How do you protect girls from FGM?
To protect oneself from COVID-19 wear a mask, stand six feet apart from others outdoors, and no indoor gatherings. How do you protect girls in Somalia, Egypt, Mali, Ethiopia and 25 other countries from Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)? My mother comes from Somalia, where she narrowly escaped the war in the late nineties. According to my mother, living and growing up in the predominantly religious and cultural context of those days, was a nightmare and constantly placed at her at risk for the horrific experience of FGM. Although, she survived by fleeing to Kenya then to the U.S., here in Harlem, some families from African nations send their daughters back to their country to be mutilated so they will be acceptable for marriage. This practice is widespread in Africa and Asia.
Through my mother’s story I understand the victims of FGM. My mother’s childhood stories have informed me of what it might have been like for me and my two sisters if we had to live under those cultural and religious beliefs. The idea that girls live in fear that this might happen to them one day is completely unacceptable. According to the World Health Organization and health researchers, FGM causes severe bleeding and sometimes death. Women and girls who went through FGM experience chronic pain, develop complications during childbirth, and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorders and depression.
About 200 million girls from birth to age 15 have undergone the procedure. There is an estimate of 68 million girls that will have experienced FGM from now to 2030. We have to put an end to this torturous and dehumanizing acts. It is time for people in other nations to fight for the end of FGM. Women and girls are traumatized, and children are dying daily, because of FGM.
I am going to protect girls by raising awareness and mobilize resources for The New 3Rs Youth Giving Circles to support organizations fighting FGM. Watch A Piece of Me | UNFPA Then, Feb 6th join the United Nations International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. FGM Must End!
Leila, Age 12, NY
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