gvs of Kurdistan.
MCU IV man in office
35.55 VO: WAADI’s finding that almost three quarters of the women had been cut shocked the country.
صدمت الدولة بالنتائج التي توصلت لها الوادي والتي مفادها أن حوالي ثلاثة أرباع النساء قد ختن.
GV Kurdistan
36.03 NADYA: Iraqi Kurdistan really sees itself as this other Iraq.
I think they really wanted to maintain this image, that they are advanced on wom-en's rights. That they are different than other countries in the region.
They didn't want the whole world to know that this is a practice that is going on in their country.
ناديا: كردستان العراق تعتبر نفسها عراقاً آخر بالفعل.
أعتقد أنهم أرادوا الحفاظ على صورتهم كمتحضرين في مجال حقوق المرأة. وأنهم مختلفون عن غيرهم من البلدان في المنطقة. لا يريدون أن يعرف العالم كله أن هذه ممارسة تجري في بلدهم. Young people in a park
MCU IV woman
Market scene
36.29 FALAL: The first reaction from govern-ment on female genital mutilation... they are shocked... that this is a lie, all our sta-tistics about female genital mutilation are not true. They accuse us that we fal-sification numbers in oder we receive foreign funding even we got threatened from ministers an politicians that they are going to close down WADI. Market scene
MCU IV man in office
37.20 VO: But in parliament the women rep-resentatives took the lead in demand-ing that female genital mutilation be outlawed.
لكن في البرلمان أخذت ممثلات النساء زمام المبادرة للمطالبة بحظر تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية للإناث.
Est. boardroom
37.27 FALAH: In 2007 we are submitting a draft of law to the parliament which bravely the women committee in the parliament they were lobbying for it, they convinced 68 parliamentarians to support them. MCU IV man in office
women talk in boardroom
37.38 VO: The women's committee asked the filmmakers to show A Handful of Ash in parliament.
طلبت لجنة المرأة من مخرجا فيلم "حفنة من الرماد" عرضه في البرلمان. Screening the film in the boardroom.
NABAZ: Showing the film in parliament was a great breakthrough for us. When you spend years making a documentary about such a sensitive and taboo subject it is a very big thing when the repre-sentatives of your society ask to see it. It made me very happy.
ناباز: عرض الفيلم في البرلمان كان تقدماً كبيراً بالنسبة لنا. فعندما تقضي السنوات في إعداد وثائقي عن مثل هذا الموضوع الحساس والمحرم، يكون شيئاً عظيماً جداً أن يطلبَ منك ممثلو مجتمعك رؤيته. هذا أسعدني جداً.
37.51 Excerpt from film: They threw me on the ground. A pain started between my thighs. Everything turned black.
When they tried to get me on my feet I could not stand. My thighs were covered in blood. Women watching film.
38.03 VO: No male members of parliament showed up for the screening but the film made a strong impression on the female lawmakers.
لم يحضر عرض الفيلم أي عضو من أعضاء البرلمان الذكور، لكن الفيلم ترك انطباعاً قوياً على المشرعات الإناث.
38.12 WOMAN POLITICIAN: First of all be-cause of the fact we are women too, we will be honest with you because we share the same concerns. And the sec-ond thing is we think it is very important that this proposed legislation is imple-mented.
We have created four punishments for all acts of mutilation. Woman in board-room chair, giving speech.
Mid reaction shots.
Wide of board-room.
38.35 VO: A year later in 2008 the bill out-lawing female genital mutilation was introduced in parliament.
وبعد سنة، في عام ألفين وثمانية، قدم للبرلمان مشروع قانون لحظر ختان الإناث
Straight away it hit a roadblock.
على الفور اصطدم بحاجز. Wide of city square
38.47 NADYA: There was a session to discuss the draft bill and basically all male mem-bers of the Kurdish parliament did not want to discuss it. I think it is because it is shameful for them. This has to do with a women private part. Men were just too shy. So the bill was not passed.
ناديا: كانت هناك جلسة لمناقشة مسودة القانون، وجميع الأعضاء الذكور في البرلمان الكردستاني من الأساس لم يريدوا مناقشته. أعتقد لأنه أمرٌ مشين بالنسبة لهم. فهو يتعلق بالأعضاء التناسلية للمرأة. كان الرجال خجولين للغاية لذلك لم يتم تمريرمشروع القانون. MCU IV woman
Shots of kurdish parliament
39.08 WOMAN POLITICIAN: This is not a sub-ject that these politicians are concerned about
IV second woman in office
39.50 WOMAN POLITICIAN: Another problem is the fact that there are members of par-liament who reject the existence of muti-lation in Kurdistan.
Shots of Kurdish parliament
IV female politi-cian in front of blinds
Female politician giving speech in parliament
40.35 VO: These events in the Kurdish par-liament attracted the attention of Hu-man Rights Watch.
Nadya Khalife was a women’s rights researcher for the organization.
هذه الأحداث في البرلمان الكردي جذبت انتباه منظمة هيومان رايتس ووتش.
كانت ناديا خليفة تعمل باحثة في حقوق المرأة لدى المنظمة.
In 2009 they sent her into Kurdistan to investigate.
عام ألفين وتسعة أرسلتها المنظمة إلى كردستان لتقصي ذلك. Archive HRW b-roll
40.45 NADYA: I went to Kurdistan as a re-searcher for human rights watch, You go to a village and you speak to women and girls. almost all of them have been cut. So to me that gave me the impression that that is something that is normal. I did ask these girls “ do you talk about this? Do you talk to your teachers do they tell you it? Do they raise your awareness about the health implications of FGM. and there’s really no discussion.
ناديا: ذهبت إلى كردستان كباحثة لمنظمة هيومان رايتس ووتش. كنت أذهب إلى القرية وأتحدث مع النساء والبنات، جميعهن تقريباً كن مختونات. ذلك أعطاني الانطباع بأنه أمر طبيعي. سألت تلك الفتيات: "هل تتحدثن عن هذا الموضوع؟ هل تطرحنه امام معلماتكن أو يشرحن لكن عنه؟ هل يوعينكن بالآثار الصحية الناجمة عن قطع الأعضاء التناسلية للإناث؟ لم يكن هناك بالفعل أي حديث عن الموضوع.
Government officials really denied that FGM exists in kurdistan they told me that it happens here and there. They didn't want to face up to the truth that it was live and well and has been practiced in soci-ety for a very long time.
نفى المسؤولون الحكوميون وجود الختان في كردستان، وقالوا إنه يحدث هنا وهناك على نطاق ضيق. لم يريدوا مواجهة الحقيقية بأنه سائد ومقبول وتتم ممارسته في المجتمع منذ زمن بعيد. MCU IV woman
43.00 VO: By 2010 Nadya Khalif had finished her Human Rights Watch report on FGM in Kurdistan.
بحلول عام ألفين وعشرة، أنهت ناديا خليفة تقريرها لمنظمة هيومان رايتس ووتش عن ختان البنات في كردستان. Archive
43.13 NADYA:When the report was launched, there was a lot of attention from Kurdish officials, from Kurdish society and actual-ly from the outside world that this report has been launched, this is what is hap-pening in Kurdistan.
ناديا: عندما تم نشر التقرير كان هناك الكثير من الاهتمام من قبل المسؤولين الأكراد، ومن المجتمع الكردي ومن العالم الخارجي لأنه تم نشره. فهذا ما يحدث في كردستان. MCU IV woman
Archive
VO: A surprise presence at the press conference was the prominent reli-gious leader Mullah Omar Cyngiani
المفاجأة التي ظهرت في المؤتمر الصحفي كانت حضور الزعيم الديني البارز الملا عمر سنجياني
NADYA: For us it was imperative that he be there because this practice is so in-grained in society as a religious obliga-tion that we really wanted a religious leader to be there and to tell people that this is not part of islam. To sort of correct some of the views that people had and I think that had a tremendous impact.
ناديا: بالنسبة لنا، كان من الضروري جداً تواجد هذا الملا في المؤتمر الصحفي، فهذه الممارسة متأصلة جداً في المجتمع كإلتزام ديني، لذلك أردنا حقاً أن يكون هناك رجل دين بارز يخبر الناس بأن هذا ليس جزءاً من الإسلام. وليصحح نوعاً ما بعض الآراء التي كانت لدى الناس، وأعتقد أن ذلك كان له أثر هائل.
44.00 NADYA: When he started to speak, a lot of the people wanted to ask him ques-tions, about, FGM, whether it is in the re-ligion, whether it's not... why do we do it.... and I think it's because people were just not used to having these open con-versations and these discourses in pub-lic. This was between men and women, between a religious leader, so I think that moment was really significant.
عندما بدأ بالحديث، أراد الكثير من الناس طرح أسئلة عن الختان، فهل هو من الدين أم لا؟ ولم يفعلونه؟ أعتقد أن السببب في ذلك هو أن الناس لم يعتادوا على وجود هذه النقاشات الصريحة وهذا الحديث علناً. هذا الحديث دار بين الرجال والنساء ورجل الدين البارز، لذا أعتقد أن تلك اللحظة كانت هامة حقاً. Archive
44.31 VO: It set off an unprecedented debate about Female Genital Mutilation across Kurdistan.
فجر هذا الحديث جدلاً غير مسبوق عن ختان الإناث في جميع أنحاء كردستان Archive
ARCHIVE:Is khatana a religious matter?
and what does religion say about khat-ana?
أرشيف: هل الختان أمرؤ ديني؟ وما رأي الدين فيه؟
ARCHIVE:Mullah Omar: if you open the Koran there isn’t a text saying circumci-sion is a duty even for men
الملا عمر: إذا فتحت القرآن فلن تجد فيه نص يقول أن الختان فرض حتى على الرجال.
44.39 VO: The debate amongst muslim cler-ics was particularly intense.
كانت حدة الجدال واضحة بين رجال الدين. praying in Mosque
44.47 MULLAH: Did this subject come with Is-lam? No it was there even before Islam. It’s a fact that Islam organized and beau-tified it.
الملا: هل أتى هذا الأمر مع الإسلام؟ لا كان موجوداً حتى قبل الإسلام. إنها الحقيقة أن الإسلام نظمه وهذبه.
praying in Mosque
IV cleric
int. mosque.
MULLAH: Female circumcision in an in-justice, it is a crime against women.
ملا : ختان الإناث ظلم، وهو جريمة بحق المرأة.
Other Mullah: Any woman who is cir-cumcised according to islamic instruc-tions does not impact negatively her sexual life.
ملا آخر:أي امرأة تختن وفقاً للتعاليم الإسلامية، لا يؤثر ذلك سلباً على حياتها الجنسية.
45.48 VO: Then the national association of Mullahs met to discuss the issue.
ثم التقت الرابطة الوطنية للملالي لمناقشة القضية. Archive
45.53 MULLAH: In Kurdistan, most of us follow the Shafi'i religious teachings. Which recommends that it is better for girls to be cut. But the mullahs have reconsidered this as a mandate.
ملا: في كردستان يتبع معظمنا المذهب الشافعي، ومن المستحب للفتاة برأي هذا المذهب أن تختن. لكن الملالي يعتبرونه فرضاً. IV cleric
46.17 VO: This reconsideration of the issue resulted in fatwah being declared that female genital mutilation was not an Islamic religious mandate.
أدت إعادة النظر في هذه المسالة إلى إصدار فتوى بأن الختان ليس واجباً دينياً إسلامياً.
There was also now a growing interna-tional pressure on the Kurdish gov-ernment to take action.
أصبح هناك أيضاً ضغط دولي متزايد على الحكومة الكردية لاتخاذ الإجراءات اللازمة.
Archive
Gvs of city
46.36 NADYA; We had members in the Euro-pean Parliament writing letters to Barza-ni telling him that you really have to look at these issues in your country.
ناديا: راسل أعضاء في البرلمان الاوروبي مسعود بارازاني وقالوا له يجب عليك أن تنظر في هذه القضايا في بلدك. MCU IV Woman
46.42 VO: The scene was now set for anoth-er vote in parliament.
تم تعيين موعد آخر للتصويت على القرار في البرلمان. Kurdish parlia-ment
46.46 WOMAN POLITICIAN: Active female members from all factions demanded strongly and forced men also to vote in favor for the law, even though the men did not discuss the bill in much detail we succeeded.
المرأة السياسية: عضوات نشيطات من جميع أطياف الفصائل طالبن الرجال بشدة وحثوهن على التصويت لصالح القانون، على الرغم من أن الرجال لم ينجحوا بمناقشة القانون بالتفصيل كما فعلنا. IV woman 2
Kurdish parlia-ment
TBA: Archive of Contributions to the debate in Parliament.
TBA: Archive: Bill is passed
أرشيف من المساهمات في النقاش بالبرلمان
47.16 NADYA: Cutting a girl is now illegal, a person who cuts a girl or a woman would be punished.
ناديا:ختان الفتاة أصبح الآن غير قانوني، وسيعاقب الشخص الذي يقطع الأعضاء التناسلية لفتاة أو امرأة. Kurdish flag
MCU IV woman
47.23 FEMALE POLITICIAN: It was a great step to create a law to prevent violence against women. The next step is how the law will be taking effects in all parts of the country and the action of all the de-partments of the government. City scenes
IV female politi-cian
47.42 VO: The conservative religious back-lash against the bill began almost immediately. it was lead by Mullah Ishmael Sosae.
ردة الفعل الدينية المحافظة بدأت على الفور. وترأسها المُلا اسماعيل سوسه. Archive
47.49 VT Mullah: If you are truthful to your branch of religion don’t accept what is being said in the parliament
VT mullah
48.11 Woman politician: It is true we passed a law to stop FGM and it is important. But the bigger problem is the cultural and the educational background of the members of society. IV woman 2
48.25 PURA: We have been advised not to practice mutilation, and we have obeyed that. They said not to mutilate otherwise you will be taken to jail. They took away my license and I stopped. But if they hadn't taken it away, I would still be per-forming the khatana for Islam. IV Pura
48.48 If I have had another daughter, I would do it, although it would be done secretly I swear to god that I would not even listen to Presidents Talabani and Brazani. I will not even listen to a mullah who might be against it, because I am a (true) muslim. Ext. Village
IV older woman
49.06 VT mullah: Talking about khatana and Sunnah is talking about your honour my honor
They talk about your wife in parliament. They talk about the private parts and the embarrassing body parts of our families.
Why is this acceptable? VT mullah
49.15 VO: In what was widely interpreted to be a concession to conservative pres-sure, President Barzani allowed the bill to become law, but he refused to sign it.
فيما تم تفسيره على أنه تنازل أمام ضغوط المحافظين، سمح الرئيس البارازاني لمشروع القانون أن يصبح قانوناً لكنه رفض التوقيع عليه. City Scene
49.28 FALAH: They just passed the law, it's in their bookshelves, now when BBC or a UN agency is visiting them, and they ask them what do you do about this issue, they say we have a law. We have a very nice beautiful law, it's fantastic, I like this law very much but we need to implement it. IV man
49.52 NADYA: When you pass a law it's a start-ing point but then to enforce the law and the mechanisms and how it's playing out on the ground is what's going decrease the rates of FGM.
نادياً: عندما تمرر القانون تكون تلك نقطة البداية، لكن بعد ذلك إنفاذ القانون والآليات والكيفية التي يطبق بها على الأرض هي ما سيخفض معدلات الختان.
IV woman
CA newspapers / leaflets.
Women at desks
50.03 VO: The government failure to do do anything about the new law forced ac-tivists to begin publicizing it them-selves.
فشل الحكومة في فعل أي شيء من أجل القانون الجديد، اضطر الناشطين للبدء بنشره بأنفسهم.
50.15 Doctor?: For those who work in the med-ical sector and who also perform mutila-tion, there are even tougher punish-ments. Woman giving speech
reaction shots from audience
50.46 TV archive TV archive
51.07 Whoever commits a criminal act, regard-less of his or her social standing commits the crime. The main issue is the crime itself.. Woman giving speech
51.33 VO: Out in the rural areas Nabaz and Shara found signs of change.
وجد ناباز وشارا علامات تغيير في المناطق الريفية.
They visit a remote village that has banned female genital mutilation.
زاروا قرية نائية حظرت ممارسة تشويه الأعضاء التناسلية الأنثوية.
Int car driving through country-side./ Shara in the car/A new build-ing with a banner
51.52 MAYOR: In 2011 we decided that we should not do khatana anymore. Be-cause it's bad for the health and society. It was me and all the village that decided that we will not cut women.
The woman Amina who is the midwife, Decided before everyone to stop cutting Nabaz interview with man in black
Gvs children in village.
Women and a child in a living room
52.34 Q: You practiced khatana since 1985. Why did you stop?
AMINA: It harms us more than benefits us. Also I now have a 21 inch TV and lis-tening to the Mullahs and religious pro-grams, it is clear that it has no benefits. IV Amina
VO: Mothers and daughters were now having conversations that are laden with regret.
تتتناول الأمهات والبنات الآن الحديث المليء بالأسف.
53.03 VILLAGE MOTHER: It was passed from older generations and it was said that it must be done. We didn't have the knowledge of today. People were poor. We were illiterate, without any knowledge. If they knew, why would they have done it. I have done it to all 6 of my daughters. IV two women outside
53.35 Q: are you happy it was done to you?
DAUGHTER: No I'm not, but what can I do. It's already done.
MOTHER: I deeply regret it now if I knew what it would mean, I wouldn't have done it to any of them.
DAUGHTER: What I think and what I want to say is that if anything has nothing to do with religion or islam, it shouldn't be done. If something is not Sharia or religion, why should it be done? It shouldn't. IV CU daughter
IV Mother
54.22 AMINA: If it's not a duty but sunnah then it can be avoided. IV midwife
54.37 Q: did you know that it harms their health?
MOTHER: Of course we didn't know, if I knew I wouldn't have cut them.
DAUGHTERS: When I sit with others and one tells me they haven’t been circum-cised, I wish that I wasn't too. IV mother and daughter outside
54.57 AMINA: Why should I disable someone? I promised to stop and will never do it. IV midwife
55.07 DAUGHTER: Now that I know I have been circumcised (CUT), and I know it is bad. I wish I wasn't, I wish they didn't cir-cumcise me. IV daughter
VO: Nabaz and Shara went back to re-connect with some of the people they interviewed before the new law was passed.
عاد ناباز وشارا للتواصل مع بعض الأشخاص الذين قابلوهم قبل صدور القانون الجديد.
When they had started filming in 2004 they’d met Fermiz who was ony 11 years old.
عندما بدءا تصوير الفيلم عام ألفين وأربعة، قابلا فارميز التي كانت إحدى عشر سنة حينها.
FERMIZ: They did not catch me and I was still on the run.
Where did you get the knife?
That was the same knife that they want-ed to use to cut me.
I picked up a very large stone and threw it at the midwife’s head.
FERMIZ: They attempted to cut me sev-eral times after that. I didn’t let them. My father didn’t want them to either. He said “I’ve only one daughter and I don’t want her going through this.
Ever since then I have fears. Even talk-ing about it right now scares me. I avoid talking about khatana, even now.
VO: They visited Nisar who was 12 when they first met her.
زارا نيزار التي كانت ابنة اثنتي عشرة سنة عندما قابلاها للمرة الأولى.
SHARA:Nisar do you remembe when we visited you two years ago?
شارا: نزار، هل تذكرين عندما زرناك قبل عامين؟
Yes
نعم
You told us that you were not cut
أخبرتنا أنك غير مختونة.
Yes
نعم
Are you still not cut?
هل مازلت غير مختونة؟
NISAR: No I am not cut
نيزار: لا، أنا لست مختونة
They don’t call me names now. Only my aunt calls me names, when my mother isn’t here.
لم يعودوا يطلقوا علي الألقاب الآن. فقط عمتي تطلق علي ألقاباً عندما لاتكون أمي موجودة.
What does she say to you?
Don’t be shy!
ماذا تقول لك؟
لاتخجلي!
NISAR: She calls me the uncut vagina. That makes me angry and I stop talking to her.
تناديني بذات المهبل غير المختون. هذا يغضبني ويجعلني وأتوقف عن الحديث معها.
SHARA: would you like to be cut
شارا: هل تودين أن تختني؟
NISAR: Of course not.
نيزار: بالطبع لا.
SHARA: Why not?
شارا: لم لا؟
NISAR: I don’t like it I’m older now It’s wrong.
نيزار: لا أحب هذا، أنا كبيرة الآن، وهذا شيء خاطئ.
MOTHER: Her father didn’t want it.
الأم: والدها لم يرد هذا.
NISAR: even if he di it would be wrong for me to accept it.
نيزار: حتى لو أراد سيكون خطأً مني القبول بذلك.
MOTHER: he said there was no need for it. That’s what he said.
الأم: قال إنه لا داعي له. هذا ما قاله.
SHARA: Did you want her to do it?
شا
MOTHER: Yes of course
Why?
MOtTHER: Because of what people would say. They would say food from her hand would be haram
SHARA: What if she did it now?
MOTHER: No I wouldn’t do it. She is too old now. I think it’s better not to do it.
Why?
The man who will be her husband would say she will have more desire. That’s why
Shara: do you feel regretful about cutting your other daughters?
Mother: yes
Why do you feel sorry?
MOTHER: because they have no desire anymore. That was why we did it so ear-ly, to avoid trouble for them.
Shara, Nisar & mother
شارا: هل أردت أن يجرى لما الختان ؟
MOTHER: Yes of course
الأم: نعم بالطبع
Why?
لماذا؟
MOtTHER: Because of what people would say. They would say food from her hand would be haram
الأم: بسبب ما قد يقوله الناس. يقولون إن الطعام الذي تقدمه بيديها يكون حراماً
SHARA: What if she did it now?
شارا: ماذا لو قامت به الآن؟
MOTHER: No I wouldn’t do it. She is too old now. I think it’s better not to do it.
الأم: لا، لا أفعل ذلك، هي كبيرة الآن. أظن أنه من الأفضل عدم القيام به.
Why?
لماذا؟
The man who will be her husband would say she will have more desire.That’s why
الرجل الذي سيكون زوجها ربما يقول إنها سيكون عندها رغبة جنسية أكثر. هذا هو السبب.
Shara: do you feel regretful about cutting your other daughters?
شارا: هل تشعرين بالندم لختان بناتك الأخريات؟
Mother: yes
الأم: نعم.
Why do you feel sorry?
لم تشعرين بالأسف؟
MOTHER: because they have no desire anymore. That was why we did it so ear-ly, to avoid trouble for them.
الأم: لأنهن لم يعد لديهن الرغبة الجنسية. لهذا السبب قمنا بختانهن في سن مبكرة جداً، لتجنيبهن المتاعب.
VO: Nabaz and Shara also paid a visit to the married couple Hawa and Erat.
ناباز وشارا قاما أيضاً بزيارة الزوجين حواء وإيرات.
55.30 Shara: We heard that Hawa had a child, because I was always in touch with them. When I heard we went back to visit them.
شارا: كنت دائماً على صلة بالزوجين، وسمعنا أن حواء جاءها مولود جديد. عندما سمعت بالخبر رجعنا لزيارتهم.
We have a new baby!
عندنا مولود جديد
What is the baby’s name?
ما اسم المولود؟
Darin!
دارين
It is a boy.
وهو ولد
He is inside.
موجود في الداخل
He is awake now.
وهو مستيقظ الآن Street scene.
Shara approach-es a house.
Talking to a young girl outside the house.
56.11 SHARA: After every problem life can change and something new comes along. This was their new born baby, a new life, a new start. We hoped this new baby could create a new start in their life.
شارا: بعد كل مشكلة ممكن أن تتغير الحياة ويظهر شيء جديد. كان هذا مولودهما الجديد، حياة جديدة، وبداية جديدة. تأملنا أن يخلق هذا المولود الجديد بداية جديدة في حياتهم. IV Shara
56.32 NABAZ: When was your child born?
ناباز: متى ولد ابنك؟
HAWA: Last night around one o'clock.
حواء: ليلة أمس، حوالي الساعة الواحدة.
Last night?
ليلة البارحة؟
Yes.
نعم Hawa with her baby
56.50 ERAT: My daughters have not been touched, and I will not allow them to be touched, because I have witnessed the situation myself. It has really negative impacts on marriage. IV Erat
his daughter out-side
VO: When Nabaz and Shara had last left Gulala she had not yet decided if she would allow her second daughter to be cut.
عندما ترك ناباز وشارا غلالا في المرة الأخيرة، لم تكن قد قررت بعد ما إذا كانت ستسمح بختان ابننتها الثانية.
57.53 GULALA: I will not do it at this point. I don’t believe I will. But if people ask I will say to them “I have given my daughter khatana.”
Why are all the girls who have been cut sunnah BUT not my girl who is not cut?They will probably talk about it a lot but eventually keep quiet. Image
Helen gets mon-ey from her father
Then hits her mother up too.
58.12 NADYA: If a woman is not convinced that she wants to cut her girl, but there is pressure from her mother in law or her grandmother or what have you, then, she can be like OK there's a piece of paper that says this is illegal and someone's going to get punished for it.
ناديا: إذا لم تكن المرأة مقتنعة بختان ابنتها، لكن هناك ضغوطات عليها من جانب والدة زوجها أو جدتها أو أي أحد آخر، فبإمكانها أن تقول حسناً هناك وثيقة تثبت أن هذا غير قانوني وسوف يعاقب من يقدم عليه. Hawas daughter leaves for school.
MCU IV woman
54.50 Are you cut?
No.
And you?
No I am not.
Why not?
Those things are so outdated.
END. Midwife in living room talking to young girls.
Arabic: UK hospital declares major incident as A&E under ‘immense pressure’ Detailed field: Media / Multimedia
Source text - Arabic UK hospital declares major incident as A&E under ‘immense pressure’
A major hospital in the UK has declared a critical incident, warning it is facing “immense pressures” on its services.
Wigan’s Royal Albert Edward Infirmary urged people to avoid its A&E unless suffering a “life or limb-threatening emergency”.
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh (WWL) Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust warned that “unprecedented attendances” meant the emergency department was “full”. It said it is working with partners to discharge patients who are ready to leave hospital.
The trust, which previously declared a critical incident in December, said the safety of its patients is the “top priority”.
By declaring a critical incident, hospitals are able to take action so that safe services are maintained despite increasing pressures.
A statement from the trust said it is “currently facing exceptionally high levels of occupancy, growing pressure on our services, and unprecedented attendances at our Emergency Department (A&E) at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Wigan.”
It added: “We are also seeing ongoing challenges in discharging our patients who are well enough to leave hospital, which has a direct impact on the number of beds available for patients who are in desperate need of medical attention.
“As a result of this ongoing pressure, the trust has escalated its position to a critical incident, which means WWL can take additional action to maintain safe services for our patients and tackle this increasing pressure.
“The safety of our patients and our staff is always our top priority and we are working through who needs our help as quickly and as safely as we can. We must prioritise treatment for patients with life and limb-threatening conditions and injuries.”
Translation - Arabic
مستشفى بريطاني يعلن الحالة الخطرة/ الحرجة بالتزامن مع تعرض قسم الطوارئ لديه لضغط هائل
أعلن مستشفى رئيسي في المملكة المتحدة عن تصنيف الوضع لديه بالخطر محذرا من أنه يواجه "ضغوطا هائلة" على خدماته.
مستشفى ألبرت ادوارد الملكي الواقع في بلدة ويغان التابعة لمدينة مانشستر الكبرى حث الأفراد على عدم زيارة قسم الطوارئ لديه ما لم يعانوا من حالة طارئة تهدد بقاءهم على قيد الحياة أو سلامة أجسامهم وأطرافهم.
مؤسسة المستشفيات التعليمية في كل من ”رايتينغتون“ و“ويغان“ و“لي“ والتابعة لهيئة الخدمات الصحية الوطنية في المملكة المتحدة حذرت من أن الحضور غير المسبوق إلى قسم الطوارئ جعله يصبح ممتلئا بالمرضى. وأكدت أنها تعمل مع شركائها لتسهيل مغادرة المرضى المستعدين لذلك.
وقالت المؤسسة التي أعلنت في السابق عن الحالة الحرجة في شهر ديسمبر / كانون الأول الماضي إن سلامة المرضى تعتبر ”الأولوية القصوى“ لديها.
وبالإعلان عن الحالة الحرجة يمكن للمستشفيات اتخاذ الإجراءات اللازمة من أجل الحفاظ على تقديم الخدمات الآمنة على الرغم من الضغوط المتزايدة.
وقال بيان صادر عن المؤسسة إنها تواجه حاليا مستويات إشغال عالية واستثنائية وضغطا متزايدا على خدماتها وحضورا غير مسبوق في قسم الطوارئ في مستشفى ألبرت إدوارد الملكي في بلدة ويغان.
وأضافت المؤسسة: ”نشهد تحديات مستمرة في تسهيل مغادرة المرضى الذين يتمتعون بصحة جيدة تمكنهم من مغادرة المستشفى، الأمر الذي يؤثر تأثيراً مباشراً على عدد الأسرة المتاحة للمرضى الذين هم في حاجة ماسة للرعاية الطبية.
”ونتيجة لهذا الضغط المتواصل رفعت المؤسسة درجة السلامة لديها إلى الحرجة، مما يعني أن مستشفيات ”رايتينغتون“ و ”ويغان“ و ”لي“ يمكنها اتخاذ إجراءات إضافية للحفاظ على خدمات آمنة للمرضى وإيجاد حلول لهذا الضغط المتزايد“.
”إن سلامة مرضانا وموظفينا على رأس أولوياتنا دائما، ونحن نعمل من أجل أولئك الذين يحتاجون مساعدتنا بأسرع وقت ممكن وبكل الطرق الآمنة التي نستطيع توفيرها. يجب أن نعطي الأولوية لعلاج المرضى الذين يعانون من حالات وإصابات تهدد حياتهم وأطرافهم“.
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Master's degree - University of Westminster
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Years of experience: 13. Registered at ProZ.com: Mar 2023. Became a member: Dec 2023.
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I have thirteen years’ experience in translation and journalism. I believe that the knowledge and experience that built up for me during this time make me fulfil the duties of translation English Arabic in a professional level. Having earned my Master of Art in Bilingual translation from the University of Westminster in 2010 and my first degree in History from the University of Jordan in 2006, I understand the importance of translation and modern Arabic writing. Working in a newsroom is now part of my daily live. I like working in current affairs departments. It might be something related to my studies in Politics and History. I feel myself confident in the newsroom. BBC Arabic editors appraised me and my efforts in the newsroom in translating scripts, audios and videos from English to Arabic. The situation was the same in Al Araby TV where I used to work as a producer and translator 2016- 2022. I came through many different experiences of breaking news and big events in the Middle East and the world and I managed to steer them successfully. I was one of the interpreters in Al Araby and I had to do simultaneous interpreting and written translation on a daily basis. As for writing, I can write fluently in modern Arabic and English. I worked in BBC Arabic news room for six years and in Al Araby TV news room for seven years. During those years my duties included writing news bulletins, reports, analysis and cues. My translation duties were huge as I used to depend on English media resources beside Arabic ones to verify the news and inform the audience about it. I have been a registered translator with BBC for eleven years. I translated many documentaries and programmes’ segments. During my years of work in media and translation, I was acknowledged as one of the best journalists and translators. I was thanked many times by the managers in Al Araby TV and the editors in BBC Arabic for the high standers that I follow while preparing my reports, while producing the programmes and fulfilling my translation duties.
Keywords: Arabic, Translation, Interpreter, Computers, Technical translation, institutional translation, Software, Scientific translation, Media translation, News translation. See more.Arabic, Translation, Interpreter, Computers, Technical translation, institutional translation, Software, Scientific translation, Media translation, News translation, Currant affairs translation, TV Translation.. See less.
Member since Dec '23
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