Clitoraid: 3rd humanitarian clitoral restorative surgical mission in Kenya

San Francisco, CA - November 8, 2022 . Clitoraid—a US-based, humanitarian organization— is launching its 3rd clitoral restorative surgical mission in Nairobi, Kenya, Nov 14-19, 2022 to help victims of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) regain their sense of dignity and sexual pleasure—thanks to a technique developed by a French urologist.

“According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 25% of the Kenyan female population has had to endure the horrific tradition of genital cutting. And today, the practice is illegal in Kenya,” explained Nadine Gary, Clitoraid's Director of Operations.

The WHO estimates that 125 million women worldwide have had their genitals forcibly mutilated as babies or toddlers and possibly teenagers. This practice is a gross violation of the UNICEF Convention on the Right of the Child.

Clitoraid volunteer and head-surgeon, Dr. Marci Bowers of San Francisco, USA, will co-lead the clitoral restorative medical procedure in partnership with Kenya-based Dr. Adan Abdullahi at the Platinum Clinic in Nairobi.

“They will be assisted by local Kenyan doctors as well as two MD’s from the US, Dr. Jasmine Pedroso and Dr. Ben Hu, and Dr. Angela Deane of Canada. Both Dr. Hu and Deane are returning for a second time,” explained Gary, who went on to say, "the mission will also be an educational opportunity for a group of post-grad residency medical students from the University of Nairobi Medical School who have been invited to witness the actual surgical procedure."

Sixty FGM survivors, including women from Tanzania and Nigeria, are scheduled for surgery during the one-week, humanitarian endeavor that will take place at Dr. Abdullahi’s clinic in Nairobi,” informed Gary.

Since 2009, Clitoraid has provided clitoral restorative surgery (CRS) to over 550 genitally-mutilated women (mostly in the US) at the clinic of Dr Marci Bowers in San Francisco," said Gary. "Very few people realize that more than half a million FGM victims currently reside in the US as a result of immigration. We have also previously operated in Burkina Faso, West Africa, where our hospital dedicated to FGM victims still awaits its Grand Opening,” explained Gary."

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

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

“Today, thanks to access to education, women are realizing that traditions and cultures that violate their sexual integrity and their sexual freedom also violate their dignity as women,” Gary concluded.