Avoiding female circumcision

Today there are more than 125 million girls and women in the world who have undergone FGM. Clitorectomy is the custom of removing parts of the female genitalia for cultural or traditional reasons. Female circumcision is considered a crime against human rights and a serious violation of women's sexual independence. In most cases, circumcision is carried out in order to keep the girl a virgin until marriage - she is cut off or sewn up with part of the genitals.

This issue features the story of the rebellious Elisabeth Nkere, who went against the wishes of her family, and two dozen photographs by Finnish photojournalist Meeri Koutaniemi, who traveled to Africa and researched female circumcision.

(Total 20 photos)

Source: www.echophotoagency.com

1. 17-year-old Elisabeth Nkere was supposed to marry a 65-year-old man when she was 11 years old.

2. According to the tradition of her village, the bride is circumcised before the wedding. Her relatives prepared Elizabeth's body for the circumcision ritual.

3. She was told not to cry, because circumcision is for her own good - to turn her from a child into an adult woman.

4. In exchange for his own daughter, her father received several heads of cattle, 30 kg of sugar and 20 kg of cloth.

5. On the eve of her planned circumcision, Elizabeth ran away.

6. She left under the cover of night and walked for three days on the savannah without food or water.

7. Finally, she met a woman who brought her to a house called Tasaru, where other girls who had escaped circumcision also lived.

8. Elizabeth and 64 other Maasai girls were saved from circumcision, and now they live here, calling each other sisters.

9. Elizabeth's father ignored his daughter's escape and her refusal to marry.

10. After the escape, he threatened to kill her if she dared to return.

11. More than 130 million women in the world are circumcised.

12. Escape is the only salvation for those who dare to leave under the threat of death.

13. The Tasaru project is still ongoing and will be carried out in Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the USA.

14. The project is preparing to publish the book "The Right of My Body", in which women who have been circumcised will share the hardships of their lives.

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