Female genital mutilation survivor is fighting against the practice of cutting girls

Brut America

"I lost the right to my body."  At 11 years old, her clitoris and labia were cut. Now she's fighting to save other girls from female genital mutilation.

Transcript

00:00It is impossible to forget the day that I was cut.

00:05The images are ingrained in my head.

00:09The smell, the visuals, it's all still very much real.

00:17There was no way to not go through being cut.

00:23And that's a very hard realization

00:29because you realize in that moment that your body doesn't belong to you.

00:34I lost the right to my body.

01:00And this is why I fight every single day

01:06to make sure that no other girl, no other woman

01:11goes through the pain,

01:14goes through the realization

01:18that their bodies don't belong to them.

01:29The physical pain associated with female genital mutilation

01:51includes continued infections.

01:55Women and girls like me who go through female genital mutilation

02:00are subject to issues during childbirth.

02:05We tend to have phantom pain

02:11and different pain because of scar tissue and other issues

02:17because oftentimes when the cutting is happening

02:21it's not being done in medical facilities.

02:25Usually it's a razor, it's a blade, it's a knife.

02:28There are also emotional pain

02:33and I think that is the hardest thing for survivors to talk about.

02:39It's the anxiety, the flashbacks that you get

02:46from being subjected to female genital mutilation.

02:51It's the depression.

03:07There are some families that will not let their son

03:11marry girls and women that are not cut.

03:16We know that broadly female genital mutilation

03:20is not required by any religion.

03:24Another reason why female genital mutilation is practiced

03:29is because people want to ensure that

03:33girls and women will not be promiscuous.

03:41For more information visit www.ISGlobal.org

04:11www.ISGlobal.org

04:35Female genital mutilation could be occurring

04:38in your own neighborhood, in your backyard

04:43and it is up to all of us to make a difference in it.

04:49We all have to educate ourselves about female genital mutilation.

05:09www.ISGlobal.org

05:17I started my organization There Is No Limit Foundation

05:21with my sister Mariama Kamara in 2008.

05:26We wanted to make sure that the next generation of girls

05:30will not go through female genital mutilation

05:33but it requires that we all speak up

05:38and that we all take action.

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