Dear John,

*WARNING: This message includes content about Female Genital Cutting (FGC) that some individuals may find distressing.*

Today is International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. Across communities, extraordinary people are coming together to challenge Female Genital Cutting (FGC)*. 

More than 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGC. For many women the experience is traumatising, and it lives with them for the rest of their life. Shamsa from Berbera Town, Somaliland said: 

“It happened 40 years ago, but I still feel the pain. I will never in my life forget the pain. There was no anaesthetic. Five people had to sit on me, holding me down, and they tied my legs. Then they started cutting with the knife. I was eight years old...” 

We help to bring communities together for regular discussions and to raise awareness through radio shows. We work with women and girls who have undergone FGC, community and religious leaders, and health workers as they challenge peoples' views on FGC.

Weris Elmi, from Kalashar village in Somaliland, tells us she knew little about the harmful impacts of FGC. But because of community discussions, she now advises against FGC. 

“Before these awareness-raising sessions...I believed that FGM was a must for every girl. Over the last couple of years Health Poverty Action has collaborated with the community based organisations and we received a number of awareness-raising sessions which taught us about the harms on the health of a child…Last month a neighbour of mine told me she was planning to circumcise her eight year-old daughter. I told her about the disadvantages of this harmful practice...after this discussion she agreed not to perform FGM on her daughter and she now joins me as a campaigner against FGM too." 

Fadumo, from Sahil in Somaliland, had been a traditional cutter for decades. In 2011, she attended a training workshop. Here Fadumo learnt that the practice of FGC was against Islamic teaching, and that FGC had harmful impacts on health. This workshops meant she wanted to stop FGC. 

However, for many women like Fadumo, FGC is how they make a living:

“The cutters used to ask me, ‘What will we do for a living if we stop female genital cutting?’. It seems that workshops alone will not change much if there is no income generating alternative for the cutters. The circumcisers will not leave their job simply because they are asked to leave.” 

Shamsa, who had become a traditional cutter after experiencing FGC herself, expressed a similar concern: 

“I want to encourage communities to stop all types of [cutting], even Sunna [Sunna is a type of FGC], but I cannot do this now when I am performing the practice. But Sunna is my only source of income, and my husband is now dead. I have eight children. What I am supposed to do?..."

In Sahil, many of the traditional cutters were respected within the community. They were involved in delivering babies and had vital health knowledge.

Alongside the Ministry of Health, we provided former traditional cutters training and paid employment as Traditional Birth Attendants, so they can continue to support mothers through childbirth and act as a source of health knowledge for the community.  

Today we acknowledge the work being done in communities to raise awareness of the impact of FGC and protect women and girls' health.

Yours sincerely,

Siaffa Bunduka
Supporter Engagement Manager

*Female Genital Cutting (FGC) is oftentimes used interchangeably with FGM. At Health Poverty Action we tend to use FGC, as this is the preferred term of many of the people we work with. Despite the physical harm the intention behind cutting is not to mutilate or harm, but to provide women with a better standing in their community. For an in depth definition of FGM see WHO here.