Helping the victims of female genital mutilation

Thousands of women continue to share the same fate as Marie-Claire - in Europe, too. In the French city of Bordeaux Marie-Claire Kakpotia Moraldo is campaigning against female genital mutilation through her association called Les orchidees rouges, or The Red Orchids. She suffered from the physical and psychological effects of FGM for a very long time. "Now, I’m doing well,” she says. Nathalie Kanga came across the association on the Internet. Here she can get free help from doctors, therapists, and even lawyers. The literature student from Ivory Coast is relieved that she can finally talk to someone about what happened to her. She also hopes that she will also be able to get help for her 11-year-old twin daughters. They face genital mutilation in Ivory Coast. More than 200 million women suffer from FGM worldwide. The procedure is often carried out by women who have no medical training. They use razor blades, glass shards, or other unsterile instruments to completely, or partially, remove external female genitalia. FGM exists on all continents except in the Antarctic, Marie-Claire Kakpotia Moraldo tells us. "Christians, Muslims and Animists all practice this ritual to control female sexuality and, ultimately, women’s lives.”