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'Pinned Down and Cut': Horror of Female Genital Mutilation Exposed

© AFP 2023 / Tony KarumbaKenyan teenage Maasai girls attend an alternative right of passage at Kilgoris, Trans Mara district, 220 kilometres north-west of the capital Nairobi, on April 19, 2008 at a ceremony organised by an anti-female genital mutilation, (FGM) campaign, Cherish Others Organisation.
Kenyan teenage Maasai girls attend an alternative right of passage at Kilgoris, Trans Mara district, 220 kilometres north-west of the capital Nairobi, on April 19, 2008 at a ceremony organised by an anti-female genital mutilation, (FGM) campaign, Cherish Others Organisation. - Sputnik International
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In an exclusive interview with Sputnik, Hibo Wardere, author and anti-FGM campaigner from London, sheds light on the harsh and barbaric act of female genital mutilation (FGM). Wardere hopes the book will act as an educational tool to stop others from going through the same thing.

"I hope everyone will pick this book up, and read it," said Hibo Wardere.

"It is an honest account of how I was cut and my campaign for education to prevent others from going through what I did." 

Mrs Wardere was pinned down and cut at the tender of six, by family members and her mother. 

© Photo : Hibo WardereAnti-FGM campaigner and author from London, Hibo Wardere.
Anti-FGM campaigner and author from London, Hibo Wardere. - Sputnik International
Anti-FGM campaigner and author from London, Hibo Wardere.

The book entitled, 'Cut: One Woman's fight against FGM in Britain today', which was launched on April 7th, exposes the harsh realities of female genital cutting. Telling her own personal story of being forced down and subjected to the cruelest cut, the author draws on the early memories of what happened, but also looks at the present and how she is helping to stop the practice through education, both nationally and internationally.

"It must be a book where you learn about something new and you understand that this barbaric cruel procedure has to be stopped. It is all about education and I want it to be added to the school curriculum not just in the UK but internationally," Mrs Wardere told Sputnik.

Recent statistics have revealed that at least 200 million girls and women alive today have been cut and half of them are living in three countries. Analysis of 30 regions across the globe has found that Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia account for over 50 per cent of those who have had the ritual cutting procedure.

"It is very important that this book offers hope. It proves that you can come out of this as a fighter."

The book was released on 7th April, and has been heavily discussed across the board.

"It's been well received I didn't think that would happen. I know that this is desperately needed and to open every aspect of my life and talk about it has been hard but worth it. There are millions of girls suffering and this book will really help them," Mrs Wardere said.

For Mrs Wardere the book is not the end of her campaign chapter.

"We must keep educating, it is a key thing for me and until FGM is eradicated I will keep educating it is freedom and as long as FGM exists I will keep going."

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