What is FGM?

I was cut when I was seven.

I was 13 years old.

I was 16 when I was cut.

It was done in the school holiday. 

I was nine.

There were 20 of us and I was the oldest with the youngest being two, and she later died.

It was part of our culture; it was part of being who we are.

I was so excited, you know.

For you to come out like a princess.

There was lots of dancing.

We had dancing.

Singing.

It was a really, really big party.

Because I was so young, I still didn't understand what was going to happen to me.

Then it was time for me to go into the next room.

This woman blindfolded me.

I was thrown on the floor.

I was shaking.

Some women pulled my legs apart and pinned my shoulders down.

And I filled every width of my chest.

I couldn't breathe; I couldn't move.

The woman sat on me and I felt a very sharp cut between my legs. It was so painful.

When they started cutting, I screamed so loud that the women gagged me to stop me from screaming.

I have no words to explain.

The pain I felt that day.

At that pool of blood, that's where every girl was cut.

I can still feel the sensation of it every time I think about it.

They used the same blade on all of us.

My auntie was a cutter.

The women—you see the joy in their faces, knowing that you are now a woman.