A woman who survived the horrific ordeal of Female Genital Mutilation and escaped to the UK says she now plans to be a police officer so she can help others.
Shamsa Sharawe, 29, from Muuqokore, Somalia, was operated on against her parent’s will at the age of just six and was left in agony after being circumcised with a dirty razor.
Sharawe has since used her voice to campaign against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) – or Female Genital Cutting as it is now referred to, which involves the partial or total removal of external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
Her own experience saw the brutal procedure arranged by someone known to her. When her devastated mother, Gani, who was living in Saudi Arabia, found out what had happened, she concocted a plan for her daughter to flee to the UK.
Shamsa Sharawe, 29 (pictured), is using her traumatic experience of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) – or Female Genital Cutting – to help other survivors speak about their trauma
In November 2001, Sharawe and her mother were able to secure visas and move to Wembley in north west London.
Sharawe joined a local school, and it was during sex education lessons that she realised the extent of the brutality she had faced, explaining: ‘The trauma hit me all at once. I felt like half a woman.
The young woman carried the trauma as a secret for years, causing repercussions on her mental health – she was confused with both her personal and cultural identity.
Not feeling like she belonged anywhere, she turned online to find a community and began posting on YouTube.
She wanted to show people what she had been through, saying she realised that so many other women ‘shared my burden.’
![Shamsa (pictured right as a young child) escaped to the UK with her mother (pictured left) after her mother found out what had happened to her](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/03/13/16/55299531-10608201-image-m-56_1647188392625.jpg)
Shamsa (pictured right as a young child) escaped to the UK with her mother (pictured left) after her mother found out what had happened to her
After growing up in rural Somalia, Sharawe describes herself as ‘oblivious to the rest of the world.’
There was no education for her and so she did not question that she would have the genital surgery, saying she remembers that the girls who refused were branded ‘shameful’ within the community.
A local doctor known as ‘The Cutter’ performed the procedure with dirty implements while a group of adults held her down.
Afterwards the doctor covered Shamsa in the blood of a slaughtered animal and forced her to stand in the sun while it dried.
The barbaric surgery was performed without pain medication or anaesthetic. She said: ‘Being cut without anesthetic was crippling. It was horrendous.’
![Shamsa is currently in her second year at Burnley College, Lancashire, where she is studying policing and hopes to become a police officer](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/03/13/16/55299535-10608201-image-m-58_1647188562917.jpg)
Shamsa is currently in her second year at Burnley College, Lancashire, where she is studying policing and hopes to become a police officer
She says she was in so much shock that the hour it took to complete the procedure felt a lot longer: ‘When the blade hits the skin, you feel everything.’
Sharawe recalls adults wrapping the girls legs together for 24 hours and says they couldn’t walk for a week – they were carried to the toilet and fed in their rooms.
After two weeks the injuries had not properly healed and she would cry every time she ‘had to pee for months afterwards.’
At only six years old, she couldn’t comprehend the ordeal that she had been through and says the pain was ‘unbearable’.
Sharawe says that no-one spoke about what had happened that day, she was just told that she was ‘now pure and clean’ and that her ‘family were proud’ of her.
Shamsa says that she now wants to join the police because of the experiences she had within the Somalian community, when crimes are committed but everyone stays silent.
Young girls rarely report crimes due to fear of shame and this silencing culture is something that she is desperate to end.
![Shamsa says that she was shocked that so many women could relate to her after starting her YouTube channel in February 2021](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/03/13/16/55301029-10608201-image-a-59_1647188602781.jpg)
Shamsa says that she was shocked that so many women could relate to her after starting her YouTube channel in February 2021
She says: ‘I want to show my community, and other communities that suffer from honour-based violence, that they have someone within the police that they can trust. Someone that looks like them and hears their concerns.’
The trainee officer is proud and excited to know that she can do something to help young people who have not had a voice before, and she is ready to ‘represent them and fight for them.’
However, after being rescued by her mother and moving to the UK, Sharawe’s ordeal was not over. She decided to reconcile herself with her heritage and went back to live in Buloburde, Somalia in December 2010.
She was quickly forced into an arranged marriage on her return, with a man she hardly knew. The relationship was volatile and she managed to escape from her husband and returned back to the UK in February 2012.
On returning to England she was completely broken but was given the chance to start again. Sadly Sharawe’s mother passed away when she was 18 and the rest of her family have disowned her.
![After growing up in rural Somalia, Shamsa described her early childhood as 'oblivious to the rest of the world' with no education](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/03/13/16/55301031-10608201-image-a-60_1647188669556.jpg)
After growing up in rural Somalia, Shamsa described her early childhood as ‘oblivious to the rest of the world’ with no education
She remembers being ‘depressed and silenced’ as no one in her community spoke about FGM/FGC or sexual and domestic abuse.
After therapy she came out of her dark period and began to heal from her traumatic past. But with no family left she felt no shame and channeled her experiences in her YouTube channel.
Sharawe created her YouTube channel in February 2021 and now she has over 4,200 subscribers. Her videos cover everything that she’s been through and was shocked that so many women could relate to her.
She says that they neither had heard anyone speak out about shame and honour-based violence, and this made her realise that she ‘could help others who have been silenced by oppression.’
Currently in her second year at Burnley College, Lancashire, she is studying policing and hopes to become a police officer, to hopefully help other survivors.
She wants to help women understand that in this country you can report abuse and seek justice for the wrongdoings of our culture.
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