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| Charity and her friend Lucy (who is a golddigger in Vetlanda - believe it or not. See Guldström.) I am sure they have a special protection from Mary, the mother of Jesus (this version painted by Maria Eklöw Bosaeus) |
Yesterday
we had visitors at our school (the Church of Sweden Institute for Pastoral
Education). Charity Resian, a young woman from Kenya, is a Master Student at
Uppsala University. She was invited to come and speak about Female Genital
Mutilation (FGM) and she had brought colleagues from the University and some friends. But Charity herself was of course the guest of honour.
She showed
us a 30 minutes movie portraying her own story in relation to FGM. After the movie
she answered questions. Briefly she refused to go through FGM at the age of twelve.
This affected her whole family. She was the first in her community to refuse.
Her mother didn’t, as far I understood, agree with her from the beginning but
after some time, even she understood that her daughters struggle was righteous.
Both the
movie and Charity’s whole appearance filled us with hope. One person can make a
difference. Today the community acts differently. There is a possibility for
girls to say no to FGM without being stigmatized.
Charity
told us that she hopes that the short movie will be developed into a
documentary. I really hope this will come true. More people need to watch it.
To see Charity and her mother talking about this painful journey is life
affirming. The film does not downplay the pain and suffering. But right through
shines a hopeful light.
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