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Hi friends
I wish to inform you that I have been honored to become "A Strong Voice" for End FGM European Campaign supported by Amnesty International Ireland. To be identified and selected on the basis of your integrity as a person living for a cause worth dying for is no less inspiring or even pleasing than receiving an Award.

My poetry on FGM and other works at the DEN as well as your comments and reviews widened my intellectual scope and vision towards issues of great human concern such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) I shall continue my fight against all types of injustices particularly the barbaric acts inflicted upon the innocent girls and women of Somalia and the world at large.

My background as an anti-FGM activist dates back in the eighties when i started writing about the subject. Later on I became the chairman of an NGO Community Concern Somalia and one of the areas CCS worked was the eradication of FGM.

In 2003 I became a consultant of another NGO HIGSAD, a predominantly women organization headed by Asha Mohamed Sheikh who lives in London and other ladies in the diaspora. With funds obtained from the UNHCR Mogadishu, we have implemented 13 FGM projects around the districts of Mogadishu.

We have set up Anti-FGM teams to disseminate messages on the hazards of female genital mutilation both physically and mentally. In that same year i produced a documentary film on gender abuse of which FGM was part of the film.

I have shown that film at the swedish forum for human rights and it has ranked one of the best films presented at the conference. for that reason I am invited for the third time to show the film at the event which takes place once in every year in sweden.

Besides that I have cooperated with a somali artist and physician in America, Dr. Osman Buwe and after exchanging e-mails with him, we agreed to write a book on FGM. later on we included other subjects into the book including child care, environment, integration, youth and immigrants. But still a sizeable portion of the book contains FGM. The book which contains some 200 paintings and poetry, is now finished, awaiting publication.

No work have I ever done without the inclusion of FGM. The astonishing story is that I have never received funds from any source to make films or write books on FGM. I was self-financing my projects because funds required longer time to wait and many conditions to fulfill and that was a bit difficult for me so long as the urgency of the matter was concerned. so I had no option other than using my meager income to write or make a film. when an internal force is pushing to move forward it is next to impossible to ignore your feelings.

I wish I could continue my war against FGM inside Somalia but due to insecurity I had to flee to other locations and countries for safe heaven. Please refer my article: In the Eyes of Fear Shock is the Sparkle published at Hiiraanonline and in many other websites. You can also refer my other article: On coming to sweden published in the same website of HOL.

It was out of my personal conviction and commitment to fight against FGM. A story I would like to share with the world is the one that happened to my daughters when they were in Addis. being 6 and 4 years old they happened to be in the age range of cutting genitals as a rite of passage. Relatives persuaded my wife to carry out the act before the girls are taken to sweden where FGM is illegal.

I have defended them though i was not in Addis at the time of the attack. Thanks to my wife Fatma and two swedish ladies, Ingela,a journalist at a leading TV station SVT2 and Agneta who helped transfer my family to a safer place within Addis. Tesfaye Ayelou gave my family a shelter and protected them from the circumcisers. I wish also to thank the swedish embassy in addis for speeding up the interview with my family to facilitate them to reunite with me here in Sweden.

As we know hundreds of thousands of young girls are circumcised each year, some of them undergo a most severe type of genital mutilation. A high percentage of these girls die from bleeding while those who escape death will stay permanently impaired sexually or live with enormous health and psychological problems as a result of the shock they sustained during the operation. Something must be done to avert the tragedy and that is why I got involved into this noble cause of fighting against FGM.

In Somalia it is easy to hear the noise of bullets ricocheting in the roofs of the houses but it is quite difficult to speak up or show sympathy to the cries of a girl being cut in a neighborhood. And worse still the media will tell only the story of the fighting but not at all bother to cover the plight of the girl. The same case applies to other war-torn countries where FGM is practiced.

Therefore, as international civil society, we must all raise our voice to make the world aware of the atrocities being committed against the young girls and to help those at risk of being circumcised, no matter who they are and where in the world they live in.

FGM is a crime and it should be stopped once and for all. The war against FGM is morally equivalent to the war against terror. I suggest writers and poets worldwide to offer time to write about this horrendous act of female genital mutilation to save the life of these poor girls victimized and tortured in the name of culture and religion.

Wars grab world attention
While FGM is often overlooked
Not devoted a space in the paper
As its priority is undermined
Unfairly covered or written about
Or blatantly eclipsed by other items
Forgetting that female genital cutting
Is taking the lives of innocent girls
A voice is needed to combat this evil
And that voice must be loud and strong