Sahiyo volunteer spotlight: Development intern Avery Boudreau
Avery is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in statistics and economics. She is passionate about women’s and animals’ rights, international education, and environmental sustainability, and hopes to utilize her research skills to analyze data and diction to create change and conversations in these areas. She is […]
Reflecting on the 5th Annual Activist Retreat for members of the Bohra Community
By Zehra Patwa From June 3rd to June 5th, we hosted our 5th Annual Sahiyo Bohra Anti-FGC Activist Retreat, which occurred virtually. Once again, we had new faces and alumni join us for the retreat with a diverse mix of experiences, personalities and genders, which made for some very interesting conversations. This was our first retreat […]
Sahiyo U.S. joins South Asian SOAR as member organization
Sahiyo U.S. is grateful to be welcomed as one of the newest member organizations of South Asian SOAR, a U.S.-based coalition working to end gender-based violence (GBV) in the South Asian diaspora. SOAR is a national collective of survivors, 30+ organizations, and allies who are passionate about changing the high prevalence of GBV among South […]
Webinar reflection: Centring Community in FGM/C Behaviour Change Theory
By Ellen Ince On May 12th, I attended the webinar, Centring Community in FGM/C Behaviour Change Theory. This webinar was presented by Dr. Bettina Shell-Duncan, a Professor of Anthropology at University of Washington, conducts mixed method bio-cultural research on maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa; much of her research focuses on the study of […]
You are not alone
By Maryan Abdikadir Why did you want to attend the workshop and share your story? I love storytelling and I come from a long line of storytellers and poets. I believe stories have a way of capturing the minds, leaving lasting impressions and/or education. Being a survivor of Female Genital Mutilation and an activist/educator, I know […]
Releasing my unspoken words
By Anam I like to hear stories because they help me understand people. Sometimes, they help me understand myself. So, when I heard storytellers talk about their experience with female genital mutilaiton (FGM), I thought about my own. The Voices to End FGM/C digital Sstorytelling workshop helped me put into words a story I have […]
Magic of Intimacy
By Ibtisam Attending this workshop to share my story is now perhaps an opening to a bigger vision of what I call: Magic of Intimacy. I had viewed over a dozen Voices to End FGM/C stories and attended Sahiyo’s webinars over the last couple of years. As much as I wanted to contribute and help […]
Including non-cis-women as FGM/C survivors
By Dena Igusti I wanted to be a part of this year’s Voices to End FGM/C digital storytelling workshop so I could talk more about my experiences navigating being a non-binary survivor of FGM/C. Unfortunately, a lot of statistics and narratives surrounding FGM/C only focus on cisgender women. In order for me to access resources […]
A love letter to my mother who cut me
By Afiqa Years ago, I learned of Malay classical and modern manuscripts on sex and erotic imageries by Malay women writers at a talk. Most were written under pseudonyms or not given credit if not a man. But a Malay women writer, Khatijah Terung, struck me with her bold, vulnerable, and erotic writing. Social control […]
A Quiet Violence: Navigating Female Genital Cutting as an LGBTQ+ Survivor
Register Today: https://bit.ly/AQuietViolence Female genital cutting (FGC) is a form of gender-based violence that is often undermined by harmful gendered social norms. Whether done for marriageability, cleanliness, purity, or a variety of other reasons – the practice of FGC is often tied to socially ascribed standards of ‘womanhood’. Despite being seeped in highly binary gender […]