The United Nations estimates 200 million girls and women in more than 30 countries have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM).
Somalia has the highest rate in the world recorded by the United Nations, with about 98 percent the country’s female population between the ages of 15 and 49 affected by FGM.
Although the procedure is illegal in the United States, many Somali natives now residing in the U.S. underwent FGM as young girls and still live with pain. And, in some Somali communities, the practice is carried out in secret.
The U.S. state of Minnesota is home to a large number of refugees from Somalia. Fadumo Afi, who lives in the Twin Cities area, is a 55-year-old mother of seven who complains of medical problems, and remembers how she was mutilated with an unsterilized instrument. She said she had to undergo the procedure along with another girl when she was 6.
FILE – A counselor holds up cards used to educate women about female genital mutilation (FGM).
FILE – A counselor holds up cards used to educate women about female genital mutilation (FGM).
“It was too harmful to us because we have not even had anesthesia,” she said. “We were living in the areas where medication wasn’t [available]. We couldn’t even pee.”
Fartun Weli is the founder of Isuroon, a nonprofit organization that advocates for Somali women living outside Somalia and works with women who have life-threatening medical conditions as a result of having undergone FGM. Weli started the organization because FGM affected her life, leaving her unable to have children.
Weli underwent what is considered the most dangerous type of FGM, known as Type III, which includes the complete sewing shut of the vagina. She says she still has physical and emotional scars.