Sahiyo in the Media

L'Oréal Paris Inducts Ten Extraordinary Changemakers into Its Signature Philanthropic Initiative, Women of Worth Sahiyo Stories/Voices to End FGM/C Washington State introduces new law to protect women and girls from female genital mutilation or cutting...

Voices Series: How I found purpose through survivor's stories

storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their own words. By Debasmita Dasgupta Working on this project has been life-changing....

Upcoming screening of the Fall 2022 Voices To End FGM/C digital stories 

Our latest stories from the 7th Voices to End FGM/C Digital Storytelling Workshop have been released! Sahiyo, StoryCenter, and Asian Women’s Shelter will be hosting a screening of these newest videos next month on May 9th. Along with viewing these...

Violated hopes: My struggle to report on Female Genital Cutting in Pakistan

By Hina Javed Country: Pakistan When sporting my journalistic hat, I tend to sniff out stories from unlikely sources, wherever they are hidden. I look out for news, dropping into places to see what is new. This time around, however, I wasn’t...

Sharing My Story of Female Genital Cutting with Other Survivors Comforted Me

Voices Series: Why silence is our enemy

storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their own words. By Jenny It was a five-hour drive for me to get to the Sahiyo...

Voices Series: We should all speak up against female genital cutting

storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their own words. By Hatim Amiji As a man, I found myself extremely nervous sitting in a...

Voices Series: How I got a whole new perspective on FGM/C

storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their own words. By Angela Peabody A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to do...

Annual Reports

women impacted by female genital cutting. Our Voices to End FGM/C project alone saw the creation of 37 new original digital stories stories. Running since 2017, the program involves survivors coming together to heal from their FGC experiences and create...

U.S. Sahiyo Board Member Spotlight: A. Renee Bergstrom, EdD

Although most Christian denominations do not condone FGM/C, we hope to reach Christian readers from churches that do. Our stories may help others have the courage to speak. Christians need to face the damage done by misinterpreting Biblical passages in...

You mean it’s not supposed to hurt when I pee?

a sense of the process of storytelling from a survivor’s and advocate's perspective. I am keeping in my heart hundreds of stories that survivors from my community have shared with me. What story did you choose to tell and create into a digital story? I...

Reflecting on Virtual and In-Person Sessions for Voices to End FGM/C Workshop 2024

over 80 survivors, advocates, and community members in sessions designed to empower participants to share their personal stories and experiences with FGC. This year's workshop was held in a hybrid format, starting with two virtual sessions on May 28 and...

To cut or not to cut? 10 Bohra stories to set off a debate on khatna

exactly was done; others said they must maintain silence about it because of the pressures of society. Here are some of the stories that emerged from a series of informal interviews I conducted with Bohra women in the past few years: She was circumcised...

Voices Series: How listening to survivor's stories made me a better advocate

storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their own words. By Karen Kwok, MSN, FNP-BC I sought participation in the Voices to End...

FAQs

to End FGM/C, has had several Bohra participants, among others, encourage communities to end cutting through short digital stories detailing their experiences. All for “Izzat” The Practice of Female Circumcision among Dawoodi Bohra Muslims in India, by...

We must realise that there is an alternative to khatna

and painful. After, I started to explore the subject more. I read about female circumcision and came across horrifying stories from Africa. I stumbled into many stories of khatna told by the women around me. I had started to understand the terrifying...

Our Petition

many of us have faced within our own communities, our advocacy work is starting to pay off. In the last year, we have place stories in mainstream publications – like the Guardian and Hindustan Times. In 2015, Sahiyo pursued a small-scale study to...

Sahiyo and Khatna survivors get attacked online through ‘organized trolling’

the personal experiences of others who have had negative experiences with FGC and have taken the courage to share their stories. While we disagree with pro-khatna rhetoric which has been passed down since generations within the community, we — and the...

Sahiyo's Second Annual Retreat: A Space for Healing and Reflection

in the Bohra community — have come in such a short time. Before 2016, only a handful of survivors had publicly shared their stories and many were anonymous blog posts. The intense community backlash for speaking out has prevented many from being able to...

Voices Series: Why we must break the silence of FGM/C

storytelling, Voices to End FGM/C enables those who have been affected by female genital mutilation/cutting to tell their stories through their own perspectives, in their own words. By Anonymous I’ve been speaking about female genital mutilation (FGM)...