PHUKET: It's been five years between mass circumcisions for us and the difference is notable: children's habits have changed.
This time one of the boys who has just had his foreskin removed sits in a chair, his nose immersed in an iPad.
He is naked from the waist down with knees spread wide and just a piece of gauze covering his surgical wound, a bit like a figleaf. It makes a great image, ancient and modern, for 2015.
Circumcision is one of the most important rites among Muslims and 25 boys are having their foreskins lopped this day.
Each operation at the childhood development centre in Kamala takes about 20 minutes, with between nine and 11 stitches usually required.
We feel privileged at being allowed to glimpse this aspect of Phuket culture.
About one third of the population of Phuket is Muslim, so circumcision is very much an island tradition.
These boys will be permitted to pray with the menfolk at Phuket's mosques once this task is done.
Carrying out the operations one by one are the two sons and daughter of Kamala resident Hem Saboot, all three of them doctors.
''People take this in their stride,'' Khun Hem says. ''For us, it is important.''
The boys are a little anxious, as you'd expect. There are grimaces and sometimes a yell. Their parents are sometimes even more obviously anxious.
There's a queue waiting on the verandah outside the improvised surgery. Every time a boy shouts ''Ouch!''l for the painkilling injection that starts the process, other boys in the waiting line get to hear.
A gaggle of women surround the boy's head, with plenty of tender advice being given. The men tend to congregate at the foot of the bed.
The patients are mostly in the seven to 10 age group. Being naked is not the problem it could be with some Western children.
''It's a collective decision,'' says Khun Hem. ''The boys have to agree with their parents when the time is right.''
It's called a sunrat. Because its a joyous occasion, a television cameraman takes footage. There are plenty of mobile telephone cameras in use, too.
The boys seem to cope remarkably well. After, they are spread out on a low stage, letting the air circulate around their stitches, probably wondering how long it will be before they can kick a football again.
The boys will have time to recover before school starts.
Five years ago, at a mosque in another part of Phuket, the operations are performed at several tables. This time, there is just the one team.
The orborjor once funded the circumcisions as a community project, but not any more.
However, the mass operation saves parents the high cost of a hospital bill.
We leave when one father tells us he'd prefer not to have photographs taken. Perhaps, as well as the iPad and the mobile telephone cameras, a little more coyness is now part of the process.
This time one of the boys who has just had his foreskin removed sits in a chair, his nose immersed in an iPad.
He is naked from the waist down with knees spread wide and just a piece of gauze covering his surgical wound, a bit like a figleaf. It makes a great image, ancient and modern, for 2015.
Circumcision is one of the most important rites among Muslims and 25 boys are having their foreskins lopped this day.
Each operation at the childhood development centre in Kamala takes about 20 minutes, with between nine and 11 stitches usually required.
We feel privileged at being allowed to glimpse this aspect of Phuket culture.
About one third of the population of Phuket is Muslim, so circumcision is very much an island tradition.
These boys will be permitted to pray with the menfolk at Phuket's mosques once this task is done.
Carrying out the operations one by one are the two sons and daughter of Kamala resident Hem Saboot, all three of them doctors.
''People take this in their stride,'' Khun Hem says. ''For us, it is important.''
The boys are a little anxious, as you'd expect. There are grimaces and sometimes a yell. Their parents are sometimes even more obviously anxious.
There's a queue waiting on the verandah outside the improvised surgery. Every time a boy shouts ''Ouch!''l for the painkilling injection that starts the process, other boys in the waiting line get to hear.
A gaggle of women surround the boy's head, with plenty of tender advice being given. The men tend to congregate at the foot of the bed.
The patients are mostly in the seven to 10 age group. Being naked is not the problem it could be with some Western children.
''It's a collective decision,'' says Khun Hem. ''The boys have to agree with their parents when the time is right.''
It's called a sunrat. Because its a joyous occasion, a television cameraman takes footage. There are plenty of mobile telephone cameras in use, too.
The boys seem to cope remarkably well. After, they are spread out on a low stage, letting the air circulate around their stitches, probably wondering how long it will be before they can kick a football again.
The boys will have time to recover before school starts.
Five years ago, at a mosque in another part of Phuket, the operations are performed at several tables. This time, there is just the one team.
The orborjor once funded the circumcisions as a community project, but not any more.
However, the mass operation saves parents the high cost of a hospital bill.
We leave when one father tells us he'd prefer not to have photographs taken. Perhaps, as well as the iPad and the mobile telephone cameras, a little more coyness is now part of the process.
You are all insane amputating the most sensitive part of the penis.
Posted by Peter London on April 26, 2015 21:54