{"id":12166,"date":"2021-06-23T21:59:17","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T04:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=12166"},"modified":"2021-06-23T21:59:39","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T04:59:39","slug":"sadia-hussein-the-fgm-survivor-who-is-saving-girls-from-the-knife-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=12166","title":{"rendered":"“Sadia Hussein: the FGM survivor who is saving girls from the knife”, The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Lizzy Davies. London,\u00a0<\/span>23 Jun 2021<\/p>\n

Being cut, aged 10, led to extraordinary pain and complications in childbirth. Now Hussein\u2019s campaign to end mutilation has led to a staggering change in attitudes<\/em><\/p>\n

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Sadia Hussein had been in labour for three days when she felt she could take no more. She could hear her mother crying in the distance, pleading with God to save her daughter\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

But even though things were clearly not progressing as they should have been, the women in her small Kenyan village were resistant to the idea of sending her to hospital. Her mother told her that doctors would \u201ctear her apart\u201d with a pair of scissors; that, at home, they could at least use a razor. \u201cSo now, on top of the overwhelming pain of labour, there was this continuous cutting,\u201d Hussein recalls.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Hussein gave birth to a baby girl. When she came to, several hours later, she found her legs had been tied together, making it impossible for her to sit up, let alone hold her newborn. Her mother came into her room and brought her tea, and Hussein asked her to help her cradle the baby. \u201cI couldn\u2019t control my tears,\u201d she says, now. \u201cI was telling my daughter: \u2018I love you so much. My mother failed to protect me but I will protect you.\u2019 And that\u2019s when I swore that this should never happen to my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hussein\u2019s horrendous labour was a direct result of the female genital mutilation (FGM) she suffered at the age of 10. Like so many women, her trauma did not end there. It returned, years later, when she got married, and underwent further cutting to prepare her body for sex. And it was there once again, in labour, when she feared she would lose both her baby\u2019s life and her own.<\/p>\n