After Sophia* was cut, her legs were fastened together and she was told not to move.

In her rural Somali community, however, animals are free to roam and out of nowhere an ox charged her direction. Despite the searing pain, she ran.

The then-9-year-old fell to the ground and started to bleed. Her stitches had reopened. Sophia’s mother, Lesha*, came rushing over, saw her daughter on the floor, and dragged the little girl back to their house – an area designated for female circumcision. Clearly something had gone wrong the first time round. She asked the cutter who had performed the original procedure to do it again.

My Mother Still Thinks FGM Was Good for Me – Elle