Date: Thursday, September 29, 2022

Time: 1:00 PM EST 

Registration Link: bit.ly/MovingCTAhead 

This webinar, sponsored by Sahiyo, The Connecticut Coalition to End Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, and the Connecticut Commission on the Status of Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunity, will explore ideas on how to change harmful social norms like female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) through policy and legal methods. 40 other states have passed legal protections to address this harmful practice, yet Connecticut remains an outlier. 

The panelists for this event include Zehra Patwa, Co-Founder of WeSpeakOut, Michelle Dumas Keuler, Human Rights Attorney with the State of Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, and Faith Vos Winkel, who was formerly at the Office of the Child Advocate. The webinar will be moderated by Steven Hernandez, Executive Director for the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity, and Opportunity.

Within the U.S., there are currently 10 states without any laws in place to protect girls from Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C); Connecticut is one of those states. Since 2021, the Connecticut Coalition to End FGM/C has been working to build holistic solutions for supporting survivors and preventing future generations of girls from experiencing FGM/C in the State of Connecticut. The Coalition is made up of a diverse range of stakeholders, who advocate for comprehensive legislation to protect girls from FGM/C, provide survivors with support services, raise awareness of the harm FGM/C causes, and educate frontline professionals on how to provide culturally specific and sensitive care. 

In June 2022, CT Coalition members Mariya Taher of Sahiyo and Steven Hernandez of theCT Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity & Opportunity hosted a conversation to discuss women’s bodily autonomy and FGM/C, to further raise awarenss of this issue within the state.

Listen to their conversation here.

This International Women's Equality Day Sahiyo and Asian Women’s Shelter Launch Nations First Community-Based, Culturally Responsive Hotline to Support Survivors of Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting!

Across the United States, the Centers for Disease Control estimates over half a million women and girls are impacted or at risk of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). Yet, few resources exist to support survivors in their journey toward healing and protecting future generations from this practice. 

This past year, Sahiyo has collaborated with Asian Women’s Shelter (AWS) to expand AWS’s capacity to support survivors of FGM/C. Sahiyo has provided a number of trainings to AWS staff, volunteers, interpreters, and crisis line counselors on understanding the impact of FGM/C on individuals and families in the United States, supporting survivors and their loved ones, and navigating the landscape of limited resources supporting those affected by FGM/C.

AWS opened in 1988 with an emergency shelter and a 24/7 multilingual crisis line to support survivors and communities to navigate harms, hardships, and healing related to gender-based violence, particularly domestic violence in immigrant and refugee communities. From its beginnings, AWS has operated at and centered the intersection of culture, violence, language, gender, immigration, nationality, sexuality, and more. Since then, AWS has grown and deepened its commitment to preventing and intervening in gender-based violence. AWS is still a grassroots, culturally grounded organization that centers community engagement and holistic, trauma-informed, peer-based empowerment. 

The goal of this collaborative project between Sahiyo and AWS is to address gaps in resources for underrepresented populations of survivors in the U.S. in need of support services to reduce the harms of FGM/C. With that in mind, the AWS crisis line will be open to taking calls from FGM/C survivors and impacted communities starting this August 26th, 2022 in honor of Women's Equality Day.

Hotline Operator: San Francisco Asian Women’s Shelter

Number: 1-877-751-0880

Hours of Operation: 

Monday - Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM PST

“Unlike other crisis lines, this crisis line offers survivors and those from impacted communities the opportunity to discuss their questions, concerns, and needs surrounding FGM/C in a judgment-free space without automatically connecting them to law enforcement. The crisis line staff have been thoroughly trained on the physical, mental, and social impacts of FGM/C as well as how to best support survivors in their journey toward healing.” – Mariya Taher, Sahiyo Co-Founder and Executive Director  

“AWS respects you, your privacy, your experience, and your choices. If you’re wanting a confidential, language and culturally accessible place to talk with someone about the violence you’re experiencing, witnessing, anticipating, and/or trying to avoid or escape, please call whenever you’re ready. AWS will never share your personal information, and you will be in control of what you choose to share or not share. Culture and violence can interact in a way that can be doubly intimate and devastating. We are here to support you.” - Orchid Pusey, Asian Women’s Shelter Executive Director 

To learn more about the project and this new resource for FGM/C survivors, contact Mariya Taher, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

About the Collaborators: 

Sahiyo’s mission is to empower Asian and other communities to abandon the practice of FGM/C through education, collaboration, and dialogue based on community involvement. Founded in 2015, Sahiyo aims to enable a culture in which a woman/girl’s body and female sexuality is not feared or suppressed but embraced as normal. Sahiyo has 7-years of experience working with communities to empower people to end FGM/C and support survivors.  

Asian Women’s Shelter’s mission is to eliminate domestic violence by promoting the social, economic, and political self-determination of women and all survivors of violence and oppression. AWS was founded in 1988 to address the urgent and unmet needs of survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking, especially those who are limited English proficient immigrant or refugee women, children, LGBTQ+/GNB people, and/or youth. 

This project was produced by Sahiyo and Asian Women’s Shelter under 15POVC-21-GG-00988-NONF, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

On June 23rd, Caitlin LeMay, LCSW of the US End FGM/C Network, and Mariya Taher, MSW, MFA of Sahiyo, parterned to provide a workshop on Female Genital Cutting (FGC) for social workers through Boston College Continuing Education. The workshop provided an introductory foundation for understanding what FGC is, including prevalence in the U.S. and globally, and best practices for working with survivors. Pre- and post-evaluations revealed a significant increase in participants’ confidence with talking about and addressing FGC in their social work practices, and how to provide relevant resources if needed.

Boston College Continuing Education, in collaboration with the School of Social Work, offers a series of workshops three times a year - in Spring, Summer, and Fall - for new and experienced social workers looking to earn CEUs to maintain their license.

This past year, Sahiyo has collaborated with Asian Women’s Shelter (AWS) on a number of trainings to educate staff, volunteers, and crisis line workers on the impact of FGC in the United States, as well as how to support survivors of FGC. The goal of this collaborative project between Sahiyo and AWS is to address gaps in resources for survivors from underrepresented populations within the U.S. who need support services to reduce the harms of FGC. With that in mind, the AWS crisis line will be open for taking calls from FGC survivors and impacted communities starting on August 26th, 2022 in honor of Women's Equality Day.

Hotline Operator: San Francisco Asian Women’s Shelter

Number: 1-877-751-0880

Hours of Operation: Monday thru Friday, 9 to 5 pm PST

Sahiyo U.S. would like to thank our friends at the Peace Development Fund for a core support grant award of $5,000.00. The Peace Development Fund supports organizations who are working to shift power, build a movement, dismantle oppression, and create new structures. This grant, from their Community Organizing Grants Fund, is made possible by hundreds of donors across the country who believe in investing in grassroots community organizations such as Sahiyo U.S. 

These funds will help Sahiyo specifically by expanding our Community Outreach and Education Program, which trains health care providers, government officials, law enforcement, social services, and other community based organizations on ways to support female genital cutting (FGC) survivors; planning for our next Annual Activist Retreat, where we train advocates to continue their work raising awareness against FGC; and conducting valuable research investigating the needs of FGC survivors and the intersections of FGC and other oppressions, such as discrimination based on race, gender, religion, sexuality, and diverse migrant experiences.

July 31, 2022 – After five years of supporting survivors of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in sharing their stories, Sahiyo and StoryCenter announce the launch of a new website dedicated to highlighting this underrecognized human rights violation.

"As a survivor of female genital cutting, I have experienced the frustration of being reduced to a statistic: one of the 200 million women and girls worldwide to have undergone the cut. As an activist working to end the practice, I have felt indignation at the often sensationalized ways in which survivors' stories are depicted in the media. This is why Voices to End FGM/C is such an important, game-changing platform. It provides both survivors and activists with a safe and supportive environment and gives them the tools to share their stories with their own voices, words, and perspectives. Over 50 storytellers have benefitted from Voices over the past five years, and I am grateful to be one of them." ~ Aarefa Johari, co-founder and trustee, Sahiyo India 

This website, voicestoednfgmc.org, features stories from dozens of survivors who have taken part in the Voices to End FGM/C project over the years. This project brings together cohorts of survivors and activists every year, and empowers each participant to tell their own story by creating a short video. Voices to End FGM/C has facilitated the creation of 55 such stories from over 19 countries, including the United States, Canada, India, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, Tanzania, Chad, and more. The storytellers represent a range of ages, economic statuses, cultural backgrounds, and gender identities.

"We're really excited to have this new platform which pulls all the Voices content together and showcases the courage and creativity of the many storytellers we've worked with over the years." ~ Amy Hill, StoryCenter Silence Speaker Director 

After years of feedback and demand for such resources, this new website is a centralized platform, not just for the videos and blogs by survivors and activists, but also for educational and informational content created over the past five years. 

“In the struggle to end FGM/C, it is imperative to center the voices of activists with lived experience. These videos are used to help educate legislators and convince them to pass legislation banning FGM/C such as occurred in Massachusetts in the United States in August 2020.” ~ Mariya Taher, Sahiyo U.S. Cofounder & Executive Director

The highlights of the website are the Voices to End FGM/C videos found on the Storyteller Video page. Behind-the-scenes footage of the workshops is also available, as are blogs written by storytellers about their experiences. Visitors can also keep up with upcoming events and workshops, including the Fall 2022 Voices to End FGM/ workshop. 

Contact Sahiyo: 1-857-209-4160

Email Kristel Mendoza Castillo: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

About Sahiyo

Founded in 2015, Sahiyo’s mission is to empower Asian and other communities to end female genital cutting and create positive social change through dialogue, education, and collaboration based on community involvement.

About StoryCenter

Mission Statement: We create spaces for listening to and sharing stories, to help build a just and healthy world. Our public and custom workshops provide individuals and organizations with skills and tools that support self-expression, creative practice, and community building.

Since January 2022, Sahiyo has been in collaboration with Asian Women's Shelter (AWS) to increase capacity of services for survivors of female genital cutting (FGC). In June, Sahiyo conitnued with  trainings on FGC for the AWS staff and volunteers to help educate their organization on the context of FGC in the United Stataes, who FGC impacts, and considerations around how to work with survivors and communities impacted by FGC. 

Asian Women’s Shelter is 501c3 with the mission to eliminate domestic violence by promoting the social, economic and political self-determination of women and all survivors of violence and oppression. AWS is committed to every person's right to live in a violence-free home, and has a specific focus towards addressing the cultural and language needs of immigrant, refugee, and U.S.-born Asian and Arab women and their children.

These trainings organized by Sahiyo are part of a larger 3-year project Sahiyo is undertaking in partnership with AWS and StoryCenter withfunding from the Department of Justice - Office of Victim’s of Crime , to better integrate FGC into mainstream and culturally specific gender-based violence prevention and support organizations in order to bolster overall support and capacity of care for survivors of FGC within the United States. 

Read more about AWS trainings.