Mass circumcision ceremony leaves 43 boys dead and dozens more mutilated in South Africa
Mass circumcision ceremonies in South Africa have left more than 43 boys dead and dozens more mutilated.
Twice a year, the ceremonies – known in the country as 'Ulwaluko' – are carried out with the intention of preparing young men across the nation for manhood.
On arrival, initiates are smothered in white clay and taken away from their families and spend three weeks transitioning from a boy to full manhood before being returned home.
As part of the ceremony, the boys are meant to be circumcised by traditional surgeons who have years of experience.
But many Ulwaluko ceremonies are instead carried out by unskilled people working at illegal initiation schools who use old spears, scissors or razor blades to perform horrific surgery.
These ceremonies can be deadly. In 2024, the combined deaths of both winter and summer rituals was 93 boys with 11 total penis amputations – with some rogue 'surgeons' found to perform the operation without anaesthetic.
A report commissioned by the South African government recorded 322 deaths of young boys between 2021 and 2024 and thousands more hospitalisations and amputations.
It laid the blame at the door of criminal gangs who have set up unscrupulous illegal initiation schools who use untrained 'surgeons' and 'nurses' who botch the circumcisions.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-1...emony.html
Mass circumcision ceremonies in South Africa have left more than 43 boys dead and dozens more mutilated.
Twice a year, the ceremonies – known in the country as 'Ulwaluko' – are carried out with the intention of preparing young men across the nation for manhood.
On arrival, initiates are smothered in white clay and taken away from their families and spend three weeks transitioning from a boy to full manhood before being returned home.
As part of the ceremony, the boys are meant to be circumcised by traditional surgeons who have years of experience.
But many Ulwaluko ceremonies are instead carried out by unskilled people working at illegal initiation schools who use old spears, scissors or razor blades to perform horrific surgery.
These ceremonies can be deadly. In 2024, the combined deaths of both winter and summer rituals was 93 boys with 11 total penis amputations – with some rogue 'surgeons' found to perform the operation without anaesthetic.
A report commissioned by the South African government recorded 322 deaths of young boys between 2021 and 2024 and thousands more hospitalisations and amputations.
It laid the blame at the door of criminal gangs who have set up unscrupulous illegal initiation schools who use untrained 'surgeons' and 'nurses' who botch the circumcisions.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-1...emony.html
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
