Ntailan Lolkoki is an activist against female genital mutilation who has so far published her autobiography narrating her life through FGM. Ntailan also published a second book with Austin Macauley, a novel called The Kingdom of Watetu and Songaland, using her life and the lives of other victims to educate on the subject. She is also a public speaker who encourages young people to say no to female genital mutilation and other forms of abuse.
The Kingdom of Watetu and Songaland is an autobiographical story about Mpeki, the princess of the Watetu tribe who realised early that FGM in her tribe was wrong and who sought out to bring about a change, a journey that caused her and her loved ones a lot of pain, because the Watetu tribe practised FGM while the neighbouring tribe, the Songa, appreciated sexuality. The differences that their cultures represented brought about a clash after the prince of Songaland assisted Princess Mpeki to run off after she hindered the mutilation of her sister.
This started a rift between both tribes that resulted in the abduction of the prince of Songaland, and the princess’s sister, whose mutilation the princess had hindered, was bought back by the missionaries. The prince of Songaland ended in Portugal as a slave, making his father furious – reason for a war that lasted for two decades.
It was finally after the abolition of slavery worldwide that the prince of Songaland came back with Mpeki and the missionaries who had travelled with her to help her evade her own mutilation.
Upon the arrival of the prince, his father ordered him to leave the princess, claiming that she was cursed. In fact, the princess was not cursed as all had thought. It was through her sacrifices that the two tribes reunited, becoming one under the prince and princess’s rule in the new kingdom of Watetu and Songaland, a kingdom of peace, justice and harmony. The story ends with a bombastic marriage between the two tribes, the result of the eradication of FGM.
Life After Reconstruction is my story after genital reconstructive surgery. It follows the events of what happened in my life after I wrote my first book, Wings for the Butterfly, published in Germany and in Poland. After the book came out, I thought I would be famous on the spot. Instead, I ended up in a worse situation than I was in; from living in my own flat to being in a refugee home. In the refugee home, which was not supportive for the process of sexual healing after reconstruction, I met up with other forms of traumas, perhaps worse than my own. The result of the hostile environment in the refugee home was the tension that heightened the already frightened sexual restoration, leading to numbness once again and even more rage which eventually became uncontrollable. In order to understand myself better, I became involved with trying to understand the people I came to live with, trying to understand their problems, to the point of understanding that we are all looking for pure love that was denied to us in the formative years.
I attended the book reading event organised in collaboration with Terre de femme on February 6, 2022. Terre de Femme is an organisation that fights for women’s rights, and I’m glad to team with them ........
In this article, I’ve shared horrific incidents about my life as a child, that have only made me stronger and courageous. My book. The Kingdom of Watetu and Songaland, is an autobiographical story a ........
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