A local campaigner hopes to end the practice of female genital mutilation in the UK
By Victoria Munro
A local non-profit founded by a survivor of female genital mutilation (FGM) is hoping to end the practice by educating the next generation.
FGM – sometimes called “female circumcision” – involves cutting off parts of the female genitals and is illegal in the UK. However, Hibo Wardere, the Walthamstow founder of Educate Not Mutilate, said the practice is “thriving in secrecy”, adding: “There are girls taken to Whipps Cross Hospital who have been cut but they’ve never left the country.”
Indeed, in 2019, the mum of a Walthamstow toddler became the first UK resident convicted under FGM laws, receiving an 11-year sentence, after the alarm was first raised by Whipps Cross Hospital staff.
In an effort to stamp out FGM, Hibo delivers sessions in schools across England, as well as training for health professionals and police. Educate Not Mutilate operations manager Faiza Mughal said that, over the years, the organisation has educated “more than 6,500 people” about its devastating impact.
Hibo told the Echo: “Education, for me, is prevention. It doesn’t cost that much but, if we were to invest in education, we would see lots of changes in our youth. Giving them information makes them stop and question things that may be happening in their home.
“The generation growing up now is so powerful and eager to know what’s right and wrong. To hear some of them say they will never stand by and let their daughter or their cousin be cut is amazing.”
Hibo said that, other than the risk of serious health problems, “the trauma of being cut can literally take over your life”. She said: “It touches every aspect of your life: emotionally, psychologically, physically. You can have flashbacks whenever anything happens between your legs.
“For almost 30 years, I didn’t live for myself, I just lived for my family. I was petrified and always running all the time.
“But something will always make you stop. For me, it was volunteering in a school about ten years ago. There was a ten-year-old girl and the school suspected she might be taken home to be cut, it brought my trauma into my face.
“I remember thinking that I thought I had left this behind but, in reality, I had just put tape over it. I knew I had to face that side of me, that’s why I opened up about my own experience.
“I don’t know what happened to that girl, she was taken home and never returned. In the back of my mind, I always dedicate everything I’m doing to her, she was the person that made me talk.”
Hibo said she is glad people are beginning to see FGM as “just like any other child abuse”, adding: “The biggest barrier is really the lack of funding. I know communities will open up eventually if I am persistent[…] but, without funding, that work is impossible to do.
“We need to make our communities educate and value their girls just like they value their boys. Their community back home might isolate them because they didn’t cut their daughter but they are in the UK, they don’t need to care about those people.”
Hibo also gave her thanks to Waltham Forest Council, saying she owes much of her success today to their support.
She said: “Years ago, I gave my first speech, which was very emotional and very raw, in the council chamber. I told them you must educate people and they did.
“Waltham Forest became the first borough to tackle FGM from the inside, I’m very grateful to be a resident in this amazing, diverse borough.”
Find out more about Educate Not Mutilate and donate here
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