TSara Sori’s first portrait to depict women at different stages of their lives shows a young, happy girl. “If you harm (a girl) at this stage, she is ruined forever. And this is the stage where I was violated,” says Sori, from Isiolo, in northern Kenya, who was forced to undergo female genital mutilation as a child.
Another portrait shows a girl with her mouth sewn shut, “giving in to what life has dictated and to prevent her from expressing her anger.” Another shows “the age of regret, of missed opportunities” of an older woman. “This is where my grandmother is now. I loved her so much. She wanted me to marry a good man and the only way to do that was to get through the cut. She too went through similar initiation rites and cannot undo the past.”
Sori, 24, uses art to cope with the trauma of her female genital mutilation, a practice that has been practiced for generations by her ethnic pastoralist group, the Gabra.
According to the UN more than 230 million women and girls Women worldwide have experienced FGM – the partial or complete removal of the external female genitalia – despite the banned by the UN General Assembly in 2012.
Health consequences – including infertility, infection, and difficulties with sex and childbirth – are understood, but the emotional toll is less publicized. Organizations working to eradicate the practice typically focus on advocacy and encouraging cutters to quit their jobs.
The few studies published on the psychosocial impact of FGM found that depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and sleep disturbances were common among survivors. Research published in the Lancet Last year it was found that “very little attention” was paid to the links between the mental, social-psychological and physical health consequences of FGM and recommended a “greater focus on mental health needs and interventions” for survivors.
However, addressing the psychological impact of FGM is complicated by the involvement of victims’ family members, including mothers and grandmothers, in the cutting of girls. Research performed in the United Kingdom in 2016 highlighted the anger women felt toward their mothers for allowing it. Some said they only forgave their mothers after they had died.
Since 2022, the girls generationa consortium of African organizations fighting to end FGM has helped more than 500 survivors in Kenya cope with the trauma. It is setting up programs in Senegal, Ethiopia and Somaliland – countries with some of the highest rates of FGM.
In addition to counseling, sessions for mothers and daughters provide a space to talk—for some, it’s the first time. Women who go through the program are encouraged to set up support groups in their own communities.
“Many survivors suffer long-term health problems as a result of FGM… All of this contributes to emotional distress and anxiety,” says Alice Ngari, movement building leader at Girl Generation. “In communities where FGM is prevalent, survivors who experience mental health problems related to FGM may face stigma and discrimination because FGM is seen as something normal to do, so it’s not understood why anyone should have to suffer through something that is ‘normal.’”
“If this multifaceted trauma is not addressed, the long-term psychological impact of FGM will be such that many survivors will carry the trauma with them for the rest of their lives, affecting their self-confidence and trust in others, especially as the (cutting) process is carried out by close family members and relatives.”
Dr Leyla Hussein, a British psychotherapist and FGM survivor who helped develop the programme, adds: “It’s a sexual abuse trauma. They (survivors) feel like they’re not good enough; that they’re not allowed to enjoy life. One of the things I always, always try to remind women is to find joy despite the difficult pain that they’ve had.”
Sori, who began attending Girl Generation-run sessions last year, developed severe depression as a teenager when she began to think about her experience with circumcision. She became suspicious of everyone, assuming they wanted to harm her, and was angry with her mother.
Her first artworks were “dark.” “I hated my mother and wondered why she didn’t prevent it,” she says. “But after the sessions, this is changing. I realized that my mother also had a similar trauma from FGM. Sitting together with mothers and daughters and professional guidance helped me to slow down a bit.”
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In a church hall in Maasailand, Narok County, southwestern Kenya, Emily Saanyonyo, 22, sits in a circle of 20 women and describes what happened when she was 11. “They stopped cutting when they got to the bone,” she says, seething with anger.
“It was humiliating, but I was told I had graduated to become a woman.” Saanyonyo doesn’t know what she would do if she met the woman who mutilated her. “Maybe God will forgive her.”
The session is hosted by Catherine Mootian, who I am a Nguvu– Girls Redefined – last year’s initiative for other women who had been circumcised.
In addition to psychological support, girls who have dropped out of school are given help to continue their education. Some also receive subsidies to start their own businesses.
“When they first come here, they seem vulnerable and uncomfortable talking about the emotional trauma they are going through. But on the second day, they open up a little bit,” Mootian says.
Most women still live with their mothers and grandmothers, she adds. They are slowly letting go of their anger, learning that their relatives followed the dictates of their culture, but “forgiveness takes time.”
“They are slowly learning to let go of their resentment,” says Mootian. “It is a process. What is clear is their determination to stop the vice by talking to other women. Some have now gained the support of their husbands in the anti-FGM crusade, a bold move in a very patriarchal society.”
Ruth Sencho, 29, becomes upset as she recalls being circumcised by her stepmother at age 13. “They told me not to be afraid, not to cry, that it was not right to remain uncircumcised. I had no say in it,” says Sencho.
She liked school and her teacher had high expectations of her. But she had to leave to get married. “My dream was to become a nurse and fulfill my teacher’s wishes,” she says.
“Now I sell vegetables… I feel nothing. The cutbacks have condemned me to a life of hopelessness. Kidonda kilipona lakini uchungu bado uko (the wound has healed, but the pain remains).
“Let our generation be the last to have the cut,” she says. “The trauma ends here.”
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In the UK, people who fear they may be at risk of FGM and survivors can get advice and support by emailing Forward, calling 0208 960 4000 or contacting the NSPCC on 0800 028 3550, the Dahlia Project on 0207 281 9478 and Children’s telephone at 0800 1111. In the US, Sahiyo and the Asian women’s shelter have a helpline for those who fear they may be at risk of FGM and survivors. Call 1 877 751 0880, available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT