Across the globe, girls struggle with access to education, proper nutrition, legal rights and much more. And the most unfortunate among them become victims of one of the most brutal practices imaginable — female genital mutilation.

I was born into a world where the mutilation of little girls was not an exception but the norm. In Somalia, where I grew up, the chance that a girl will be cut is almost a certainty — 98 out of every 100 are. It is not a question of whether but of when.

I did not escape that fate, and neither did my family, friends, classmates, neighbors or anyone else in our community.

To end this practice, we must first name it for what is. Female genital mutilation is violence against the most vulnerable — children. It causes infection, incontinence, unbearable pain during childbirth and leaves scars that never heal. For far too long, the world has looked the other way, dismissing it as “tradition” or a “private matter.” But there is nothing private about savagery.

When I first came to the West, I remember speaking to Dutch organizations about what had happened to girls like me. I watched shock spread across their faces. That shock turned into anger, and anger became a call to raise awareness.

Yet........

© The Hill