Female genital mutilation: 'I was six years old and I screamed because I wanted to die'

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Hibo Wardere lives with her husband and children in Walthamstow in east London, where she works as a teaching assistant at a local primary school. She was six years old when she underwent female genital mutilation at her family home in the Somalian capital of Mogadishu.In a small hut built by her mother and aunt for the occasion, Wardere had her clitoris cut out by a woman holding a rusty blade. "Before I was taken into the hut, I felt I had no reason to fear this woman because my mother was there," she says.Wardere never spoke about her experience until she moved to Britain 25 years ago, after the outbreak of the Somali Civil War. Somalia is one of the 29 African and Middle Eastern countries where the practice is concentrated, where more than 125 million women and girls have been cut."When I was six, a lot the girls in my area had already had the procedure," Wardere says. "They segregated you for not having been 'done' and told me I was unclean. After a while of these taunts, I asked my mother if I could have it. She said yes, and I thought it was a good thing.""A few days later we had a massive party and all the attention was on me. I felt really loved. The next morning, I was woken up at about 5 o'clock and my mother gave me a big breakfast. Three women walked in an hour later, because they don't want to carry out the procedure when the sun is up."

“It felt like my whole body was one fire. It was 'whoosh' and then you don't know what to do. You can't breathe”

Wardere was then taken to the makeshift hut where she was to stay until she had recovered. She was told to sit on the floor, in front of one of the three women."The minute I sat down, the woman put her hands underneath my armpits to hold me still," she remembers. "I was such a scrawny little girl that I felt like she was crushing my ribs. I realised nothing good was going to come out of this. The woman then yanked my dress up and pulled my legs apart, which hurt terribly. The lady sat in front of me, the cutter, didn't make eye contact with me at all."When the woman reached into the bag next to her, dozens of razors and blades fell out. "I think they were quite rusty because they were a brown shade," she adds. "Then she pulled my clitoris so hard that I thought she was going to rip me with her fingers and I screamed because it was so painful. She then made one sharp cut.""The next thing I remember is that it felt like my whole body was one fire," Wardere says. "It was 'whoosh' and then you don't know what to do. You can't breathe. I screamed for my mother and I screamed for them to stop. I was six years old and I was screaming because I wanted to die."Over 140 million girls and women alive today have undergone some form of FGM(Getty)

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"The woman kept asking my mother why I was screaming so much, and asked if I was a coward," Wardere says. "She said none of the others cried like this, and asked my mother to tell me to shut up." Her mother told her to keep quiet as the neighbours would hear her screams."Even after she had cut my clitoris off, the woman kept cutting," Wardere recalls. "She cut the vaginal lips and then went inside and cut more. By that time, I think I had passed the pain, I just wanted to die and asked God to take me.""The woman then started to sew me up, but I didn't know what was left to sew," she says. "I'm 45 and I still have flashbacks. FGM is a life sentence."Internationally recognised as a violation of the human rights of girls and women, FGM causes bleeding, chronic pain, infections, problems during childbirth and infertility, as well as extensive emotional trauma. Without intervention, another 86 million girls around the world will be subjected to the devastating practice by 2030.

“We can equip this generation with information about the procedure and by doing so, protect women and girls in the future”

Despite these serious consequences, FGM has long been a minority issue. Only now are campaigns gaining momentum, with anti-FGM petitions and public figures such as Malala Yousafzai – and survivors – speaking out about the issue. Last year, the UK hosted the inaugural Girl Summit, aimed at mobilising international efforts to end female genital cutting and child marriage."It ate me up for a very long time until three years ago, when I was asked to sit in a meeting with the head of my school and the parents of a Somalian girl. We suspected her parents were planning to take her out of school to be cut," Wardere says. "They asked what I thought, and I realised I could tell my story."The girl was taken out of school and never returned, Wardere adds. This is common practice in Britain, where FGM has been illegal since 1985. Since 2003, anyone taking a child out of the UK to be cut faces 14 years in prison. Even so, it is estimated that at least 20,000 girls under the age of 15 are estimated to be at risk of FGM in the UK. Many are cut during the school holidays - sometimes referred to as the "cutting season" for schoolgirls."Her parents knew that we were aware of what was happening," Wardere says. "It is likely that they didn't want an investigation, so never took her back."Afterwards, Wardere wrote down her experience as part of a teaching course about child abuse. "It took me all night and I broke down many times, but it was kind of good to let it out. Since then, I've been going to schools and teaching staff and children about the effects of FGM."As we approach the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation on 6 February, Wardere hopes her story will help raise awareness of the issue."When people find out I been through FGM, it's a game changer," she says. "Eradicating female cutting is all education and engaging men, women and children. We can equip this generation with information about the procedure and by doing so, protect women and girls in the future. That is my goal."Source: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk

http://www.somaliaonline.com/female-genital-mutilation-i-was-six-years-old-and-i-screamed-because-i-wanted-to-die/

[Ilax1508736701]

Thanks for sharing your personal story. it is shame this practice still exist largely in our society.

We have to unite to get this inhumane practices rid of.

 

[Mooge]

^^ niyoow this is another mashruuc. this FGM has been milked dry by xalimos.

[DoctorKenney]

<cite>

@Mooge

said:</cite>

^^ niyoow this is another mashruuc. this FGM has been milked dry by xalimos.

 

Exactly what I was thinking bro. I've seen numerous demonstrations, conferences, books, documentaries about this practice. They're milking it dry. They need to get on the ground and actually make a change in Somalia itself.

 

Since they're Somalis, nothing is stopping these activists from visiting their ancestral tuulo and actually convincing the locals to not engage in FGM. I hate talkers, especially those who receive large donations from organizations in order to speak about FGM, but then they don't do a damn thing in Somalia to actually stop the practice from continuing. Making a presentation about FGM when most of your audience are wealthy Westerners isn't a very good idea.

 

And it's a problem with the people. MANY MANY Somali women to this day are convinced that FGM is necessary, and often the procedure is performed by the grandmother of the young girls. Someone needs to educate these Ayeeyos and we need to make FGM a socially taboo practice. We need to SHAME those who engage in it, to the point where no Somali would ever want to participate in such a practice

[burahadeer]

practice is very very low nowadays, almost non existant except maybe in far edged rural areas.

[Ilax1508736701]

Guys fgm still practiced in many parts and we have to face it. And we should not see some thing in the past

Let us unite against thus inhumane practice affecting our sisters.

[Safferz]

DoctorKenney, how do you know these activists are not engaged with or involved in advocacy efforts in the Somali region? And what makes you think "talk" isn't important? The fact is that this is a practice rooted in a particular mindset and set of beliefs, and the most important thing that can be done is educate people about it and help them "un-learn" the logic sustaining the practice. Only by talking about it can actual change occur. And that includes in the diaspora, which you wrongly assume is not a site for female circumcision as well.

 

<cite>

@burahadeer

said:</cite>

practice is very very low nowadays, almost non existant except maybe in far edged rural areas.

 

This is not true at all. The majority of Somali women are circumcised and continue to be (not to mention the fact that Somalis practice the most violent form of female circumcision called pharoaonic circumcision, which not only involves cutting but sewing women closed), and it has actually increased in recent decades. During Siyaad Barre's regime, anti-circumcision health campaigns were successful to a certain degree in bringing circumcision numbers down, but the civil war and increasingly socially conservative dynamics of Somali society since have only made things worse.

[burahadeer]

^^ might still be true in some areas of Somali territories but I'm very much aware in Somaliland and they instead use the "sunna" which they cut the clitoris only.Still stupid but much better than before.

of what I heard many families in major urban areas don't even practice....you have to remember in this part many many families either came directly from abroad or have diaspora relatives and acquintances who influenced thm.Urge you to find out your nxt return.

[Nin-Yaaban]

FGM is officially banned in Somalia, but there are probably still rural areas where it's practiced.

 

[Safferz]

<cite>

@burahadeer

said:</cite>

^^ might still be true in some areas of Somali territories but I'm very much aware in Somaliland and they instead use the "sunna" which they cut the clitoris only.Still stupid but much better than before.

of what I heard many families in major urban areas don't even practice....you have to remember in this part many many families either came directly from abroad or have diaspora relatives and acquintances who influenced thm.Urge you to find out your nxt return.

 

Don't make stuff up about issues you know nothing about. Somaliland alone has female circumcision rates of upwards of 97% - which is about the same in the rest of the Somali territories - and 95% of those are infibulated (pharaonic).

 

This includes urban areas too -- Edna Adan's hospital in Hargeisa, for example, started recording circumcision figures (and mode) for all women who visit the hospital for pregnancy related care, and found that 97% of their patients (3833 women) were circumcised and of those, 99% (3796 women) had pharaonic circumcision.

[burahadeer]

<cite>

@Safferz

said:</cite>

Don't make stuff up about issues you know nothing about. Somaliland alone has female circumcision rates of upwards of 97% - which is about the same in the rest of the Somali territories - and 95% of those are infibulated (pharaonic).

 

97% and 95% hahaaa, how you find that out.

 

absolutely NONSENSE, you relying on old books or western journalist that stayed for 5 days and made things up relying on old same books and then you run away with it.

You have to stay here years as I did and find out how society have changed last 30 years and not run to your nearest library.

you will take western ova the findings of any Somali.Fact!

[Safferz]

I edited to add this to my post: Edna Adan’s hospital in Hargeisa, for example, started recording circumcision figures (and mode) for all women who visit the hospital for pregnancy related care, and found that 97% of their patients (3833 women) were circumcised and of those, 99% (3796 women) had pharaonic circumcision.

 

<cite>

@burahadeer

said:</cite>

97% and 95% hahaaa, how you find that out.

 

absolutely NONSENSE, you relying on old books or western journalist that stayed for 5 days and made things up relying on old same books and then you run away with it.

You have to stay here years as I did and find out how society have changed last 30 years and not run to your nearest library without even looking when was it written.

 

I'm sure you're walking around Hargeisa polling women about whether they've been circumcised or not, and this is all a grand Western conspiracy against Somalis.

[burahadeer]

You sound like the "know it all" who refuse to acknowledge truth. I have women relatives and many times had discussion with friends,both men and women.I'm very much aware of it.Society here is aware of it and very much so.Maybe we have to take your smartness for it.

 

what you saying is total bull...some organizations milk on stuff like that.

 

and don't be sure on what you know very little about.

[Safferz]

Oh look, Western journalists spouting bull about Somalis:

 

Western politicians pretending female circumcision is an issue in the Somali territories:

 

More Western activists milking the non-existent issue:

[burahadeer]

haven't even looked at tapes,have no time for nonsense,many organizations milk on many different issues.....NONE issue. Stay here right now and this subject is not an issue....the percentage is very negligible in major towns and probably higher in hinterland as I stated earlier, you can ask any man or woman......your tapes don't prove anything as there was no denial of FGM existence to begin with.

 

 

 

(((don't take my words out of context.I said westerners relying on old books or stayed for 5 days, and Stand by my words.and I did not say western organizations milking.....just said organizations which mostly could be Somalis)))

 

See you already making up stuff!!!