Back to the News 2000 page.REUTERS, August 9,2000.
NAIROBI, Kenya (Reuters) - A Kenyan teenage boy was in critical condition after his penis was cut off in a botched circumcision, a Kenyan newspaper reported Wednesday.
The People newspaper said the 13-year old – a member of the Luhya tribe of western Kenya – had collapsed after a tribal elder mistakenly hacked off his whole penis instead of just the foreskin.
"The boy, who had braved the chilly morning to face the sharp blade...cried out aloud and writhed in pain, teeth bared as he saw all the treasures he had carefully preserved for the big day drop to the polythene bag he was standing on," the newspaper said.
It said the circumciser had been severely beaten up by friends and relatives of the boy, and that a crowd had then surrounded him in a thatched hut chanting "kill him, kill him."
Most tribes in Kenya practice traditional circumcision, with a ceremony marking the entry into manhood.
Participants usually jump into a cold river to numb the pain before an elder removes the foreskin with a sharp blade.
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