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    A Promise To Her Newborn Daughter: No More Female Genital Mutilation

    Jaha Dukureh is featured in the documentary "Jaha's Promise." She got Gambia to outlaw the practice. But could she convince her father?
    by Diane Cole Jun 11, 2017 4 minutes
    Jaha Dukureh walks down a street in Serrekunda, the sprawling urban area where she grew up in Gambia.

    Note: Given the subject this story explores, the discussion includes some explicit language.

    Jaha Dukureh, now 27, was only one week old when the incident that came to define her life's mission occurred. That is when, as was the custom of her home town of Gambissara, Gambia, a traditional "cutter" removed her clitoris and labia and then sewed the opening together, leaving only a tiny hole to allow the flow of urine and menstrual blood.

    Today she knows that she had been subjected to the most extreme form of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), called infibulation or Type 3 FGM.

    Yet Dukureh had no inkling until her wedding day, at the age of 15,that she numbered among the approximately 200 million women

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