Nimo Hussein’s poem in our Complexd Women feature touches on female circumcision.

‘She knows of being sewn, torn, and sewn again,

Ripped open for his pleasure’

Statistics show that 140 million women have undergone female genital mutilation and 3 million girls are at risk of having the cutting every year. At the Endangered Species Summit, during International Woman’s Month back in March, I met two representatives of Forward UK. Forward works towards safeguarding and protecting the reproductive rights of African girls and women. They campaign against gender-based violence and raise awareness of female genital mutilation. The girls spoke to me about the continuous work they do with the organisation.

‘As a charity we have several different programmes – our programme in Africa sets up projects to combat female genital mutilation. I have spoken to females who have experienced this and I commend their bravery on speaking out about the issue. Sharing their stories helps them and others realise that what happened to them is not beneficial and to make sure that it does not continue to happen to future generations of women’

‘We speak to very vulnerable girls so it is important that they don’t feel like we are going to stigmatise them because they have undergone female genital mutilation. My mother even thinks it’s the right thing to do because she believes it will prevent her from committing adultery. The women who practise it genuinely don’t believe they are doing any harm or any injustice toward their children. They treat it has a tradition that should be performed on every young girl’

www.forwarduk.org.uk