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.
Comments