IT will make me a woman, I remember them saying that.\u201d More than two decades later, the woman, who does not wish to be named, recalls the trauma of undergoing female genital mutilation as a child in Nigeria, where about 20 million women and girls are estimated to have undergone the abuse.<\/p>\n
Aged just six, she was pinned to her bed by her mother and aunt while another aunt used a blade to cut her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was only six-years-old and my mum came into my room that morning and she was extraordinarily nice,\u201d she says. \u201cShe was telling me that she would take me to the park and take me shopping to buy new clothes. I could only wonder what I had done overnight to be so fantastic. I thought to myself maybe it\u2019s my lucky day.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said you will have all this on one condition, if you do what I ask you. I said yes.<\/p>\n
\u201cLater two of my aunts came into the house and my mum came into my room. Somehow I was now in a panic about what she wants me to do. She said there was something in my vagina that needs to be removed so that in the future my husband would be proud of me. I didn\u2019t really understand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really getting scared now. It will make me a woman, I remember they said that. They made me lie down and my mum held my legs and one of my aunts held my two hands and the other aunt cut me with a sharp blade.\u201d<\/p>\n
She adds: \u201cI cried and cried and I was bleeding. She put this black mixture on me and there was even more pain and the bleeding didn\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually after two weeks of pain and depression, she was taken to hospital but was sent back home. \u201cThey said if this is female genital mutilation to go home because it\u2019s something that happens to everyone,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n
After moving to Middlesbrough ten years ago, the FGM victim has been seeking help in understanding what happened to her through the Halo Project, in Middlesbrough, which helps FGM victims, and women at risk of honour-based violence.<\/p>\n
She says: \u201cI still feel that pain sometimes. I had post traumatic stress disorder. I\u2019m still coping with it now. I was on the verge of suicide because of the depression.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t block out that memory of that experience or the consequences.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost relationships because at the point I felt so different. That\u2019s why I went to the Halo project which is when I started to get some more awareness of what had happened to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey could put a definition to what had happened. I went on a six week course and it has changed my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking ahead of the UN\u2019s day of zero tolerance towards FGM, she adds: \u201cI want to share my story to create awareness that FGM does no good in any way. Mentally, physically, emotionally, medically \u2013 it does no good, only harm. It\u2019s an abuse. I was a victim but thanks to Halo I\u2019m a survivor.\u201d<\/p>\n
SHE is one of around 137,000 women living in the UK thought to be affected by FGM, with a further 20,000 girls at risk. In the UK, figures from the NHS\u2019s digital data service suggest that last year there were 1,060 newly recorded cases of FGM in England, with 265 reported in the North.<\/p>\n
In the North-East, 20 FGM Protection Orders have been made since 2015.<\/p>\n
Noreen Riaz, from the Halo Project, says: \u201cWe know there are 28 affected communities and there\u2019s a large number of people living in the UK affected by this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have evidence that some girls are flown to countries where it happens. We\u2019ve also heard of cutters being flown into the UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cGirls at risk can be infants, right up to the age where they are getting married. In different communities and different countries the processes differ.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t excuse it but people think their children will be ostracised if they don\u2019t do it. FGM is a child abuse. It\u2019s a violation of human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agencies in the North-East are working together to try and encourage more victims and potential victims to come forward.<\/p>\n