'My mother didn’t want me to be cut': female genital mutilation in the UK
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Rahma’s mother didn’t want her daughter to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM), a procedure that involves cutting or removing a girl’s labia and clitoris.
By Sian Norris
But when Rahma’s aunt discovered the nine-year old hadn’t yet been cut, she called an old man to the family home in Somalia. Her aunt told Rahma to lie on the table and open her legs.
'He was so old, I remember he couldn’t even see where he was cutting me,' Rahma says. 'He was shaking and I was shaking. My mum was out at work. I was excited because everyone around me had got it done. But it hurt so badly.'
An investigation for The Ferret, funded by the People’s Postcode Lottery, has revealed that Rahma is just one of over 22,000 women and girls in the UK identified as having FGM during a healthcare appointment since April 2015. The real number is likely to be much higher, with researchers estimating there could be 137,000 affected women and girls in England and Wales.
Rahma is sitting in the offices of Integrate...
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