Born In The Big Rains, 2004, Fadumo Korn *****

Fadumo Korn, born in Somalia, went through genital mutilation at the age of seven.

"My heart was racing. My mouth was dry and not a word came out....My mother squatted behind me and held me tight...Hands touched my body everywhere, a horde of hands, pressing, tearing, pulling....The first cut was ice cold. A deep blue pain. A lightening bolt to the head".

Unfortunately, after the trauma Fadumo did not fully recover. She developed symptoms typical of rheumatoid arthritis (Inflammation and swelling of joints, muscle weakness and fatigue). Though, the medical diagnosis was not mentioned at first. Hence, she was sent to her rich Uncle's house in Mogadishu to receive medical treatment. Which marked the beginning of her transition from nomadic to city life. Since her family was related to Siad Barre a military dictator and Somalian president from 1969 - 1991, she was introduced to a luxurious life-style that many people would envy. Inspite of  all that, she was not making any recovery and it was decided that she went to Germany to receive proper treatment. In Germany, she fell in love with a German and eventually got married. However, her sexual life, with respect to her genital mutilation was a frightening topic, considering the fact that she was all cut and sewn up.

"Excisors remove the clitoris and labia minora. Sometimes they scrape the inside of the labia majora and remove tissue from the vagina. They use razor blades, silver of glass, knives, scissors, and sometimes even their sharp fingernails. Then they sew the outer lips with thorns and thread so they adhere. Only a minuscule opening remains for urine and menstrual blood to exit drop by drop"

"Born in the Big Rains" is a first hand account of a survivor of Female Genital Mutilation. A non-fiction that narrates on the psychological and physical damage of such an insensitive and barbaric practice. As luck would have it, Fadumo sought help and was able to speak out. She later on became the vice president of an organisation in Germany dedicated to promoting action to stop "FGM".

Like most non-fictions, the narrative style is clear and simple with an engaging and interesting storyline that narrated on the Female Genital Mutilation experience with no restrictions whatsoever. I highly recommend if you want an insight into the loss and damages of this primitive, brutal and inhuman custom.

For more novels on FGM please click here.

Infidel, 2007, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali *****

This is a book I read when I was still in the university, I loved it and it is one of my favourites. I tremendously enjoyed it. It is a non-fiction, I have actually forgotten how it fell into my hands but I have a copy.

It tells the story of a Somalian girl (today an important political figure, feminist, activist and writer) how she survived war, went through female circumcision and other very difficult circumstances. Immigrated to the Netherlands were she sought asylum,  worked so hard and transformed into an outstanding intelligent woman who went into politics and fought (still fighting) for the right of women especially in the Islamic religion.

This is a book I highly recommend, it tells the story of survival, how nothing evolves into something great.