Voices to End FGM/C

"It's just so different from my mom's expectations … I kind of feel like I'm disappointing her a little bit, you know?" - Afiqa Mariya speaks with three Voices storytellers representing issues and communities not typically included in discussions of FGM/C: Comfort talks about labial pulling, a little-known practice in Zimbabwe; Afiqa shares the challenges of being a nonbinary survivor in Singapore; and Jenny explains that the practice is a reality in her U.S.-based fundamentalist Christian community. Read the transcript Watch Comfort's story: How Many Women? Watch Afiqa's story: Conversations with my Mother Watch Jenny's story: Keep Dancing and Be Free

"When people bring it up, it's an opportunity to ground FGM/C within the world of violence against girls and women." - Arefa  Voices storyteller Arefa Cassoobhoy introduces this detailed exploration of the 2017 legal case against a Bohra physician in Michigan, which made headline news and put the topic of FGM/C on the map for many members of non practicing communities in the U.S. Mariya and public health researcher Karen McDonnell weighs in. Read the transcript Watch Arefa's story: If Someone Asks  

"By the gestures, at the beginning, it seemed like a friendly conversation…" - Jonathan Voices alumni Su and her husband Jonathan talk with Mariya about grappling with the realities of FGM/C in the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community. Both Su and Mariya grew up in Bohra households, and together, they explore the culture's insistence that the practice must continue, and the pain of resurfaced memories. Read the transcript Watch Su's story: Lithotomy Position  

"Suddenly she was gone. Today, she was playing with us outside, and tomorrow, she was not there anymore." - Angela  Angela Peabody, who shared a story in a Voices workshop in Washington, DC, speaks frankly about the experiences that led to her commitment to ending FGM/C. Amy provides context for the issue in Liberia, where Angela grew up and spent her young adult years before fleeing the country during the reign of Charles Taylor. Read the transcript Watch Angela's story: Becoming an Advocate  

"My memory blocked it out, because it was so damn painful on so many different levels." - Shabana Mariya and Amy are joined by Voices storyteller Shabana Feroze, who speaks of her journey through the rage she felt when she learned she had been cut, and licensed therapist Joanna Vergoth, who touches on the trauma within her own family as she talks about becoming involved in supporting the well-being of FGM/C survivors. Read the transcript Watch Shabana's story: Anger  

"It took me a very long time to get to where I am now and talk about things as openly as I do." - Mariya Mariya Taher and Amy Hill, the original co-founders of Voices to End FGM/C, interview each other, weaving a conversation about the value and risks of sharing personal stories together with an account of an uncomfortable incident that occurred at the first public community screening of digital stories created in a Voices digital storytelling workshop. Read the transcript Watch Mariya's Story, Forgiveness Watch Mariya's Story, Shattered Silences