Zambia among nations where dads ejaculate on babies to make them strong, says report
MENDEZ Fernandez, a European researcher specializing in African customs says the custom of fathers ejaculating on their newly born babies as a way of making them physically strong is still being practiced by some sections of the Bemba, Tumbuka people in Zambia and other tribes in Malawi and Tanzania.
According to a report by Fernandez, this practice is not only done to make the babies strong but also to cure fontanelle (known as ichapamutwe in Bemba).
Explained Fernandez in his report: “Thing is, after a woman gives birth, she and her husband sleep in separate beds until she is no longer bleeding. When the couple resumes sexual relations, the man releases semen on the baby or on the mother’s hands who then smears it on the baby’s body. Children are usually approximately 3 to 4 months old when this ritual is performed. This is supposed to strengthen the health of the child.
He added: “This ritual called the ‘child strengthening’ is performed like this; the couple has sex while the wife is holding the child and he has to ejaculate on the child. If the man fails to ejaculate, the child can get sick. Mind you, this ritual can only be performed by the original father to the child. That means every woman who has had a newly born child must offer the child to its original father before she could engage in any sexual relations with any other lover otherwise the child will be weak and prone to infection which may led to its early death.”
This researcher claims that the custom appears to be accepted even by health professionals.
“Some nurses and doctors in many hospitals in Lusaka have told me on several occasions that their hospitals are full with sick infants whose parents did not follow this traditional ritual.
“It is also known that if a baby had a fontanelle problem (ichapamutwe) – the mother would be advised to put some vaginal fluids on the baby’s fontanelle or rub it (the fontanelle) with the father’s penis,” he stated.
However, this practice has not been reported in any of the public health or social science literature on African traditional practices.
Let’s hear your views concerning this ichapamutwe thing. What do you know about it?
[Additional reporting by ‘This is Africa’]