Ashley Nyaboke

Ashley Nyaboke (a pseudonym) is a young woman from Kenya who narrowly escaped the trauma of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) due to her mother's clever deception. Born to a Kisii father and a Kikuyu mother in a community where FGM is the norm, she reflects on the cultural pressures surrounding the practice and expresses gratitude for her mother's protective actions, which spared her from the pain experienced by many of her relatives.