The Waldfriede Hospital, in cooperation with the Vienna-based (Austria) “Desert Flower Foundation” which was launched in 2002 by Somali model Waris Dirie, opened the Desert Flower Center on September 11, 2013. The center’s focus is restoring survivors of female genital mutilation (FGM).
Dirie, herself a survivor of FGM at age five, is an international activist and established the foundation to raise awareness of the ritual. Her 1997 book “Desert Flower” was made into a movie in 2009.
Waldfriede Hospital is the first and only European hospital to treat FGM survivors in a
holistic manner.
“Since its opening in September 2013, more than 600 women have sought our medical help,” affirms Dr. Cornelia Strunz, medical coordinator at Desert Flower Center, who kindly granted us the following interview.
What, do you think, are the most important actions to achieve the goal of zero tolerance? Apart from the professional help you give, what else can be done to end FGM?
The most important measure in the fight against FGM is widespread education and schooling of children, locally, in their home countries. In general, the public should be sensitized to the issue, information on FGM should be bundled and further developed on an interdisciplinary basis, and professional competencies should be strengthened. Thus, in 2020, we founded the "Berlin FGM_C Coordination Office." This is a cooperation of three organizations: The family planning center, BALANCE; Terre des Femmes; and the Desert Flower Center at Waldfriede Hospital. The aim of the coordination office is to link the existing services in Berlin and to expand them according to need, to train professionals in dealing with the issue, and to strengthen awareness-raising activities in the communities.
In the sense of holistic support, the coordination office offers psychological support and psychosocial group services for those affected in addition to medical counseling and treatment.
To this end, the coordination center focuses on raising awareness among professionals and qualifies them for dealing with those affected. A hotline also offers the first point of contact and counseling for affected persons and professionals, and enables simple and low-threshold mediation.
As we receive many inquiries about shadowing at the Desert Flower Centre, we have been offering an FGM intensive seminar for colleagues, midwives, and nursing professionals, twice a year since 2018.
Can you briefly explain what the Desert Flower Center is about?
Desert Flower Center Waldfriede (DFC) came into being out of clinical necessity, as many women in Germany also suffer from the health and psychological consequences of FGM. The project was realized in cooperation with the Desert Flower Foundation under the patronage of Waris Dirie and her manager, Walter Lutschinger, in December 2011, as it became clear that purely preventive work did not meet the needs of those affected. Our goal is to offer holistic medical care to women suffering from the consequences of genital mutilation. This includes not only surgical interventions and reconstructive operations but also psychological and physiotherapeutic help. We also offer a self-help group that meets once a month at Waldfriede Hospital.
What motivates you to work in this sensitive area?
As medical coordinator and senior physician of the Desert Flower Center Waldfriede, I am the first person the women get in touch with by phone or email. The fact, alone, that these often very emotional preliminary talks and the medical examination take place in a trusting environment from woman to woman makes it easier for the women to open up to me. In the counseling session, the problems presented are dealt with individually. It is not always about an operation. Some want to talk to our psychotherapist or join our self-help group. Others need a medical certificate for their ongoing asylum process. It is important to take time for a detailed medical history and examination, and to respond to the needs of the patients, thus alleviating their fears and addressing their concerns.
As a specialist in our department, it was with great gratitude that I started working at the Center. I feel that this specialist work is very honorable. The many positive responses encourage me in our highly important work.
You have been working in the Desert Flower Center since its foundation in 2013. What are the most important developments?
Since the opening in September 2013, more than 600 women have sought our medical help. Surgery was necessary for half of them.
A stable solution has also been found in the meantime for the financial settlement of problematic cases. An operation costs around €2,000-4,000 (US $2,400-4,800). For people with statutory health insurance, the costs are covered by health insurance. However, since we also want to treat people who are not insured, we have founded the Förderverein Waldfriede e.V. (Waldfriede Association). The support association, which is financed by donations, supports or assumes the costs in these cases.
Since January 2015, we have been offering a support group once a month. Women who have already been treated by us, as well as those who are still looking for help, come to the meetings. In a protected setting, the women can exchange experiences and learn that they are not alone with their fears and worries. Sometimes affected women talk about their fate or women who have already undergone reoperation talk about their experiences.
A major problem at the beginning was intercultural perception and communication. We are very happy to now have two employed counselors/interpreters, in addition to volunteer counselors, who enable us and the women to overcome these non-verbal hurdles. With Evelyn Brenda (born in Kenya) and Farhia Mohamed (born in Somalia), we have two therapists in the team who can work psychotherapeutically in German as well as in their respective mother tongues.
All the women tell us how valuable this community in the self-help group is for them because here they can often talk about their worries and experiences for the first time in their lives—in a protected setting among like-minded people. At these meetings, we always notice that the work with the women is much more than just a "job."
When the women come together, there is always a very warm atmosphere. We all call each other by our first names, and especially the women who have already been treated are bursting with self-confidence. In these moments, we realize how much this task fulfills us and what the team at Desert Flower Center Waldfriede achieves. Here, women are literally given their lives back.
In April 2016, we were awarded the Louise Schroeder Medal. It is the highest award of the state of Berlin. Since 1998, the medal has been awarded to a personality who or institution which pays outstanding tribute to Louise Schroeder's political and personal legacy and has rendered outstanding services to democracy, peace, social justice, and gender equality.
In October 2020, we published the first German-language reference book on FGM, edited by Dr. Uwe von Fritschen, Dr. Cornelia Strunz, and Dr. Roland Scherer. Our aim was to share our experiences with this complex issue and to provide assistance for all professionals in coping with the multi-faceted problems of circumcised women. As the number of women with female genital mutilation (FGM) is also increasing in Germany as a result of migration and globalization, many professional groups are confronted with this issue without having received any training so far.
On October 19, 2020, the first issue of the new Desert Flower Magazine was published, which was designed by the Desert Flower Foundation and Waris Dirie. In the magazine, we provide a detailed overview of the work, the projects, and successes of Dirie and her Desert Flower Foundation in the worldwide fight against the inhumane ritual of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
The Desert Flower MAGAZINE is available in German, English and French.
Link to the German edition:
https://www.yumpu.com/de/document/read/64608181/desert-flower-magazin
Link to the English edition:
https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/65173882/desert-flower-magazine
Link to the French edition:
https://www.yumpu.com/fr/document/view/65176146/fleur-du-desert-magazine
In addition to our activities in Berlin, we also want to take action against female genital mutilation in the home countries with prevention measures and educational work. Therefore, Waldfriede Hospital supports two girls' schools in Kajiado, Kenya. (1)
Waldfriede Hospital also cooperates with the Gynocare Women's & Fistula Hospital, in Eldoret, Kenya. Here, among other things, women are operated on for urinary and fecal incontinence due to their genital circumcision. The specialist in this surgical technique is Dr. Hillary Mabeya.
Interview by Dagmar Dorn, Women’s Ministries Director, and Corrado Cozzi, Communications Director of the Inter-European Region of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Here is the Newsletter 'Bring Hope', Kenya - edited by Evelyn Brenda, Chairlady of Bring Hope Kenya e.V.
Here the story of Eunice, reported by Evelyn Brenda, Chairlady of Bring Hope Kenya e.V.
This article was originally published on the Inter-European Division’s news site