Miss Somalia's emotional journey: A survivor's stand against female genital mutilation
Speaking during the 'Head-to-Head' challenge, Jama recounted being forced to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) at the age of seven.
Her story, painfully detailed and courageously told, highlighted a tradition that continues to harm millions of girls around the world.
Now living in the United Kingdom, Jama is using her platform to advocate for the end of this brutal practice.
FGM encompasses procedures that involve the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 230 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to FGM, with more than four million girls at risk each year.
Born in Somalia, Jama grew up as a refugee, fleeing her homeland due to conflict and climate crises. After resettling with her family in the UK, she rebuilt her life—but the trauma of her past remained. 'I'm the founder of the Female Initiative Foundation, a project to bond from one of the darkest moments of my life,' she told the audience. 'I stand here today, not just as a voice for the voiceless, but as a survivor of female genital mutilation.'
Jama described the sense of powerlessness she felt as a child, remembering the moment her body and rights were taken away in the name of tradition.
With a voice trembling from emotion, she recalled, 'I was seven years old. I was outside, playing with my friends. When I was picked up, my clothes were ripped off, and I was taken to a room where three women waited with blades, scissors and old tools.'
None of them were medically trained. The procedure was carried out without anaesthesia.
'They told me to be quiet, to be brave and proud—because this was our tradition,' she said. Once the cutting was complete, her skin was stitched together with thick thread, leaving a small opening barely enough for urine or menstrual blood to pass through.
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IOL News
7 days ago
- IOL News
The echoes of humanity: Gaza, the Auschwitz of our times
Palestinians receive lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City. The World Health Organization warned that malnutrition was reaching "alarming levels" in Gaza. Image: Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP IN THE shadow of history's darkest chapters, a tragedy of catastrophic and colossal proportions has and continues to reach new levels of depravity daily, demanding we confront what it means to be human. Today, as the world watches the systematic suffering in Palestine, where children starve and civilians are reduced to mere numbers in a relentless conflict, we must ask: have we learned nothing from the past? The cries from Gaza, echoing the horrors of Auschwitz, pierce through the noise of indifference, urging us to reclaim our humanity before it slips irretrievably away. The starvation of children in Palestine is a visceral wound on our collective conscience. Forced starvation, a weapon as cruel and deadly as any bomb, has become a tactic in this conflict, reducing entire populations to desperation. The United Nations warns of famine, yet the international response remains tepid, mired in political calculations rather than moral imperatives. This is not a distant statistic but a reality etched in the gaunt faces of children, their ribs protruding like the bars of a cage. What we permit today is what we would have tolerated and remained silent about in the past, history's living judge will not spare us. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading The global concept of humanity, once a beacon of hope after the Holocaust, now teeters on the brink. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights promised never again, yet here we are, witnessing a genocide in real-time. Hashtags like #IsraelTerroristState and #PalestineAction trend as desperate pleas, holding leaders accountable. Our inaction writes a verdict alongside the enablers of past atrocities. History is presently shaping itself, and the space we occupy will be judged not by titles but by deeds or lack thereof. Manipulating historical trauma to sanitise the current genocide in Palestine is an insidious betrayal. The Holocaust, a scar on Jewish history, should unite us against all suffering, not justify new horrors. The Palestinian experience, decades of occupation, displacement, and now starvation, demands its own recognition, not a footnote to another narrative. To deny this fractures the shared dignity that binds us as humans. Children, the most innocent casualties, bear the brunt of this moral failure. Their starvation is deliberate, a fact that should ignite global outrage. Yet, neutrality persists, a shrug of shoulders mirroring those who watched the rise of Nazism. Leaders must face this: your silence is a legacy you cannot escape. When a child cries out, bloodied and broken, hungry and afraid and there is no parent left alive to hold that child, it becomes the moral obligation of every single mother and father across this planet to answer to that cry. We could weep tsunamis of tears as we watch the cruel and calculated extermination of a people and still it will never be enough to drown out the despair of what we are all witness to. This is a moment of reckoning. The need for humanity has never been more urgent. It demands more than sympathy, it requires action. Governments must impose sanctions, open humanitarian corridors, and enforce laws protecting civilians. Individuals must advocate, raise awareness, and refuse to accept the unacceptable. The Palestine Action movement is a call to resist where others have fallen silent. What about the hostages? What about October 7th ? The defenders of this cruelty shout in an attempt to legitimise the cruelty. The bitter truth endures, not even the lives of the hostages matter to those who have exploited that very thing to justify and fuel their campaign of terror. October 7th a terrible and dark day and one that in all its profound horror tore open the world's eyes to the ongoing oppression and occupation in the open air prison that is Palestine. This minute, this second of this day in 2025 the clock ticks for justice, for humanity. The images of starving children, the wails of bereaved mothers, and the ruins of Gaza are not abstract, they are the test of our humanity. We must reject the middle ground, choosing life over death, compassion over indifference. We cannot undo the past, but we can shape the future. The question is not whether we can act, but whether we will. For if we do not, the echoes of Auschwitz will not be history's only lesson, Palestine will be our enduring shame. Humanity knows no race or religion, it is the fundamental universal binding thread that links us as people. To see your own child reflected in the eyes of the dying child taking his last breath as a camera live streams it, to hold your own child and feel their warm body and know a mother somewhere is cradling the lifeless body of hers – to feel and to know it's only though some stroke of luck and geography that we are here and not them there and that alone should compel every human being with an ounce of humanity to speak out, to act - as we would hope others would do for us if the tables were turned. Palestine is the litmus test we cannot afford to fail. The moral compass points in one direction as it has been for hundreds of days now, let Palestine not become the planet's altar at which everything that it is to be profoundly humane within each of us, goes to die. Humanity must be resurrected. Vanessa Govender Image: Supplied
The Star
02-08-2025
- The Star
Gaza's horror through a mother's eyes as famine and war rage on
Tracy-Lynn Ruiters | Published 5 hours ago Gaza is slipping deeper into famine as the conflict rages on and humanitarian aid remains blocked. Inside this shrinking strip of land, mothers search desperately for food and water, while children die of hunger. Youmna El Sayed, a mother of four and Al Jazeera English correspondent, left Gaza in January 2024, but she doesn't feel relief. She carries with her the weight of those left behind. Now based just a few kilometres away, El Sayed said every day is a battle to reconcile the horror she's witnessed with the expectation to 'be normal'. 'It was and still is very complicated to live like a normal human being when you have your family, friends, colleagues and neighbours still living a daily genocide that you know how horrible it is, while you're now in a place couple of kilometres away yet every other person lives a normal life and expects you to be normal like them. But they have no idea that this itself is a a complex trauma that we carry and live within every day.' El Sayed lived in Gaza for a decade, having moved there permanently in 2014. Among the worst memories that haunt her as a mother, she recalled the day she couldn't find drinking water for her children. 'One of the worst days for me as a mother was when I couldn't find drinking water for my children for an entire night and day. As a mother it's heart aching. For El Sayed, the desperation of survival became heartbreakingly real. 'We had to share a bottle of 500ml of water the six of us. I watched them go thirsty and I gave them sips of water as I and my husband remained without because we had no choice.' Her youngest child, Juju, found comfort in imagination. 'My youngest Juju, folded half the bread into half and told me I'll imagine this to be a manouche – thyme and olive oil sandwich. Her only wish at the time were for such a simple sandwich that she hadn't eaten for months.' The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said at least 30 children have died of hunger since July 17 and about 60 000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023. More than half a million people are already estimated to be in what is known as a stage 5 catastrophe yet, the genocidal policy of mass starvation and killing people desperately seeking food in Gaza continues unabated. 'Starvation, malnutrition and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,' the IPC said, calling for an end to hostilities between Israel and Palestine. This week, the IPC issued a Food Insecurity and Malnutrition Alert describing the crisis as 'a disaster unfolding in front of our eyes.' The IPC of which the World Health Organization (WHO) is a member, issued one of its gravest alerts yet, saying "f amine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City.' Gaza's humanitarian catastrophe has worsened rapidly in recent weeks. According to the IPC, malnutrition has surged in July, with over 20 000 children treated for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July, including more than 3000 severely malnourished. Ross Smith, Director of Emergencies at the UN World Food Programme (WFP), underscored the scale of the crisis. 'It's clearly a disaster unfolding in front of our eyes, in front of our television screens. This is not a warning, this is a call to action. This is unlike anything we have seen in this century." South African movement Mothers4Gaza says it remains in contact with women on the ground in Gaza through solidarity networks. Ayesha Bagus, speaking on behalf of the group, said the stories from inside are harrowing. 'Their messages are devastating,' she said. 'They speak of watching their children visibly waste away from hunger, of boiling weeds and animal feed just to keep them alive for another day, of scraping together contaminated water to survive.' Bagus said medical care is 'virtually non-existent' due to sustained Israeli attacks on the healthcare system. 'Hospitals have been bombed. Medicines are denied. Pregnant women are giving birth without anaesthetic. Children die from diarrhoea and dehydration. Babies are having their limbs amputated without painkillers.' 'This is not a humanitarian failure; it is Israeli strategy, which their leaders have vocalised publicly. It is a siege, weaponised against some two million civilians.' 'The UN's Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has confirmed that famine conditions are already in motion. Over 500,000 Palestinians are in IPC Phase 5: starvation. Acute malnutrition has quadrupled in Gaza City and crossed the famine threshold. Babies are dying. Families - babies, children, parents, grandparents, go entire days without food.' She added: 'Israel's targeted attacks on bakeries, farmlands, fishing boats, and water systems are not accidents. They are systematic and deliberate. Starvation is not collateral damage. It is Israeli policy.' Quoting Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, Bagus said: 'Famine is the cruellest of all disasters. It isn't sudden. It is slow and silent.' Mothers4Gaza is calling for international mobilisation and action. 'The world must demand: an immediate, unconditional ceasefire; Unrestricted humanitarian access and food corridors; the immediate deployment of an international peacekeeping force; a permanent end to the siege and most fundamentally, justice, equality, and dignity for all Palestinians. 'There can be no peace without justice. No safety for anyone built on the oppression of millions.' Addressing South Africans directly, Bagus says the world is witnessing genocide in real time. 'This is not a conflict. It is apartheid. It is genocide. And it is being broadcast in real time.' The Israeli government has consistently denied that it is starving Palestinians and has blamed Hamas for intercepting aid, a claim for which international aid agencies have found no evidence of. [email protected] Weekend Argus
IOL News
02-08-2025
- IOL News
Gaza's horror through a mother's eyes as famine and war rage on
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) issued a Phase 5 alert Image: WHO Gaza is slipping deeper into famine as the conflict rages on and humanitarian aid remains blocked. Inside this shrinking strip of land, mothers search desperately for food and water, while children die of hunger. Youmna El Sayed, a mother of four and Al Jazeera English correspondent, left Gaza in January 2024, but she doesn't feel relief. She carries with her the weight of those left behind. Now based just a few kilometres away, El Sayed said every day is a battle to reconcile the horror she's witnessed with the expectation to 'be normal'. 'It was and still is very complicated to live like a normal human being when you have your family, friends, colleagues and neighbours still living a daily genocide that you know how horrible it is, while you're now in a place couple of kilometres away yet every other person lives a normal life and expects you to be normal like them. But they have no idea that this itself is a a complex trauma that we carry and live within every day.' El Sayed lived in Gaza for a decade, having moved there permanently in 2014. Among the worst memories that haunt her as a mother, she recalled the day she couldn't find drinking water for her children. 'One of the worst days for me as a mother was when I couldn't find drinking water for my children for an entire night and day. As a mother it's heart aching. For El Sayed, the desperation of survival became heartbreakingly real. 'We had to share a bottle of 500ml of water the six of us. I watched them go thirsty and I gave them sips of water as I and my husband remained without because we had no choice.' Hundreds of protesters banged pots and pans outside the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, calling for an end to the genocide and starvation of the Palestinian people. Image: Armand Hough Her youngest child, Juju, found comfort in imagination. 'My youngest Juju, folded half the bread into half and told me I'll imagine this to be a manouche – thyme and olive oil sandwich. Her only wish at the time were for such a simple sandwich that she hadn't eaten for months.' The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said at least 30 children have died of hunger since July 17 and about 60 000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023. More than half a million people are already estimated to be in what is known as a stage 5 catastrophe yet, the genocidal policy of mass starvation and killing people desperately seeking food in Gaza continues unabated. 'Starvation, malnutrition and disease are driving a rise in hunger-related deaths,' the IPC said, calling for an end to hostilities between Israel and Palestine. This week, the IPC issued a Food Insecurity and Malnutrition Alert describing the crisis as 'a disaster unfolding in front of our eyes.' The IPC of which the World Health Organization (WHO) is a member, issued one of its gravest alerts yet, saying "famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of the Gaza Strip and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City.' Gaza's humanitarian catastrophe has worsened rapidly in recent weeks. According to the IPC, malnutrition has surged in July, with over 20 000 children treated for acute malnutrition between April and mid-July, including more than 3000 severely malnourished. Ross Smith, Director of Emergencies at the UN World Food Programme (WFP), underscored the scale of the crisis. 'It's clearly a disaster unfolding in front of our eyes, in front of our television screens. This is not a warning, this is a call to action. This is unlike anything we have seen in this century." South African movement Mothers4Gaza says it remains in contact with women on the ground in Gaza through solidarity networks. Ayesha Bagus, speaking on behalf of the group, said the stories from inside are harrowing. 'Their messages are devastating,' she said. 'They speak of watching their children visibly waste away from hunger, of boiling weeds and animal feed just to keep them alive for another day, of scraping together contaminated water to survive.' Bagus said medical care is 'virtually non-existent' due to sustained Israeli attacks on the healthcare system. 'Hospitals have been bombed. Medicines are denied. Pregnant women are giving birth without anaesthetic. Children die from diarrhoea and dehydration. Babies are having their limbs amputated without painkillers.' 'This is not a humanitarian failure; it is Israeli strategy, which their leaders have vocalised publicly. It is a siege, weaponised against some two million civilians.' Cape Town Protesters Rally Outside Holocaust Centre for Palestine. Image: Armand Hough 'The UN's Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has confirmed that famine conditions are already in motion. Over 500,000 Palestinians are in IPC Phase 5: starvation. Acute malnutrition has quadrupled in Gaza City and crossed the famine threshold. Babies are dying. Families - babies, children, parents, grandparents, go entire days without food.' She added: 'Israel's targeted attacks on bakeries, farmlands, fishing boats, and water systems are not accidents. They are systematic and deliberate. Starvation is not collateral damage. It is Israeli policy.'
