International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM

Last year, to mark Zero Tolerance to FGM Day, I wrote a blog - So, what's so bad about FGM? - as I realised that not enough people know the answer to that question. Because it's taboo to talk about it, people often don't know how damaging FGM is, but when they do, they can play a crucial role in campaigning against it, including men, as our new project in Somaliland goes to show.

I was mutilated when I was six years old. It was the most painful thing I can imagine and has caused me on-going problems ever since. I don’t have a daughter of my own to protect, but I don’t want anyone’s daughter to ever have to have FGM and suffer the way I have, and countless generations of women before me. This is my story.

I live in Kitale, in the eastern part of Kenya and I’ve been working for ActionAid since 2005. I was born and belong to this community, but unlike the majority of girls as I was growing up, I was lucky. Instead of being forced to have female genital mutilation (FGM) and enter into early marriage, my parents gave me an education.

Because 6th February is International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), also known as female circumcision, I want to take a look at what is FGM and why this excruciatingly painful practice is so horrific and has to be stopped. Now.