MALAWI: Lazzar Phiri,* "It's a thing that we needed to discuss."
Photo: Edgar Mwakaba/IRIN
"This is a girl that I would like to marry"
Lilongwe, 12 April 2010 (PlusNews) - Lazzar Phiri*, a health worker in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe, doesn't only preach the benefits of male circumcision - he knows them first hand. Almost a year ago he went for the minor operation at a clinic run by the family planning organization, Banja La Mtsogolo (BLM) - Future Family in the Chichewa language. In a country where "the cut" remains controversial, Phiri sat down with IRIN/PlusNews to talk about it.
"It was a thing I had wanted to do for so long - I work in the health sector so I'd been reading books, discovering the importance of one getting circumcised, that's why I decided to come.
"Mostly I was interested in the healthier status – the better hygiene, the partial prevention of HIV [in men] and the [possible] lesser chance of infecting your partner [with the human papillomavirus, linked to cervical cancer].
"I talked to my fiancée to say I wanted to get circumcised, because sometimes ladies say, 'Why?' I ... [explained] why I wanted to go for circumcision and she accepted it.
"I talked to her about [having to wait six weeks for the wound to heal before having sex]. It's a thing that we needed to discuss, when it comes to that, so that she should not get surprised as to why this thing is not happening - she was expecting to wait.
"It wasn't difficult to talk to her but, again, this is a girl that I would like to marry. [Also,] we are not in that situation where we are staying together; she stays at her parents' and I stay at my house ... maybe with married couples sometimes it may be difficult.
"By the time I was coming to the clinic, [my fiancée] even escorted me and picked me up again when I was going back home. I got good support from her, she's an understanding girl.
"After I finally decided, I was nervous. I was thinking of so many things that could happen after, maybe the pain - but then, you know, it just takes courage – if you really want it you can go on with it. I just decided, 'I have to do it', but anyone would get nervous."
*not his real name
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Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews, Gender Issues, HIV/AIDS (PlusNews), Prevention - PlusNews,
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]