My mom forced me into FGM

Image by Africa News

In the heart of Maasai land, where tradition and culture reign supreme, Sotian's world was forever changed one fateful night by the hand of her own mother. As the moon cast its pale light over the village, Sotian's mother awakened her from a fitful slumber, her eyes filled with determination and a sense of urgency that sent shivers down her daughter's spine.

"I will never forgive her," Sotian whispers, her voice trembling with suppressed rage. "She stole my innocence and robbed me of my dignity."

As a young Maasai girl on the cusp of womanhood, Sotian had always known that the time would come for her to undergo the ancient rite of passage known as female circumcision. Yet, nothing could have prepared her for the betrayal that awaited her in the dead of night, when her own mother conspired to subject her to a tradition that would forever scar her body and soul.

"It was supposed to be a time of celebration," Sotian recalls bitterly, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "But instead, it became a nightmare from which I could never escape."

With trembling hands and a heavy heart, Sotian was led away from the safety of her home and into the darkness of the night, where a group of elder women awaited her arrival. With each step she took, the weight of her mother's betrayal hung heavy around her neck, choking the very air from her lungs as she struggled to come to terms with the cruel fate that awaited her.

"I begged her to stop," Sotian confesses, her voice choked with emotion. "But she turned a deaf ear to my pleas, deafened by the echoes of tradition and duty that had been drummed into her from birth."

As the ritual began, Sotian felt a searing pain rip through her body, tearing away at her flesh and leaving behind a gaping wound that would never fully heal. In that moment of agony and despair, she cursed the mother who had betrayed her, damning her name to the winds of time as she fought to retain some semblance of dignity in the face of unspeakable cruelty.

"It was as if she had handed me over to the wolves," Sotian laments, her voice raw with anguish. "She sacrificed her own daughter on the altar of tradition, without a second thought for the pain and suffering she would inflict."

In the years that followed, Sotian bore the physical and emotional scars of her ordeal with a stoic resolve, determined to rise above the pain and reclaim her sense of self-worth in a world that sought to diminish her at every turn. Yet, try as she might to bury the memories of that fateful night, they haunted her dreams and poisoned her soul, a constant reminder of the betrayal that had torn her world asunder.

"I will never forgive her," Sotian vows, her voice filled with a steely determination. "But I will not allow her betrayal to define me. I am more than the sum of my scars, and one day, I will rise above the shadows of my past and reclaim my place in the light."

In the heart of Maasai land, where tradition and culture reign supreme, Sotian's world was forever changed one fateful night by the hand of her own mother. As the moon cast its pale light over the village, Sotian's mother awakened her from a fitful slumber, her eyes filled with determination and a sense of urgency that sent shivers down her daughter's spine.

"I will never forgive her," Sotian whispers, her voice trembling with suppressed rage. "She stole my innocence and robbed me of my dignity."

As a young Maasai girl on the cusp of womanhood, Sotian had always known that the time would come for her to undergo the ancient rite of passage known as female circumcision. Yet, nothing could have prepared her for the betrayal that awaited her in the dead of night, when her own mother conspired to subject her to a tradition that would forever scar her body and soul.

"It was supposed to be a time of celebration," Sotian recalls bitterly, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. "But instead, it became a nightmare from which I could never escape."

With trembling hands and a heavy heart, Sotian was led away from the safety of her home and into the darkness of the night, where a group of elder women awaited her arrival. With each step she took, the weight of her mother's betrayal hung heavy around her neck, choking the very air from her lungs as she struggled to come to terms with the cruel fate that awaited her.

"I begged her to stop," Sotian confesses, her voice choked with emotion. "But she turned a deaf ear to my pleas, deafened by the echoes of tradition and duty that had been drummed into her from birth."

As the ritual began, Sotian felt a searing pain rip through her body, tearing away at her flesh and leaving behind a gaping wound that would never fully heal. In that moment of agony and despair, she cursed the mother who had betrayed her, damning her name to the winds of time as she fought to retain some semblance of dignity in the face of unspeakable cruelty.

"It was as if she had handed me over to the wolves," Sotian laments, her voice raw with anguish. "She sacrificed her own daughter on the altar of tradition, without a second thought for the pain and suffering she would inflict."

In the years that followed, Sotian bore the physical and emotional scars of her ordeal with a stoic resolve, determined to rise above the pain and reclaim her sense of self-worth in a world that sought to diminish her at every turn. Yet, try as she might to bury the memories of that fateful night, they haunted her dreams and poisoned her soul, a constant reminder of the betrayal that had torn her world asunder.

"I will never forgive her," Sotian vows, her voice filled with a steely determination. "But I will not allow her betrayal to define me. I am more than the sum of my scars, and one day, I will rise above the shadows of my past and reclaim my place in the light."