In Tunisia a few weeks ago we visited Kairouan. As well as the great mosque, there is another called the Bedouin Mosque. As we entered the courtyard, we saw a group of Muslims (men, women and children) dressed obviously in their best clothes, standing outside a kind of large grille-like door. Being nosy I peered in, and there lay a baby boy (not so tiny, I guessed about 18 months old) on an ornate cloth on the floor. A chap knelt down, removed the child's lower garments while his father (I assume) held the boy down firmly by the shoulders. My husband hurriedly whispered to warn me, "This is a circumcision!" The man swabbed the genitals with a cloth then sliced away while the piercing screams rent the air. There was a lot of blood, and all the women ululated happily with joy. I was rooted to the spot with sheer horror. The child screamed for his mother, and became hysterical with shock and pain. I felt sick. Outside, the next victim waited in his father's arms. My husband explained that mothers don't accompany the child for circumcision, as 'they become distressed'. I relate this in detail because I want to describe exactly how it is performed. Whether circumcision is necessary or not, why is no anaesthesia used? In many parts of Africa, boys of ten or so are circumcised in front of all the men, and mustn't even flinch or they're despised. Barbaric and cruel.