I’ve Fought FGM for 20 Years. It Terrifies Me How Many Girls Have Been Cut During COVID-19 – Dr Leyla Hussein in Global Citizen

I often say I would never recommend activism as a career path for anyone. It is truly gruelling, dangerous, and often thankless work. Yet for some of us, there is no other choice.

As a survivor of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) myself, campaigning against it has never been easy. What has kept me going are the many victories we’ve had in the years since I started, along with the desperate need to protect my daughter, which catalysed this path for me.

However, after nearly two decades of fighting to end violence against women and girls, the COVID-19 pandemic has absolutely exhausted me. It is heartbreaking to see us moving backwards, to see the attention turn elsewhere, the momentum slow, and the money dwindle and be redirected. We are now at risk to lose so much progress, and the fire of this fight needs to be stoked.

Read more here.