‘We need to talk about this’

IFRAH AHMED can’t go back to her native Somalia because of the deadly wars ravaging the country but even if it was at peace, she would face a very personal battle in her homeland.

The 20-year-old from Mogadishu is an outspoken opponent of female genital mutilation, which an estimated 95-98% of girls in Somalia suffer before they reach the age of 15.

Ifrah has been through it twice, the first time when she was just eight years and the second at the age of 13. “Sometimes that happens — that a girl is circumcised twice. It’s because the wound doesn’t close properly or it’s not tidy.”