Sahiyo is excited to announce the launch of our digital story project: Sahiyo Stories! The project brought together nine women from across the United States to create personalized digital stories that narrate the experience of undergoing female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and/or the experience of their advocacy work to end this form of gender violence.
It was created and organized by Mariya Taher, co-founder of Sahiyo, and Amy Hill, Silence Speaks Director at StoryCenter. Over the course of the next 10 weeks, Sahiyo will be sharing one story a week created by the nine participants: Renee Bergstrom, Zehra Patwa, Maria Akhter, Salma Qumruddin, Maryah Haidery, Leena Khandwala, Severina Lemachokoti, and Mariya. Subscribe to Sahiyo’s YouTube channel to watch them all!
Every woman who attended the workshop was facing her own challenge with FGC and was in a different phase of coming to terms with the practice. Some women had only recently discovered they had undergone FGC and were grappling with its emotional and physical impacts, while others were deeply invested in advocacy efforts to prevent it from happening to other girls.
Though each digital story reflects a different perspective, the collection is woven together through shared experiences and a united sentiment. The women’s joint hope in creating and sharing these videos is to build towards reaching the critical mass of voices needed to prompt social change. They hope their stories demonstrate that there is an increasing trend of support for abandoning this harmful practice in every community where FGC occurs.
If you are interested in learning more about the project or hosting a screening of Sahiyo Stories, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
We also welcome your support in promoting these videos among your social networks. For this first two weeks, we invite you to watch and share: “Making Sahiyo Stories” and “Shattered Silences.”
To share the videos on social media, click links below:
Twitter – http://bit.ly/2NS7oe0
Facebook – http://bit.ly/SahiyoStories