by Khadi Diallo

About the author: Khadi Diallo is an activist and volunteer for the French section (GAMS) of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children.

[Unesco Courier:] A Malian woman who underwent excision [female genital mutilation] at the age of 12 recalls the experience which led her to combat this ritual practice.

[Khadi Diallo:] That day will remain etched in my memory forever. At the time, in 1966, I was 12, my sister 10. Like every summer, we were visiting our paternal grandparents in our village 15 kilometres from Bamako in Mali. Early one morning, we went to see my aunt, my father’s sister, whom we were always happy to visit because she spoiled us.

Ididn’t suspect a thing. My aunt called me into the bathroom. Several...