There’s no simple way to describe Hawa Sesay. The website of her Hackney-based charity, Hawa Trust, which has worked to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM) since 2009, calls her a campaigner. In November, when presented with an “unsung hero” award by Hackney Council, Mayor Philip Glanville called her “an inspiration”. In her acceptance speech, she settled simply for “survivor”.
Also known as female circumcision or cutting, FGM is a non-medical procedure where the external female genitalia are either partially or totally removed. It is carried out on young girls before adolescence, usually by traditional practitioners without anaesthetic. FGM has no health benefits and is associated with numerous long-term complications and, in some cases, death.
Despite being illegal since 2003 and carrying a maximum prison sentence of 14 years, FGM still occurs in the UK. In 2019, a mother from East London was sentenced to 11 years in prison for performing the procedure on her three-year-old daughter. The law also protects British nationals who undergo FGM while abroad.
Sesay, 54, is from Sierra Leone, one of 30 countries where FGM is traditionally practiced. She entered “Bondo society”, a Sierra Leonean term for victims of FGM, during year four of primary school. Her auntie, a renowned cutter, oversaw the process.
“There were six of us and we were led to a riverside stream,” she explains. “Women were singing and dancing and as they dance, they draw out the knives and they plait our hair. I was second, they cut all of us that day.”
Almost nine in ten girls in Sierra Leone are victims of FGM, according to a UNICEF estimate, and Sesay had no reason to doubt the normality of her experience. “I just didn’t know if it was good or bad until I grew up,” she says.
Sesay left Sierra Leone aged 18 to study in Kyiv before moving to the UK in 1993. It was only when her masters lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University brought it up, that she shared her experience of FGM.
“I said, ‘oh, what have I put myself up for?’” she recalls, lingering on the ‘oh’ then tilting her head back to release a throaty laugh. “But it was so good. I stood in the front of that auditorium and explained everything and that was really the start of Hawa Trust.”
Named after her auntie Hawa, the cutter, Sesay’s charity works directly with communities to reduce the risk of girls undergoing FGM in the UK and Sierra Leone. The organisation also supports survivors of FGM and other forms of abuse, such as child marriage, through a helpline and by providing referrals to medical professionals.
Sesay has spoken at countless schools and conferences and says her campaigning is most successful when she shares her own experience.
“Before, nobody [used to] talk about it,” she says, emphasising with her ring-laden hand. “Professionals were not saying anything because they didn’t want to offend culture and tradition. It’s not like that now. We the survivors have come out and spoke up. The practice has shifted.”
Despite improvements, she is realistic about this progress.
“People don’t want to let go with FGM,” she sighs. “So many times people meet me and say, ‘why have you got a big mouth? Why are you talking?’”
Sesay is pessimistic about the UN’s aim to end FGM by 2030, adding that it’s not simply about targets. “To end a practice will not just take two or three years. We must change our tradition, our culture. It doesn’t mean things won’t stay the same – the good parts we will keep, the part that isn’t we should abandon.”
So how does she plan to bring traditionalists onside? “Well, I’m a superwoman,” she shrugs. “And I’m a survivor.”
