“I believe they don't really know what it is and how it is conducted, the procedures, and the negative impact that it has… It will be easy to say ‘don’t ban FGM’ when you don’t know what happened in there.” In S Danso’s country, men are working in Parliament to...
By Amie Kujabi I am an FGM/C survivor. For the past two decades, my advocacy on FGM/C has been centered around other survivors and girls at risk—but never have I shared my story. A story that shaped the trajectory of my childhood and marked the beginning of a long…long…lonely self-awareness...
By Isatou Jallow In my film “Behind The Wall,” I've chosen to share my deeply personal experience with Type 3 Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Through this storytelling, my aim is threefold. First, I want to educate. FGM, deeply rooted in tradition, often goes unquestioned. By unveiling the raw pain and...
By Aries Nuño In participating in Sahiyo's Voices to End FGM/C digital storytelling workshop, I chose to share a story that examined my journey toward understanding women’s health. This journey was not just a personal quest, but a response to a disquieting cultural reality: the pervasive silence among generations of...
By Faizneen Bharmal Growing up in a progressive and well-educated Dawoodi Bohra family, the topic of Khatna, commonly known as female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) around the world, was always shrouded in silence. The subject was rarely broached unless one became a parent, at which point it became relevant. For the...
Why did you want to attend the workshop and share your story? I attended the workshop to learn about digital storytelling as another medium of communication in my advocacy work to stop female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). What story did you choose to tell and create into a digital story? I...
By Umme I play a lot of video games. I watch even more video essays about video games. Written and recorded by people who’ve made careers out of literary analysis, these videos feel a bit like a virtual book club, joining with thousands of other viewers and commenters to play,...
By Lakshmi Anantnarayan I recently attended Sahiyo and Story Center’s Voices to End FGM/C Digital Storytelling workshop to share my experience as an anti-female genital mutilation (FGM) advocate. I certainly did not expect the process to be so enlightening and personally fulfilling! Though my work to end FGM goes back more than...
By Muna Osman Why did you want to attend the workshop and share your story? I first found out about the Voices workshop when I met with Mariya. The meeting was in a different setting; I had no idea about the workshop before she told me about what Sahiyo does...
By Nazneen Vasi The topic of Khatna, also known as female genital cutting (FGC), has always been interesting. Within my family, there are those who are against it, and those who support it. It is clearly not a religious custom, but more cultural. How did it even become a part...
By Cate Cox Despite working at Sahiyo for nearly three years, it wasn’t until recently that I decided to participate in our popular ‘Voices to End FGM/C’ digital storytelling workshop. For so long I’ve been inspired by the strength and bravery of the storytellers I watched on my computer screen....
By Zahra Qaiyumi In the process of creating a video as part of the Voices to End FGC project, I was able to pull scattered thoughts and memories into a clear and concise picture. The workshop allowed me to contemplate the different aspects of my experience as a survivor and...
By Dena Igusti I wanted to be a part of this year's Voices to End FGM/C digital storytelling workshop so I could talk more about my experiences navigating being a non-binary survivor of FGM/C. Unfortunately, a lot of statistics and narratives surrounding FGM/C only focus on cisgender women. In order...
By Zahra Qaiyumi In the process of creating a video as part of the Voices to End FGC project, I was able to pull scattered thoughts and memories into a clear and concise picture. The workshop allowed me to contemplate the different aspects of my experience as a survivor and helped me...
By Nicole Mitchell I was inspired to join this workshop because the idea of using storytelling as a medium to fight oppression is particularly powerful. I also wanted to listen to other women tell their stories and support them in speaking truth to power. https://www.youtube.com/embed/X4weTNiAmL0 My hope is that by being vulnerable...
By Nesha Abiraj Sometimes, our path chooses us. I became a lawyer 12 years ago because I wanted to help people who had been wronged get legal justice. If I had left that conversation and did nothing, knowing the risk millions of girls face, and knowing that the law was...
By Arefa Cassoobhoy Every Wednesday evening for six weeks earlier this year, I logged on to my computer for a video meeting with 12 other women for the Voices to End Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) digital storytelling workshop hosted by Sahiyo and StoryCenter. I did this to create a video that motivates...
By Hunter Kessous When I first joined Sahiyo’s team as an intern, I was told to take a look at the Voices to End Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) project on YouTube to get a glimpse of how Sahiyo uses storytelling in its approach to ending FGC. I was probably only...
By Absa Samba When I signed up to participate in the Voices to End FGM/C online digital storytelling workshop, I starting thinking about what story I would tell. So many incoherent ideas ran to my mind. It wasn’t until I attended the first session that I knew what story I wanted to...
This blog is part of a series of reflective essays by participants of the Voices to End FGM/C workshops run by Sahiyo and StoryCenter. Through residential and online workshops on digital storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their...
This blog is part of a series of reflective essays by participants of the Voices to End FGM/C workshops run by Sahiyo and StoryCenter. Through residential and online workshops on digital storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their...
This blog is part of a series of reflective essays by participants of the Voices to End FGM/C workshops run by Sahiyo and StoryCenter. Through residential and online workshops on digital storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their...
This blog is part of a series of reflective essays by participants of the Voices to End FGM/C workshops run by Sahiyo and StoryCenter. Through residential and online workshops on digital storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their...
This blog is part of a series of reflective essays by participants of the Voices to End FGM/C workshops run by Sahiyo and StoryCenter. Through residential and online workshops on digital storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their...
This blog is part of a series of reflective essays by participants of the Voices to End FGM/C workshops run by Sahiyo and StoryCenter. Through residential and online workshops on digital storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their...
This blog is part of a series of reflective essays by participants of the Voices to End FGM/C workshops run by Sahiyo and StoryCenter. Through residential and online workshops on digital storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their...
This blog is part of a series of reflective essays by participants of the Voices to End FGM/C workshops run by Sahiyo and StoryCenter. Through residential and online workshops on digital storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their...
This blog is part of a series of reflective essays by participants of the Voices to End FGM/C workshops run by Sahiyo and StoryCenter. Through residential and online workshops on digital storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their...
This blog is part of a series of reflective essays by participants of the Voices to End FGM/C workshops run by Sahiyo and StoryCenter. Through residential and online workshops on digital storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their...
By Siti Kusujiarti In September 2019, I participated in the Voices to End FGM/C Workshop in Asheville. In this workshop I met with a group of amazing participants and facilitators. From the participants I learned various experience and stories and felt that we had a sense of solidarity and strength...
This blog is part of a series of reflective essays by participants of the Voices to End FGM/C workshops run by Sahiyo and StoryCenter. Through residential and online workshops on digital storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their...
By Maryah Haidery Last December I participated in a Sahiyo activist retreat where I learned the unique power that storytelling has to teach, stimulate, and inspire audiences while offering the storyteller a sense of empowerment and catharsis. That’s why I was excited to reunite with some of the brave women I met on...
By Zehra Patwa Shame. Deceit. Confusion. On the first day, sitting around a large table in a light-filled room in the StoryCenter workshop space in Berkeley, California, these words were repeated over and over again by each woman sharing her story of being cut as a young girl. And in most cases, the story...
By Leena Khandwala I chose to tell my story of FGC to highlight how after more than three decades, my experience of being cut is still traumatizing and vivid. Everything about it — from the deception leading up to it and the silence around it — make for an unspeakably horrifying experience....
By Anonymous I am a female genital cutting (FGC) survivor. I was born in Somalia, a country with one of the highest FGC rates in the world. Recently, Somalia was named by the Thomson Reuters Foundation as being the fourth most dangerous country for women, with FGC happening to 98% of women. I...
Voices to End FGM/C is mobilizing a critical mass of storytellers and activists from across the globe by bringing them together to share and heal from female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), connect and grow as leaders, and create short videos calling for an end to this harmful practice.
Email: info@voicestoendfgmc.org
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