My mother said 鈥榝orgive me鈥� for my FGM
Decades after she escaped her home country of Somalia, model and activist Waris Dirie returned there in the 1990s to convince her mother to actively stop other relatives undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM).
鈥淚t was my first mission when I got there,鈥� she told the 大象传媒 Hardtalk programme鈥檚 Stephen Sackur.
鈥淚 told her one day, 'Mama, if you don鈥檛 save my brother鈥檚 children, or anyone who you know, neighbours. If you don鈥檛 speak up against this, Mama, I鈥檓 going to come for you. I work with the police now in England'.鈥�
Her mother did eventually change her mind on the practice.
鈥淚n the end she put her hands up and said 'forgive me, I didn鈥檛 know'.鈥�
Ms Dirie underwent FGM as a child aged about five, and later she became a campaigner against the practice.
