By Yusif Sesay
Reports reaching this medium allege that a woman, name Daniella Ajuah During, has gone missing over fears that she is to undergo Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) also known as ‘Bondo’ in order for her to succeed her aunt as one of the community heads (‘Sowei’) of the society.
According to investigations, Daniella is said to have gone missing in late July this year, following repeated attempts from her aunt and other society stakeholders to have her initiated first before she could succeed her. She was said to have been the only person chosen by her aged paternal aunt to take her ‘Sowei’ title, a traditional FGM title that allows its holder to also conduct FGM.
Prior to her disappearance, according to sources, Daniella had been staying with her ‘Sowei’ aunt at Victoria Street in central Freetown. Her aunt had been the one who took care of her since her childhood. She had been her breadwinner and source of hope, the source added. The two had had a cordial relationship until the succession issue and that of her initiation became a heated debate and wedged a knife between them following the death of her father.
Since then, according to the source, Daniella had been moving from one friend to another in fear of her being initiated and made a ‘Sowei’. Being a single parent herself, she was reported to have even secretly moved her daughter away from her aunt to an unknown friend for fear of reprisal if it came out that she had disappeared.
The source declined to answer whether Daniella had been taken to the ‘Bondo’ bush or whether she had escaped to a safer place.
This is not the first time people have disappeared or go into hiding because of fear or the activities of the country’s secret societies.
In January 2019, the Government of Sierra Leone imposed an immediate ban on all initiation ceremonies conducted by traditional secret societies across the country with particular reference to underage girls. This follows the gruesome murder of two young women believed to be in their twenties.
Despite the said government ban, secret societies still conduct initiations. In January 2024, three teenage girls (Salamatu Jalloh age 13, Kadiatu Bangura age 17 and Adamsay Sesay age 12) tragically lost their lives in the north-western district of Kambia, after undergoing FGM initiations.