FGM/C isn’t a requirement of any religion but a form of human rights abuse

In a powerful initiative towards the close of 2023, ACCAF took charge with dynamic training programs on FGM at two universities in Somaliland, targeting medical and nursing students. We hear firsthand from two passionate students about the transformative impact this training not only shifted their perspectives on FGM but have ignited a fire within, propelling them to become vibrant advocates for change within their communities. Their stories are a testament to the transformative impact education can have, sparking enthusiasm and driving positive change.

Title: “I have realised that FGM is not a requirement of any religion but a form of abuse that violates the girl’s rights and bodily integrity. As a student, I now commit to tirelessly advocate and raise awareness about FGM”.

Mumtaz Abdihakiim Yousuf is Public Health Students in Calaami Public Health University, Somaliland. She attended a two-day professional training on ending FGM organized by ACCAF. Here is her story of why the training was so important and prompted her to make a new commitment to using her work to end FGM.

Authors: Nuradin Mohamed Abi and Mumtaz Abdihakiim Yousuf

My name is Mumtaz Abdihakiim Yousuf from Somalialnd. I am currently studying in my second year at the Public Health School in Calaami Public Health University. Recently, I attended a two-day professional training on ending FGM organized by ACCAF and Calaami Public Health University, Somaliland. This was the first time I attended a training that focused on addressing FGM targetting university students undertaking medical or health training in Somaliland.

I found the training to be very relevant and unique. During the training, I studied different types of FGM, the burden of FGM, addressing of medicalisation of FGM, legal, human rights and professional approach to FGM, health complications related to FGM, as well as the mental and social consequences of FGM.

The training covered both basic and advanced topics related to FGM. Additionally, the training covered topics like communication, and professional ethics. This knowledge has helped me become more committed and sensitised to the bigger picture of the challenge of FGM in Somaliland. I understand the importance of policies and laws to end FGM and I am ready to work towards this goal.

The training has completely changed my attitude towards the practice of FGM and how it affects young girls and women in Somaliland. As a student of public health, I had little knowledge about FGM – in fact, I believed that FGM was a normal and harmless procedure. However, through the training, I have come to understand that FGM is a harmful practice that negatively affects girls and women.

The training increased my knowledge about its impact on girls and women’s health, and on our community. Particularly, we were taught about the effects of FGM on physical and mental health of girls.  I have learned that FGM is a crime and can cause death as well as long-term complications, such as menstruation problems, sexual consequences, effects on sexual intimacy, and the overall health of the girls.  As a student, I believed that FGM was both culture and religion, however, through the training I have realised that FGM is not a requirement of any religion but a form of abuse that violates the girl’s rights and bodily integrity. Simply put, it is a human rights violation that should not be allowed on any girl or woman.

As a medical practitioner, I am now committed to advocating for the elimination of FGM in my community.  I have realised that FGM causes tragic loss of life and that there are many innocent victims in my community in Hargeisa. My ambition is to be an ambassador to end FGM among my colleagues and other groups in the community. I am planning to organise a meeting with women in my community to discuss FGM and explore ways to end this harmful practice.

Following this training, I highly recommend that FGM should be incorporated into the curriculum for both universities and schools across Somaliland. I would recommend the Management of The Calaami Public Health University to include the courses in the core syllabus. Ending FGM needs collective action, to influence and change policies and laws. As a student, I commit to tirelessly advocate and raise awareness about FGM, starting with meetings to share the effects of FGM with my fellow students and increasing the “end FGM” message across the community. I hope this will prompt both students and the community to collaborate to end FGM.

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Title “The ACCAF training on FGM has transformed my understanding and determination to advocate against  the practice of FGM.” Najma Mohamed Warsams

Najma Mohamed Warsams is 20 years old and currently a second-year student at the Faculty of Nursing at Abaarso Tech University, Somaliland. In November 2023, Najma attended a workshop training on integrating FGM content into the curriculum led by the University of Abaarso Tech University with the support of the ACCAF.  Najam emphasises how her training has improved her knowledge of FGM and its implications, including understanding the types of FGM, its effects, the medicalization of FGM, and related health issues.  

Najam shares her experience with us:

“The training provided a unique opportunity for young upcoming health professionals, including me, to understand the impacts of FGM and become advocates against it. The training has changed my attitudes and beliefs towards FGM and helped me understand its negative consequences of FGM. Since learning about FGM, I have been committed to volunteering and raising awareness in FGM-prevalent communities with limited knowledge on FGM. I am committed to spreading the message of ending FGM in my community using knowledge acquired from the ACCAF-led training. I am grateful to Abaarso Tech University and ACCAF for planning and implementing the FGM workshops.” Najma has highlighted that FGM training is crucial for the students to learn new knowledge and approaches addressing ending FGM.

After learning about FGM, Najam has gained interest in medicalisation, types of FGM, legal aspects, deinfibulation, complications (short-term and long-term) of FGM drivers, and consequences associated with the practice. Najma is reflecting on how the training has been useful to her, and she promises to share the knowledge she has gained with other students by providing training and setting up community meetings. She wholeheartedly suggests that ACCAF continues the training, emphasizing its unique benefits for students in Somaliland, particularly girls.”

My experience on how ACCAF training and understanding FGM/C has impacted me 

Prior to this workshop, FGM/C was something I knew was practiced in my community (Somali) but the seriousness of the matter was brought out in the ALM-ACCAF training workshop. With the statistics showing that it is as high as over 94%: that is almost the entire Somali community. The types of FGM – and to my belief the one that is most rampantly done in my community – being type 3 (Infibulation). 

At the same time, the training has made me reflect on the psychological torture women in my community have to endure to conform to a practice meant to demean their sexuality. The pain that they aren’t as good enough as a woman like any other. That my mother, my grandmother and so many other women in my lineage had to go through this practice. 

The workshop also highlighted to me how FGM affects the enjoyment of sex in not only women but also the partners of those affected, perpetrating that the continuum of this practice shouldn’t be a hush-hush issue within my community. 

It has highlighted how this issue has affected maternal health during childbirth with the outcomes being devastating, especially in North Eastern Kenya. 

This workshop highlighted and refreshed my oath as a medic to DO NO HARM in terms of medicalization of this practice, and the legal actions in place by the government to curb this issue of both traditional and medical practice of FGM. 

This has been an eye-opener for me, and so many other women in my community, that even though harm may have been done, it is not all a lost cause. With reconstructive surgery and proper psychosocial therapy, a part of the feeling of “wholeness” may be restored. 

And so, as my end remark, this workshop has been truly a wonderful experience for me and a highly informative engagement for us all. 

Even though the cultural beliefs of FGM are deeply embedded within my people, I hope that with more outreach and exposure by ACCAF – through educated medical personnel within the community – would make a major change impact within the upcoming years, with the ripple effects starting as early as now. 

With this enlightenment and exposure, I thank ACCAF deeply and hope to work through them, be connected with so many others who know and are willing to stop this degrading practice that will affect the lives of so many innocent young women in my community. Young women whom I know can break free if they see that women like them are striving out here. That they don’t have to be subjected to this practice in the name of pureness. That a woman’s morals lie only within herself and not something that has been taken away from her. 

Faiza Farah
6th Year Medical student 
Egerton University 

My experience on the ACCAF training on FGM that was held in June at Egerton University. 

Coming from a Somali community, we were told that talking about FGM/C was taboo. We lived being blank about what happened behind the curtains once our little girls were scheduled for a “rite of passage” as they used to say. It wasn’t until this training that I got to grasp the real kind of menace this heinous act of mutilation was. I got to learn that there was more than the eyes could see, and the ears could hear, especially getting to know about the types of cutting that were being done and their extent. 

It was astonishing that however much this act is rampant in our community, with over 90% prevalence, so many other Kenyan clans and communities do practice it to date. FGM/C harms a girl’s life and affects their sexual life, their maternal rights are violated and worst of all their psychological well-being is affected where they tend to think of themselves as lesser of a lady for the rest of their lives. 

But even with the severe kind of genital mutilation that happens, it’s wrong to say that it’s always the end of the road for the survivors. There’s light at the end of the tunnel as healthcare providers are now equipped to prevent and respond to FGM/C. We are also seeing the medical field grow as other healthcare providers are now providing reconstructive surgeries for women and girls who opt for this. 

However, the main lesson from the whole training is to invest in ways of sensitizing our populations about the effects of the acts and how beautiful life can be without them. Now that I know more about FGM/C and its effects on women and girls, including ways of preventing and responding to this, I would wish to be part of the team that brings a STOP TO FGM/C. 

Abdifatah Ahmed 
6th-year medical student