Worldcrunch
FLORENCE — “My first child died inside me while I was trying to give birth …” Hamdi Abdurahman Ahmed is 30 years old and has a marked Florentine accent as she begins to speak. In 2007, she left Somaliland and arrived in this Tuscan city where she currently works as a cultural mediator. In Italy […]
An ordinary room, or a dark hut in a rural village. A razor blade bought at a market will suffice, or a sharp knife, or simply a shard of broken glass. Sometimes needle and thread, or the thorns from a wild-growing bush. The women of the family restrain the little girl while a circumciser is […]
LONDON — According to a new British law, any teacher, doctor, nurse or social care professional who comes across a case of a girl who has undergone genital mutilation has the duty to report it to the police. This law, which took effect on Oct. 31 and applies to any victim under the age of […]
When fear gets hold of me When anger seizes my body When hate becomes my companion Then I get feminine advice, because it is only feminine pain And I am told feminine pain perishes like all feminine things. — Dahabo Ali Muse, “Feminine Pains” poem, 1998 HARGEISA — “On my wedding night, it felt like […]
Marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the first in an in-depth multimedia series of reports from Africa, and beyond, about the continuing practice of female genital mutilation.