Pastor survives death threat from Bondo Society Women
Pastor Emmanuel Tommy Kowa of Household of Faith Christian Fellowship Church, Talia Yobeco Village, Bonthe District, South Province, Sierra Leone on 12th November, 2011 at around 2:00 a.m. was at his church praying when the Secret Society Women (Bondo Society) together with a gang of male youths surrounded the church compound and threatened to kill him.
Pastor Kowa said it was “only through the grace of God and our savior Jesus Christ I was able to escape through a window.” As Pastor Kowa made his escape the whole church building and his house were set alight and burnt to the ground. Fortunately the pastor’s wife was not in the house at the time as she had travelled to the next village.
Pastor Kowa stated that the reason behind the whole threat was that he “strongly preaches and stands against the evil practice of their so called Bondo Society.”
Pastor Kowa’s cousin Christiana Kowa died on the 15th March, 2011 after being initiated by the Bondo Society Women.
In the Pastor’s village, some victims of initiation have given up their life to Christ, after testifying to the church about the evil practice of the Bondo Society.
According to some surviving victims who suffered initiation by the Bondo Society and who later joined the Church, the practice is very harmful to the life of the girl child because during their initiation the Bondo Society Women use unspecialized, unsanitary and harmful instruments to cut the clitoris of the girl child which in many instances leads to serious bleeding, and in the worse case, death.
According to Pastor Kowa 55% of the people in Talia Yobeco Village are non-religious and believe in the evil practice, 25% are Muslim, and 20% are Christian. He stated that the health and lives of many female children in the village are at risk, hence he feels the need to preach against the evil practice of female genital mutilation by secret societies such as the Bondo Society.
Mariatu Sesay
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